Point Isabel is a small promontory on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in the Richmond Annex neighborhood of Richmond, USA.[1] It can be reached at the west terminus of Central Ave. from Richmond / El Cerrito.
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History
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Point Isabel is a hilltop in the ancient range of hills that also includes Albany Hill, Brooks Island, and the Potrero San Pablo. Rising sea levels following the last Ice Age formed San Francisco Bay and left the point as a rocky promontory joined to the mainland by a salt marsh that flooded at high tides. A large shell midden showed that Native Americans used the site, specifically the Huchiun Indians.[2] Because the topography has changed so drastically in recent history, modern scholars find it difficult to study the Native history in Point Isabel.[2] In the 19th Century, Pt. Isabel was part of the Rancho San Pablo owned by Don Victór Castro whose father received it in a land grant from the Mexican Republic.[3] Victor Castro named the point for his daughter Isabel. He used it as a landing for boats shipping grain and other articles across the Bay. Castro also built a landing, slaughterhouse, and a hotel on this site.[4] After the United States took control of California, Castro was forced to sell much of his land.[4] Minna Quilfeldt purchased 500 acres around this land in the 1850s. Her husband, Richard Stege, used the land to raise bullfrogs and develop a resort.[4] In later years, the land was acquired by the Du Pont subsidiary Vigoret Powder Works of San Francisco, which used it primarily to store explosives.[3] A wharf and railroad spur served the Vigoret site.[3]
In the early 20th century, "training walls" were built in this area in order to keep channels open, which resulted in a marsh developing behind these walls. This provided habitats for shorebirds and waterbirds.[4] Around the same time, Stauffer Chemical began making sulfuric acid in the area. This site continued its manufacturing until 1997. Chemicals exposed in this area include arsenic, lead, mercury, benzene, acetone, PCBs, mercury, and many others.[4] In the 1930s, the San Pablo Avenue Sportsmen’s Club used Point Isabel for fishing and duck hunting.[4] During World War II, the Navy used Point Isabel as a shooting range.[4]
The original hilltop, significantly higher than the present elevation, was dynamited for development in the 1950s. The rubble was used to fill marshlands, widening the point and connecting it to the mainland. A dump for industrial waste filled tidelands north of the original point, separated from it by a tidal channel draining Hoffmann Marsh. This area became known as "Battery Point" because of the large number of batteries buried there. Industrial uses from pesticide manufacturing to waste oil recycling, as well as a pistol range, left the land north and east of Point Isabel among the most polluted brownfield sites along San Francisco Bay, although some of these have been remediated. In recent years, part of the original point, Hoffman Marsh to the east, and later Battery Point were acquired by the East Bay Regional Parks District for its Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, and also by the State of California for its Eastshore State Park.
Current Overview
editThe peninsula features Point Isabel Regional Shoreline, a multiuse park that is one of the largest off-leash parks in the U.S. and boasts one of the best windsurfer launching areas in the East Bay. Point Isabel was created as mitigation by USPS when it built its nine-story bulk mail center on the shoreline in the mid-1970s, The south shore, restored by the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) as mitigation for freeway expansion, is part of Eastshore State Park. As part of this restoration, CalTrans built the bird-refuge shell islands visible in the ecologically important Albany Mud Flats between Point Isabel and the Albany Bulb. East Bay Regional Municipal Utility District has a wet-weather sewage-treatment plant on the west end of the peninsula, but as of 2010 it is under state orders to close. A large Costco wholesale retail big-box store, the United States Postal Service Bulk Mail Center for San Francisco, and other businesses and stores are other occupants. KNEW (AM) transmits from towers at Point Isabel's western edge.[5]
Controversy
editA 2008 proposal to add a 98,000 sq. ft. (9,100 m2) Kohl's department store on a site between the Costco Store and the Hoffman Marsh proved controversial.[6] Many residents are worried about potential negative effects on increased nighttime lighting that will make endangered birds more susceptible to predators and increased traffic along Central Avenue.[6] The Richmond Annex Neighborhood Council has officially opposed the project.[6] If built it would add 138 mostly part-time jobs and $250,000 to 350,000 dollars in annual revenues for the city of Richmond.[6] The project would also add a 4–5,000 sq. ft. (372–465 m2) commercial space for a restaurant or second retailer detached from the Kohl's; however some residents believe it should be adjacent to the 2-story Kohl's building to minimize visual impact.[6]
A portion of Point Isabel, locally known as TEPCO beach, is currently covered in thousands of pieces of broken ceramic dishware.[7] The TEPCO name is based off of the Technical Porcelain and Chinaware Company. The company was founded in 1918 and grew substantially until the death of its founder, John Pagliero, in 1968.[7] During the span of these fifty years, TEPCO discarded their broken dishware along the banks of Point Isabel. Reportedly, artist and graduate student from San Francisco State University, Casey O'Connor, dumped hundreds of quarter-sized Buddha heads along TEPCO beach. Locals go searching through the thousands of ceramic pieces to find these small Buddha heads.
Interviews recorded by Carl Wilmsen in 1999 and 2000 discuss known toxic emissions coming from Point Isabel.[8] Point Isabel served as a dumping ground for lead-filled battery casings, thus creating toxic emissions from within the soil.[9] Thousands of tons of soil was removed from this site in the 1970s and 1980s, which was supposed to have resolved the issue. However, recent lead leaks have proved that the job was not entirely completed in the 1970s and 1980s.[9] The source of the recent lead leaks has not been discovered.[9]
Notes
edit- ^ Topographic map TopoQuest, retrieved October 23, 2021
- ^ a b Archived El Cerrito Historical Society Vol. 24, No. 3. 2008, El Cerrito Historical Society, retrieved October 23, 2021
- ^ a b c Archived El Cerrito Historical Society 2006 at the Wayback Machine, El Cerrito Historical Society, retrieved October 23, 2021
- ^ a b c d e f g Five Creeks Tales of the Bay Shore Friends of Five Creeks
- ^ USGS Topographic map Information System, access date October 23, 2021
- ^ a b c d e New Kohl's Store Proposed for Richmond by Katherine Tam, East Bay Times, May 30, 2008, access date October 23, 2021
- ^ a b Why this mysterious Bay Area beach is covered in thousands of broken ceramics by Grant Marek, SF Gate,Dec 30, 2020, access date October 23, 2021
- ^ Fighting Toxic Emissions in Richmond, California 1984-2000, Henry Clark and Ahmadia Thomas, 2003, The Regents of the University of California, retrieved October 23, 2021
- ^ a b c Silva, Spencer. “Leaking Lead Found at Point Isabel.” Www.Oaklandmagazine.Com, 3 Oct. 2018, https://www.oaklandmagazine.com/leaking-lead-found-at-point-isabel/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2021.