At the October 2009 AC Transit Transbay Taskforce meeting, attendees were treated to a great historical presentation. Heather Price from William Self Associates presented facts and findings from the excavation process related to the construction of San Francisco's Temporary Transbay Terminal. She was followed with a presentation by Joyce Oishi on the salvage and historical preservation efforts within the existing Transbay Terminal. Several smaller items salvaged from the Terminal will be on display in an interpretive exhibit at the new Transbay Transit Center (not the Temporary Terminal), while larger items not taken by local museums will be properly recycled.

1. Archaeology
October 13, 2009

2. Regulatory
Guidelines
Section 106 National Historic Preservation Act (1966)
106,
– TJPA must take into account the effect of the program on historic
properties
– Historic Properties are buildings, structures, objects, sites, districts, or
archaeological resources that are listed, or eligible for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
• Historic building recordation
• Archaeological treatment p
g plan (
(testing, data recovery)
g, y)

3. Historic Context
of the
Transbay Transit Center
Neighborhood

4. Prehistory
P hi t
Locations o
oca o s of
known prehistoric
archaeological
sites

5. Spanish
Period
from 1776

6. Post Gold Rush
View from Rincon Hill, 1851
Temporary Terminal (Block 2)
Fremont Street

7. Post Gold Rush
1856 photo
Folsom and Second streets

8. Second Street Cut
1869 view north

9. Industrial Development
p
Temporary Terminal
Risdon Ironworks
View from Harrison and Main 1872

10. 1906 Earthquake and
Fire
Third and Howard streets

11. Transportation
T t ti
Center
1930s

12. History of Land Formation

13. Archaeology
A h l
of the
Region

14. 300 Spear Street Site
1906-1950s
8 to10 feet deep
Brick warehouse foundation

15. 300 Spear Street Site
10 to 15 feet deep
thick layer of coal coated floor
Mineral Water
12

16. 300 Spear Street
Lumber Yard
ca.1886
Walkway
Fallen fence
Wood-lined well
Photo 1872

17. 300 Spear Street Site
Wood-lined Well
ca. 1886
Child’s Shoe
Marbles

18. 300 Spear Street Site
Artifacts from Well

19. 300 Spear Street Site
Ship-breaking yard
1850-1857
1850 1857
15 to 21 feet deep

20. 300 Spear Street Site
Whaling Barque Candace, 1818-1855
28 feet deep

21. 300 Spear Street Site
S pya d artifacts
Shipyard a ac s
pre-1857
Pulley Rope
Pipe Spike

22. Emeryville Site
Prehistoric spear points
ca. 1,200 years old

23. Salvageable Items

24. Mitigation Measures in FEIS/EIR
Cultural and historic resources are addressed
in the Mitigation Measures adopted as p of
g p part
FEIS/EIR of April 2004 by:
• Transbay Joint Powers Authority
• Federal Transit Administration
• Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
• City and County of San Francisco
• San Francisco Redevelopment Agency

25. Memorandum of Agreement
Memorandum of Agreement addressing
historic and archaeological properties was
executed in June 2004 by:
• Federal Transit Administration
• California State Historic Preservation Officer
• Transbay Joint Powers Authority
• City and County of San Francisco
• Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board
• California Department of Transportation

26. Salvageable Items
• MOA requires interpretive exhibit in new
Transit Center
• MOA requires salvageable items be
offered to other interested agencies

27. Transbay Terminal
y
1939 photo courtesy of
Paul C. Trimble
Collection
published in
The Bay Bridge
Arcadia Publishing, 2005

28. The Present

29. Salvageable Items
g
Documenting Salvageable Items
• Archival research
• 1993 historical assessment report by Caltrans
• Site visits with agency staff, historians, architects
• Documentation with photographs
• Conversations with Terminal and Caltrans staff
---------------------------------------------------------
Categorization of items
• Architectural features
• Artifacts/objects/ephemera
• Historic
• Non historic
• Art

30. Historic Architectural Features

32. Historic Objects and Artifacts

33. CONTACT INFORMATION
Transbay Joint Powers Authority
201 Mission Street, Suite 2100
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 597-4620
www.transbaycenter.org
www transbaycenter org
Robert Beck
Senior Program Manager
g g
rbeck@transbaycenter.org