Spreckels Sugar Factory on Potrero Shore

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Unfinished History

Claus Spreckels and his descendants ran one of the most successful sugar refining businesses in San Francisco from about the 1880s well into the 20th century.

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Spreckels' Sugar Factory beneath Potrero Hill, c. 1890s

Photo: Bancroft Library


Western Sugar Refinery AAC-7616.jpg

Western Sugar Refinery, n.d., near Union Iron Works, San Francisco.

Photo: San Francisco History Center, SF Public Library


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Old Spreckels Sugar Factory at end of 23rd Street early 1970s.

Photo: Robert Durden Color Slide Collection, San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

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The 1905 Sanborn Insurance map shows the configuration of the Spreckels Sugar works and the other industrial facilities in the area.

Map: Courtesy of David Rumsey

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Remnants of the old power house that was part of the sugar refining complex, c. 2008.

Photo: Chris Carlsson

Sugar workers (women) behind Spreckels Sugar Factor, 23rd Street 1919 wnp27.2836.jpg

Sugar workers behind Spreckels Sugar Factory on 23rd Street, 1919.

Photo: OpenSFhistory.org wnp27.2836