El Campo, California

Not to be confused with Campo, California.
El Campo
Private recreational facility
El Campo is located in California
El Campo
El Campo
Location in California
El Campo is located in the United States
El Campo
El Campo
El Campo (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°53′51″N 122°27′55″W / 37.89750°N 122.46528°W / 37.89750; -122.46528
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyMarin County
Elevation
[1]
56 ft (17 m)

El Campo (later renamed Paradise Beach) was a picnic resort established in 1891 by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad[2] in hopes of increasing ridership on their ferries between San Francisco and Marin. Facilities at the resort included a dance pavilion, merry-go-round, bowling alley, fishing pier, shooting gallery and over 100 acres of picnic grounds. The resort became such a popular attraction that crowds lined up on the pier in San Francisco on the weekend to catch the ferry to the resort. Because the site was only accessible by ferry, a local newspaper wrote that families could enjoy "absolute freedom from the incursions of hoodlums."[3]

The name, El Campo, is derived from a Spanish phrase meaning "the flat country".[4] The site was located on the San Francisco Bay, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-southeast of Point San Quentin.[2]

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: El Campo, California
  2. ^ a b Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 628. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
  3. ^ Thompson, Laurie (August 9, 2013). "El Campo: An Oasis in Early Marin". Annie T Kent California Room. Marin County Free Library.
  4. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 116.


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