Outside Lands

Today, after extensive development, the area consists of Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, and well-developed neighborhoods.

After years of court battles, on March 8, 1866, Congress passed an Act ending the litigation and settling the title to the Outside Lands against the claims of squatters.

During the course of lengthy litigation over the Outside Lands, local politicians, led by Frank McCoppin, and residents of San Francisco, rallied for the establishment of a public park in the western quarter of the city.

Mayor Henry P. Coon worked with a three-member special committee of the Board of Supervisors, which had surveys and maps made of all the Outside Lands, at a cost of $12,000.

The committee also proposed an arrangement whereby squatters could donate a portion of their claims for a public park in return for clear title to the remainder of their lands.

“The sand dunes of Golden Gate Park before they were converted into a garden; view from the old Seal Rock House , taken in 1865”
The Outside Lands in 2011 shown from the northwest, with Lands End and the Richmond District in the foreground, then Golden Gate Park (the rectangle) and the Sunset District at center-right
Aerial view of today's Golden Gate Park, which was once known as the Outside Lands