Growing pains in Old Sausalito

Larry Clinton/Sausalito Historical Society

In February 1985 the Sausalito News carried an article entitled “Sausalito, Past and Present,” which chronicled the challenges faced by the early developers:

The gentlemen who first conceived the idea of the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company did not profit by the scheme. Nearly half a million dollars was paid for the land. Large sums were expended for the various improvements and the anticipated real estate boom did not come. 

Few lots could be disposed of and under the strain the Company became seriously embarrassed. Nearly all the original incorporators fell by the roadside and yielded up their stock. Of the 20 gentlemen by whom the Company was brought into existence only five now have other than a sentimental interest in its affairs. The balance, to be expressive though inelegant, were “frozen out.”

Still there was a constant progress — a slow, but at least healthy development. Each year saw some new improvement added, some new houses built, some gain in population. The town received quite a little boom when the North Pacific Coast Railroad was constructed. The shops were naturally located at Sausalito, as the tide-water terminus of the line and the presence of forty or fifty additional families made a very perceptible change for the better. 

Doubtless the advance would have been more rapid, had the Land and Ferry Company been less hampered financially, and able to carry into effect all the plans contemplated. The managers did their best, but could not compete successfully with the great corporations that were furnishing traveling facilities to other suburban sections with a lavish hand. The ferry-boat was a relic of antiquity, slow, ill arranged and uncomfortable, and it was only profitable to run it two or three trips a day. When we compare it to the floating palaces and half hourly trips that Oakland and Alameda enjoyed, the only wonder is Sausalito was patronized at all. 

In the fall of 1882 the town’s first boom began. The ferry line was leased to the North Pacific Coast Railroad and the magnificent steamboat of that company was put on the route. At the same time the Land and Ferry Company was acquiring new blood and became easier and therefore more active. The altered condition of things was soon made apparent. Lots were sold by the dozen. Scarcely a week passed without several sales being placed of record. 

Houses went up in every direction, new businesses were established and the sleepy little hamlet of the past woke up and began to assume the appearance and ambitions of prosperity. Mr. Robt. George, the efficient Secretary of the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company, was able not only to clear the corporation almost entirely from debt, but also to make a number of needed and costly improvements.

Such is the briefest possible outline of Sausalito’s past. The town is today a thriving community of about 1,500 inhabitants. It contains about 50 places of business including eight hotels, two restaurants, three livery stables, three blacksmith shops, two news agencies, one barber shop, one bakery, two boat houses, seven general merchandise houses, and a very fair representation of saloons.

Well, progress is progress . . . saloons and all.