The following historic Water Maps contributed
to the development of the Conceptual
Master Plan for the OMI / Excelsior Living Library & Think Park,
which incorporates the ecological, built, and multicultural resources
of the area - past, present, and future. These resources include:
a high water table and the underground, currently flooding, Islais
Creek; the Muwekma Ohlone Indians who once lived here; the later
historic agricultural gardens and nurseries on the site; and the
rich multicultural diversity today.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map 1913-1915
This old map shows a portion of the "L" shaped piece of land
and the original path of the Islais Creek, which still flows underneath
the Balboa High School site and floods the basement of the High
School cafeteria and many houses in its path. It also clearly
shows areas on the Balboa site where vegetable gardens once grew.
Additionally, on both the Balboa and adjacent James Denman Middle
School site, one can clearly see nurseries and hot houses labled.
It clearly shows the presence of historic agriculture and horticulture.
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1907 Block Map
This map shows the former Lake Geneva and labels clearly the
Islais Creek. This is the southernmost fork of the Islais Creek
Watershed which joins with another northeastern fork that is daylighted
and flows from Glen Park Canyon. These two forks join together
and move east to the San Francisco Bay. Another more northerly
fork is linked in the area under Cesar Chavez Street (fomerly
Army Street) at Potrero Avenue, the site of the original Crossroads
Community (the farm), the project that the Director of A Living
Library, also founded and directed. A long-range goal of A Living
Library is to see if we can daylight other portions of Islais
Creek, along its path, and rehabilitate riparian habitat.
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Sanborn Insurance Map 1913-1928
This map show both Lake Geneva and Islais Creek, and the "L"
shaped piece of land. But is incorrect, in that the source of
Islais Creek is not Lake Geneva, as implied by this map. Rather,
the source comes from other locations including San Bruno Mountain,
further south and east of the site.
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