Re: The Old Mint and need for a San Francisco history museum

04/18/14 - posted by Paul Rosenberg

Back in the late 1990s, the DeYoung Museum was confronting the structural damage from the 1989 earthquake and the conclusion was that the old buildings [the museum was a combination of many buildings] could not be salvaged. In fact, the DeYoung was not able to book major shows because of the cost of insuring the exhibits. The DeYoung was limited to textile shows or shows from its collections. The board of the DeYoung wished to leave Golden Gate Park for a location along the waterfront near BART. The museum would, as a part of the move, construct a San Francisco History Museum where the old DeYoung was. This was Proposition B of November, 1996. The proposition failed with 62.6 percent yes [as a bond issue, it fell by four percent as a two-thirds majority was required.] A proposition to rebuild the DeYoung in its Golden Gate Park location was Proposition A of June, 1998, and it also failed with 64.4 percent yes vote. That's when the DeYoung Trustees raised funds to build the present DeYoung with no input from voters.

I was saddened by the failure of the 1996 proposition as it declined a San Francisco History Museum out here in the Outside Lands. Part of the proposal was to construct a spur track from Ninth and Irving serving the concourse with historic streetcars. So sad.