Pioneer Park

Pioneer Park is identified by the two hundred and ten foot tall, slender concrete column of Coit Tower rising from the crest of Telegraph Hill. This five-acre public park occupies the summit where a marine telegraph station once signaled arriving ships until a storm destroyed it in eighteen seventy-six. Seeking to prevent the hilltop from being sold for private commercial development, a group of businessmen including George Hearst purchased the land and donated it to the city during the United States centennial.