The area comprising Rincon Hill was originally a sandy peninsula forming the southern shoreline of
Yerba Buena Cove. The peninsula terminated at
Rincon Point, near Harrison and Spear streets, from which Rincon Hill derives its name.
Rincón is Spanish for "corner", and the point formed the southern corner of the cove. Prior to the
Gold Rush of 1849, the Rincon Hill area was largely unsettled, as most early development was on the north side of the Cove, near
Portsmouth Square. A wealthy land owner and state assemblyman, John Middleton, proposed the leveling of Second Street through Rincon Hill to improve access to the city's southern waterfront. The canyon split Rincon Hill in two and destabilized homes on either side. In
The Wrecker (1892),
Robert Louis Stevenson described Rincon Hill as "a new slum, a place of precarious sandy cliffs, deep sandy cuttings, solitary ancient houses and butt ends of streets." Following the quake, the
Marsden Manson report on reconstruction recommended that Rincon Hill be removed entirely to provide more flat ground close to the waterfront. Although the plan was never enacted, it resurfaced in 1913 and 1927, discouraging real estate developers from building on the hill. separated Rincon Hill from the Financial District for 30 years. With new vehicular access to the East Bay, the area was slowly built up as an industrial and maritime district, benefiting from its proximity to the
Port of San Francisco and the Southern Pacific rail yards in
Mission Bay. In 1934, Rincon Hill was the site of the
"Bloody Thursday" clashes between striking longshoreman and police, in which two maritime workers were killed, leading to a four-day general strike. In the 1950s, the
Embarcadero Freeway was constructed along Folsom Street, surrounding the neighborhood on three sides by freeway ramps, and cutting it off from the Financial District. As the city's industrial and maritime industries declined (as in most U.S. cities), the area became underutilized and rundown. From the 1960s to the mid-1980s, while the nearby Financial District was built up with dozens of new office skyscrapers, the Rincon Hill area was largely ignored. In August 2005, the City adopted a new Rincon Hill Plan, based more on
Vancouverism than the 1985 Plan, that emphasizes tall, slender, and widely spaced towers, interspaced with mid-rise podiums and walk-up townhouses. It aims to accentuate the natural topography of the city by locating the tallest skyscrapers at the top of Rincon Hill. In tandem with the
Transbay development plan just to the north, it designates Folsom Street as the commercial heart of the neighborhood. The plan calls for improving the pedestrian experience by narrowing the streets to provide more open space and providing more midblock passages. As the economy recovered, the second tower of One Rincon Hill began construction in 2012; the 320-unit
45 Lansing Street and 655-unit
LUMINA broke ground in 2013; and the 447-unit
399 Fremont Street started in 2014. In July 2015, property owners voted to approve of the formation of the Greater Rincon Hill Community Benefit District, a non-profit, public-private partnership focused on advancing the neighborhood's quality of life, enhancing its public realm, and reinforcing the viability of its economic base. In 2017, to more accurately reflect the district boundaries and to unite the Rincon Hill, Folsom Street, and Transbay areas, the non-profit's name was changed to the East Cut Community Benefit District. ==See also==