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Before the Europeans founded the island it was owned or occupied by Natives (Ohlone). The Natives believed it contained evil spirts. The Europeans first discovered in in 1769 and named it Isla de los Alcatraces or Island of pelicans and later was changed to Alcatraz.
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California becomes U.S. property at the end of the Mexican-American War. Gold is discovered along the American River and the Gold Rush begins.
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In 1850 is when the real construction began for the rest of the island. It took several years to get this done. A lot of different things delayed the building of the small island. Workers would dig for gold and supplies were hard to come by. In 1857, two men were killed in a landslide. Fort Alcatraz was agreat defense for soldiers, in fact a civil war had broken out in 1861. The waters of 53 degrees and swift currents made it impossible to leave the island.
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There now began some serious construction on the fort. Barracks, office buildings were built. They preceived the ruggedness and terrain as a good defense. They also finished the first lighthouse on the Pacific Coast.
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Captain Joseph Stweart and 86 men of Company H, Third U.S> Artillery take command of Alcatraz.
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J.M. Chapmman, a Confederate privateer ship, is seized and the crew of the ship is arrested and imprisoned on Alcatraz. To fit these prisoners a lower prison, a temporary wooden structure, is built. Soon other prison structures are added on to it
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Not only did criminals go to Alcatraz, but Native Americans were sent there as well! In 1895 Nineteen members of the Hopi Tribe are imprisoned for resisting the policy of forced education and they did not comply to government "standards".
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The Spanish-American War results in the prison being overcrowded having not enough room for all of its prisoners.
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The upper prison (Alcatraz's second prison) is built on their parade ground.
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Alcatraz is designated as the "Pacific Branch, U.S. Military Prison". This occured around the time of World War One. Not only were military prisoners brought there but so were German prisoners.
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A brand new cellis built due to convict labor. This is Alcatrza's third prison which still stands today! It is completed and the prisoners move in.
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Alcatraz is transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons making it a maximum prison. 32 of the worst military prisoners, such as Al Capone, remained on the island in civilian custody.
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What was thought to be impossible Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe managed to escape from Alcatraz. They escaped through a hole in the prison's tire repair shop. The officers assumed the men drowned although they never did find the bodies. In 1941, four years later, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter declared that the pair were living in South America. Whether or not that was true is unknown.
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On March 21, 1963, USP Alcatraz closed after 29 years of operation because the institution was too expensive to continue operating and it was cheaper to send them elsewhere. (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day at Atlanta),
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In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Today, the island's facilities are managed by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area; it is open to tours.
