Surrounded by the cold water of the largest bay on the West Coast of the United States, Alcatraz Island housed the most dreaded maximum security prison and the oldest American lighthouse. For 29 years no one had successfully escaped from there … or so they thought.
From Lighthouse to a Prison
The first registered owner of the island was Julian Workman, who was appointed in June 1846 by Mexican Governor Pio Pico to build a lighthouse. In 1848, at the end of the American-Mexican War, California, along with the island, became the property of the United States. In the early 1860s, when the Civil War broke out, Alcatraz served as a place to protect and store firearms for the San Francisco arsenal.
Realizing its strategic position, a fortress began to be built with 11 cannons placed on top. During the war, Confederate sympathizers were sent to the island. In 1868, after the construction of the brick prison, it was officially designated to serve as a long-term place of detention for military prisoners.
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