Alcatraz Island: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Bradley, Denise; Hammond, John

Alcatraz Island is a 22.5‑acre historic designed landscape in San Francisco Bay, California. Part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The island was the site of the first lighthouse on the Pacific Coast (1854), served as a Civil War bastion, and became the nation's first official army prison. "Uncle Sam's Devil's Island" was transferred to civilian authority in 1934 and became infamous as a place of incarceration for the nation's most hardened criminals. The prison this was closed in 1963, and ten years later the island was opened to the public as the first unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Approximately 1,700 feet long and 580 feet wide, Alcatraz Island occupies a commanding position nearly four miles directly east of the entrance to the bay. Fog and high winds frequently pour in from the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate to buffet the island. Precipitous cliffs ring the island, rising as high as 50 feet from the water. The bare rock of the island is today covered by a thin layer of imported soil and vegetation and dotted with structures associated with the island’s military and prison history. While the island is dominated by the large buildings associated with the military and federal prisons, including the imposing cellhouse perched on the top terrace, contributing features also include many smaller buildings and structures, garden areas, roads, sidewalks, and topographic features. During the mid‑19th Century it was an impressive fortress guarding, along with Fort Point and, later, Angel Island, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. As a fortress, it was as nearly impregnable as technology of the time could make it – an “American Gibraltar” – and it was crowned with a brick/masonry “Citadel” which may have been unique in the annals of American military architecture. In later years it served as a military prison, and in more recent times became a Federal penitentiary and one of America’s most famous penal institutions, with a reputation rivaling France’s Devil’s Island. As a Federal prison, it housed dangerous criminals, those whom it was believed were too unmanageable for incarceration in other Federal prisons. Its location in the Bay rendered Alcatraz nearly escape‑proof. Alcatraz Island has been the site of events that have had an important impact on the nation as a whole from before the Civil War through an Indian Occupation of the 1970s. Maritime commerce was aided by the first U.S. lighthouse on the Pacific Coast built here in 1854. By the start of the Civil War, Alcatraz was the key fort in the center of the most important Pacific port in 19th century America, mounted the first permanent cannons on the West Coast, and featured a brick and masonry defensive barracks that may have been unique in the annals of American military architecture. In the areas of both military and social history, Alcatraz is noteworthy because it was the first army prison in the nation. When it became a civilian penitentiary in 1934, it quickly gained attention due to its association with many of the most infamous criminals of the gangster era and the bloody escape attempts made from there. It is representative of the far end of the penological spectrum, since it was a prison designed for punishment and incarceration only, rather than rehabilitation. It is of national importance in this regard because of its use as the repository of incorrigibles throughout the Federal prison system. The period of significance stretches from 1847, when the island was first surveyed for the military fortifications, to 1971, when the NPS acquired the island. This period of significance covers the military fortifications period (1847‑1907), the military prison period (1907‑1933), the federal prison period (1933‑1963), and the public lands period (1963‑1971). The current landscape of Alcatraz Island is a collection of landscape characteristics and features that date from each of the historic periods.

Alcatraz Island: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, National Park Service

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