Category Archives: Pillar Point

From the “Half Moon Bay Review,”1960s “Expansion of the present missile tracking station on Pillar Point will be started soon, a reliable report said this week. “At present the station is regarded as a key observation spot for tracking missiles … Continue reading →

Tracking Station….. (Photo courtesy Jerry Koontz)

Some kind of a survey had already been made supporting the idea that a railway could be built from San Mateo to the shores of Half Moon Bay. Assuming this iron road was constructed (which it wasn’t) experts said the … Continue reading →

There were those who wanted to see fortifications built at Pillar Point because they believed the combination of a calm sea and smooth beach would make it easy for a large enemy force to land quickly. “There is no beach,” … Continue reading →

All efforts to protect San Francisco from invasion by a foreign enemy was useless, it was believed in 1891, unless something was done at Pillar Point, some kind of fortifications. The federal government’s partially completed survey of the coastline between … Continue reading →

In 1891–as today–Pillar Point cast its dramatic shadow over the northern part of the crescent shaped bay. This was a very old cliff, a familiar landmark standing guard, towering some 180 feet above the Pacific Ocean–where coastal steamers anchored during … Continue reading →

“Instead of being as formerly the outpost of the earth, San Francisco is at the present time practically almost as near London as Halifax, and within 20 days from the declaration of war an army of 30,000 British troops could … Continue reading →