Alcatraz Parade Grounds

The Parade Grounds is a large concrete open area on the south end of Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, USA. They lie beyond Building 64. They were originally built in the 1860s on a barren site by the U.S. military who used the site for military drills and parades.
After the island became a Federal Penitentiary in 1934, the Parade Grounds was used as a playground, especially on weekends and holidays, and was used host special events, often organized by the . As the nearby Building 64 aged and fell into disrepair, the operators of the prison funded several new residential blocks on the square. Gardens were developed around them, and handball and weightlifting facilities developed for the employees and their families. The children living in the quarters on the Parade Ground were known to other children and their families on Alcatraz as "the topside kids" because they lived above those residing in Building 64 on the dock below.
The island ceased use as a jail in 1963 and the residential buildings and gardens which were added were razed to the ground by the General Services Administration in the 1970s, but the foundation marks can still be seen.<ref name="Jim8"/>

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