Strolling into Glen Canyon Park, it’s easy to miss the large plaque proclaiming the site to be “the first dynamite factory in America.” While historic, it also seems like an odd location to commemorate — even more so when you learn that nearly every one of them ended in an explosion with multiple casualties.
Dynamite was revolutionary when it was invented in 1867, as other explosives of the time were, not surprisingly, quite dangerous. Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, whom you may also know for the very famous prize he later founded, was searching for a safer way to manufacture nitroglycerin, as his brother Emil had been killed in a nitroglycerin explosion in 1864. He eventually patented "dynamite" and, even though he had never visited California, he licensed the production of the explosive in August 1867 to Julius Bandmann of San Francisco because of a connection an associate had to the city.
While the product was meant to be safer, production was still dangerous, and Bandmann needed to build the factory on a remote spot far away from most San Francisco residents. He chose Glen Canyon Park (then known also as Rock Canyon, Rock Ranch or Rock Gulch). According to historic reports, the factory resided where the recreation center and playground now stand, next to what was once one of San Francisco’s largest waterways, Islais Creek.
Production began in March of 1868, and less than two years later, tragedy struck. On Nov. 26, 1869, an unexplained explosion destroyed the factory and killed a chemist and his driver and injured eight Chinese workers. Those workers were transported to Chinatown for medical treatment after the accident, so it’s unknown whether they ultimately survived or not.
“At the coroner's inquest afterward, the surviving assistant chemist testified and gave a description of the production process and said all he knew was the last person in the manufactory that night was the teamster and he had a lantern, but the cause of the blast was never determined,” said Evelyn Rose, the director and founder of the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project, who has done extensive research on the subject.
A San Francisco Chronicle article from the following day in 1869 read, “Last evening, at about a quarter to seven o’clock, the attention of most people was attracted by the sound of an explosion which to those in the city seemed to proceed from the firing of a cannon, while to those residing out in the vicinity of Twenty-fourth street it was evident at once that something far more serious had occurred … on arriving at the spot designated, it was found that the Giant Powder Mill has exploded; the buildings were in flames, the wounded were being dragged away and within the circle of the flames lay two blackened, charred, disfigured corpses, so mutilated as to be scarcely recognizable as the remains of human beings.”
An estimate of the location of the facilities of Giant Powder Company, based on descriptions from various newspaper reports describing the explosion that occurred on Nov. 26, 1869.
Evelyn Rose, Glen Park Neighborhoods History ProjectAs San Francisco residents had begun migrating farther south, closer to the factory site, Giant Powder sought out another location for their new facility. This site was in the Sunset District, another sparsely populated area mostly full of sand dunes and known at the time as the “Outside Lands.” Bounded by Kirkham, Ortega, 20th and 32nd Avenue, the manufactory began producing dynamite again in February 1870.
Another explosives factory, called the California Powder Works, had also set up shop nearby in what is today’s Inner Sunset. This company’s first explosion happened July 9, 1870, with a blast that was said to be heard almost a mile away. One worker was killed, two were seriously injured, and the structure was destroyed.
Almost exactly two years later, on June 21, 1872, there was another large explosion, but this time there were no casualties. “At half-past 6 o’clock last evening the city was thrown into consternation by a tremendous concussion, which shook the windows of every house and rent the air like a clap of thunder,” a San Francisco Chronicle article from the following day read. “... A gentleman who witnessed the explosion (from a respectable distance) states that his attention was first called to a huge column of white smoke, which shot up in the air several hundred feet.”
A newspaper clipping from the San Francisco Chronicle detailing one of the explosions on June 22, 1872.
San Francisco Chronicle archivesThe buildings were again rebuilt, but this time it only took six months for another accident. On Dec. 21, 1872, another explosion occurred around 2:40 p.m. This time two workers were killed and many others were injured, along with the destruction of several buildings.
Neighbors began to raise concerns, especially since a school had begun operating just a quarter mile from the site and was damaged in the recent blast, but nothing was immediately done to keep the facility from rebuilding once again.
The final explosion at the California Powder Works took place June 8, 1877. There were no deaths, but people were injured in the vicinity of the facility due to falling debris, broken glass and furniture falling in their homes.
Giant Powder Company had had a longer stretch without incident — it took nine years before another explosion killed four people in January 1879. That was the last the city could take as residents began lobbying to vacate the dangerous businesses from the city entirely.
The next relocation placed the new Giant Powder in Berkeley (now Albany) on the site of what is now Golden Gate Fields. You’d be right if you assumed this one exploded, too, this time killing 24, and the company relocated once again to Point Pinole, where it remained until it was sold in 1915.
California Powder Works also moved to the East Bay, choosing a site that would become the city of Hercules, named after the company’s powder. It also had an explosion soon after on Jan. 12, 1882, with one person killed and two injured.
The original site at Glen Canyon Park became California Historical Landmark No. 1002, recognized by the state of California in 1991. While it’s been more than 150 years since the inaugural factory stood on that site, residents and historians are still finding evidence of the site to this day. “There is some evidence of it, depending on the gophers, since we don’t do any digging,” Rose said, referencing a photo of fused pieces of glass and segments of cast iron that stored oil of nitroglycerin. “Every once in a while, with the help of gophers, we find some things that were likely from the factory.”
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SF’s history of exploding dynamite factories - SFGate
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