Many patrons have asked about the names and dates of the Potato, Cowell, Lime, Gharkey's, Powder Mill, Railroad, Steamship , Electric, Pleasure, and Municipal wharfs. A partial timeline was created from many resources found in the Map Room and from Ross E. Gibson's writings about the wharfs. The Potato Wharf was built in 1849 and bought by Jordan and Davis. Henry Cowell bought the wharf and the name changed to the Lime Wharf (Sanborn slide-1888, p.12). In 1855 , David Gharkey built Gharkey's Wharf. The South Pacific Railroad was the next owner in 1887 and changed the name to the Railroad Wharf. The Powder Mill Wharf was built by Gharkey sometime during the Civil War and in the 1870's it became the Steamship Wharf. In 1904 the Electric Pier was constructed and it became the Pleasure Pier. 1914 was the date that the first Municipal Wharf was constructed and it was destroyed in 1922. All of these piers were located near Main and Beach Streets in Santa Cruz.
Posted by terry at April 4, 2006 03:49 PM | TrackBack