El Campo | |
|---|---|
Private recreational facility | |
  El Campo Location in California  El Campo El Campo (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 37°53′51″N 122°27′55″W / 37.89750°N 122.46528°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Marin County |
| Elevation | 56 ft (17 m) |
El Campo (later renamed Paradise Beach) was a picnic resort established in 1891 by the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad[2] in hopes of increasing ridership on their ferries between San Francisco and Marin. Facilities at the resort included a dance pavilion, merry-go-round, bowling alley, fishing pier, shooting gallery and over 100 acres of picnic grounds. The resort became such a popular attraction that crowds lined up on the pier in San Francisco on the weekend to catch the ferry to the resort. Because the site was only accessible by ferry, a local newspaper wrote that families could enjoy "absolute freedom from the incursions of hoodlums."[3]
The name, El Campo, is derived from a Spanish phrase meaning "the flat country".[4] The site was located on the San Francisco Bay, 3 miles (4.8 km) south-southeast of Point San Quentin.[2]
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: El Campo, California
- ^ a b Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 628. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
- ^ Thompson, Laurie (August 9, 2013). "El Campo: An Oasis in Early Marin". Annie T Kent California Room. Marin County Free Library.
- ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 116.