India Basin and the surrounding Hunters Point neighborhood share a storied history, characteristic of the development of the wider region. Much of the peninsula and tidal flats remained uninhabited until the 1860s when proximity to a booming San Francisco made the area a strategic location. Construction of the California Dry Dock Company at the eastern tip of the peninsula in 1866 presaged the growth of maritime manufacturing and commerce. Beginning around 1870, San Francisco’s bay scow schooner building industry began relocating to India Basin from Potrero Point and Islais Creek. Attracted by the availability of inexpensive land with deep water access, boat builders lined the southern edge of India Cove with boatyards alongside several Chinese shrimp camps.
