1956 Map of San Mateo

About this map

San Francisco Bay defines the eastern edge of this mid-century landscape, where the tidal flats of Seal Slough and Belmont Slough meet the rapid post-war expansion of the Peninsula. The map captures a moment of significant transition, with the purple-tinted revisions of the early 1970s showing the emergence of Foster City on Brewer Island, a massive land-reclamation project replacing former marshlands. To the west, the residential patterns of Hillsborough and Burlingame climb toward Pulgas Ridge, bordered by the protected waters of the San Francisco Fish and Game Refuge and San Andreas Lake. Civic and leisure life are well-documented through landmarks like the Bay Meadows Racetrack, the Fiesta Grounds, and the College of Notre Dame. Transportation corridors including the Southern Pacific railroad and the Bayshore Freeway anchor the urban development of San Mateo and Belmont.