Hall, William Hammond, 1846-1934

William Hammond Hall was born in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1846 and moved to Stockton, California with his parents in 1853. He attended a private academy 1858-1865. He married Kate FitzHugh December 22, 1870 in San Francisco, and the couple had three daughters. Hall worked as a draftsman and surveyor following the Civil War. Awarded the contract for the topographic survey of Golden Gate Park by the San Francisco Board of Park Commissioners, in 1871 he was appointed Engineer and Superintendent of Parks, planning and improving Golden Gate Park until 1876, when he was appointed first State Engineer by the governor. In 1889 he was appointed a Supervising Engineer of the U.S. Irrigation Investigation Service. He then worked for several years in private practice as civil engineer. Following work in Europe, South Africa and Russia, he returned to California, where he managed properties in the Lake Eleanor and Cherry Creek water sheds, later acquired by the City of San Francisco for a water supply. Hall died in San Francisco in 1934.