Belmont Park was started to be a German biergarten, but it turned out to be a picnic ground in a more American style. Carl Janke bought ex-governor McDougal's place in Belmont. He envisioned a bucolic spot where gentlemen could take their leisure, sip beer and talk. The 12-acre wooded strip along Belmont Creek seemed perfectly suited for this. Janke was born in Hamburg, Germany about 1814, came to California in 1850 and to the Peninsula in 1859. He wanted a home in Belmont.
The park opened around 1866 and soon was popular with people from San Francisco. It was not to be the typical biergarten that Janke envisioned. It attracted small American-style family picnics and huge organizational celebrations. Janke juggled his diverse clientele on the three days a week the park was open. Wednesday was the day for quiet Sunday School picnics. Sunday was for the bigger and more boisterous crowds. That was when they hired the bands and tapped the kegs.
The main entrance to Belmont Park was on Ralston Avenue near 6th Avenue. At the large white gate a fee was collected for the use of the grounds. Up Ralston Avenue was the carriage entrance and stables. To the South was Janke's home.
Along the creek there was an amusement park with a merry-go-round. A dance pavilion that could accommodate 300 was built around a tree trunk. There was a bar at one end and an ice cream parlor at the other.
There was also a dining hall and some refreshment stands. Janke had a track built for foot racing and pony cart racing. There was a shooting gallery for sharpshooters.
Other early German immigrants to the Peninsula had started breweries to produce their favorite beverage, but Janke and his partner Henry Carstans manufactured soda. Their plant was located on Old County Road near Ralston Avenue in Belmont. They started the operation in 1875 and had a ready market at Janke's place. They produced sarsaparilla of several different varieties.
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Steamers brought people by way of Ralston's pier at Belmont. At night they could return to the city by special train. One Sunday in 1876, a party of 8,000 members of the Odd Fellows Lodge made the trek in 75 railroad cars. Over time, the crowds became more unruly. It was the scene of a kidnapping, when little Annie Mooney disappeared and was never found. Then in 1880, there was a shoot-out between rival San Francisco gangs during which Dave Condon killed Jerry Stanton. Janke installed a private jail under the dance pavilion, and the Southern Pacific hired special police to monitor the excursion trains. Still, violence and vandalism plagued the peaceful picnickers.
Janke retired, and the management of the park fell to his sons.
Finally, the railroad refused to carry the picnic groups to or from Belmont due to their uncontrollable behavior. This contributed to the demise of the enterprise in the late 1890s.
The park closed and the land was converted to other purposes. In 1906, George L. Center built a sturdy home on the grounds. Later it became the site of a sanitarium for treating nervous disorders and alcoholism.
Now, Twin Pines Park marks the location of Janke's dream for a biergarten.
Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 777 Hamilton St., Redwood City.
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