Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park has been renamed Blue Heron Lake, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission decided Thursday.
The lake was originally named for former California State Assembly Speaker William Stow, who served in the Assembly between 1854 and 1857, and on the city’s park commission in the 1890s.
Stow was an antisemite who publicly called for eliminating California of its Jewish population, and tried to tax Jews to discourage them from opening businesses.
Last year, San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar spearheaded an effort to rename the lake. Among name suggestions were civil rights leaders, writers, politicians, philanthropists, early park employees, local indigenous communities and native wildlife.
Recreation and Park commissioners voted 4-3 to approve Blue Heron Lake, which was the public’s most-suggested name.
“Blue herons nest on Stow Lake’s Strawberry Hill in April and May, and are a symbol of resilience, progress and evolution for the indigenous community,” the recreation and park department said in a news release.
In addition, the names of Stow Lake Drive and Stow Lake Boathouse were replaced by Blue Heron Lake Drive and Blue Heron Lake Boathouse.
The new names are effective immediately.
Golden Gate Park’s largest body of water, the lake was created in 1893. The 12-acre doughnut-shaped lake surrounds Strawberry Hill Island, a wooded hill named for the wild strawberries that once flourished on its flanks.
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