1956 Map of San Francisco South

About this map

The San Andreas Rift Zone carves through the southern Peninsula in the mid-1950s, defining a landscape of rapid suburban expansion and massive memorial grounds. The town of Colma is remarkably dense with cemeteries, including Holy Cross Cemetery, Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, and the Hills of Eternity Memorial Park, serving as the primary necropolis for the region. To the east, the Bayshore Freeway and the Southern Pacific RR facilitate heavy industrial and transit movement through South San Francisco and San Bruno, leading toward the San Francisco International Airport. Along the shoreline, the map shows the footprint of the Naval Reservation at Hunters Point and the iconic Cow Palace in Visitacion Valley. This era marks a peak of post-war development as residential neighborhoods like Westlake and Ingleside reach toward the coastal ridges of Milagra Ridge and Sweeney Ridge.