Timeline San Francisco 1893-1929
Return to home
1893 Aug 10,
Chinese were deported from SF under the 1892 Exclusion Act.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1893 Dec 2, Pauline C. Fryer
(b.1833), stage performer and Union spy during the Civil War, died
in San Francisco.
(www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6333443)
1893 Dec 28, Articles of
incorporation were signed for Mary’s Help Hospital. Construction
began in 1903 and the facility opened in 1912.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1893 The SF Japanese Tea Garden
was built in Golden Gate Park as part of the 1894 Midwinter Fair. It
was designed by Baron Makoto Hagiwara.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A6)(BS, 5/3/98, p.5R)(Ind,
9/28/02, 5A)
1893 The SF Gas Light Company
built its bricks gasworks building at 3640 Buchanon.
(SFEM, 10/22/00, p.36)
1893 In SF a firehouse was
built at 1152 Oak St. The structure still stood in 2001. Another
firehouse, built on Washington St. west of Broderick, was
decommissioned in 1964. It was later owned by Jerry Brown, who sold
it to adman Hal Riney. In 2005 Riney sold the Washington St.
firehouse for close to $4 million to John Traina, a former shipping
executive.
(SFC, 4/13/01, WBb p.1)(SFC, 12/10/05, p.C2)
1893 Adolph Sutro was elected
mayor of SF. He served to 1897.
(G, Winter 98/99, p.2)
1893 The San Francisco-San
Mateo Railroad Company began service to Daly City on a line referred
to as the Joost Line.
(GTP, 1973, p.73)
1893 The San Andreas Fault was
detected.
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.17)
1893 In San Francisco the
cascade at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park was first turned on. In
1894 it was dedicated and named Huntington Falls after Collis P.
Huntington, who contributed $25,000 for the project. The falls
collapsed in 1962 and were turned off for 22 years.
(Ind, 10/28/00, 5A)(SSFC, 6/7/09, DB p.46)
1893 In San Francisco Fr.
Edward Allan, SJ (1849-1911) took over the administration of St.
Ignatius College.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1893 Catherine Birdsall Johnson
(b.1834), philanthropist, died at age 60. She left a third of her
estate, some half million dollars, to the church to endow a
free hospital to benefit the poor women and children of SF.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1893-1894 The Fallon building at Market, Octavia
and Page streets was built by and named after Carmel Fallon, former
wife of San Jose mayor Thomas Fallon. Carmel Fallon was the daughter
of Gen’l. Joaquin Castro, the former governor of Mexican California.
(SFC,11/12/97, p.A15)(SFC, 7/16/98, p.A15)
1893-1905 Growth of the city westward led to the
building of Victorian and Edwardian homes along Haight Street.
(SFEC,12/797, p.B12)
1894 Jan, Golden Gate Park was
the site of the Mid-Winter International Exposition and featured an
Electric Tower, a Fine Arts Building and a Royal Pavilion. The
Tennis courts were situated at their current site. It was the result
of a campaign led by Michael de Young, founding publisher of the SF
Chronicle, following his visit to Chicago’s 1893 Columbian
Exposition. The Egyptian-styled fine arts building became the M.H.
de Young Memorial Museum.
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.4)(SFC, 7/29/97,
p.A5,6)(SFC, 10/3/97, p.A22) (SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)
1894 Jan, The Japanese Tea
Garden in Golden Gate Park was designed for the Exposition by Makoto
Hagiwara, inventor of the fortune cookie (1914).
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A24)
1894 Jan, The "Prayer Book
Cross" sculpture, a sandstone copy of a Celtic cross, was made for
the Mid-Winter Fair and remained in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1894 Mar 21, The M.H. de Young
Museum opened in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 4/898, p.A22)
1894 Apr, The cascade at Stow
Lake was dedicated and named Huntington Falls after Collis P.
Huntington, who contributed $25,000 for the project.
(Ind, 10/28/00, 5A)
1894 Jul, The Midwinter Fair at
Golden Gate Park closed down. 2.5 million people had attended.
(Ind, 10/28/00, 5A)
1894 Dec 25, The Cliff House
burned down. Adolph Sutro had it rebuilt, ornamented with towers and
turrets in a haughty 8-story French chateau style. It also later
burned down and was rebuilt by his daughter. It burned down again in
1907.
(G, Winter 98/99, p.2)(SFC, 4/14/99, Z1
p.4)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1894 Artist Solly Walter called
upon bodybuilder Eugene Sandow, who juggled dumbbells and lifted
horses for the fair, to serve as a model for his lecture: "The
Relation of Muscle to Art."
(SFEM, 4/11/99, p.35)
1894 A wood frame structure was
erected at 573-575 Castro St. It later became the camera shop of
Harvey Milk and was voted for landmark status in 2000.
(SFC, 2/25/00, p.A21)
1894 Beer town was a Richmond
district neighborhood built to serve patrons of the Midwinter Fair
in GG Park.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A15)
1894 Old St. Mary’s began to
run under the direction of the missionary Paulist Fathers.
(SFC, 4/7/96, p.B-10)
1894 The Mission of the Good
Shepherd, a resettlement home for newly arrived and indigent
Americans, was begun. It was later renamed the Canon Kip Community
House after Rev. William Kip, grandson of the first Episcopal Bishop
of California.
(SFC, 9/15/98, p.A9)
1894 The 30-foot-tall Pioneer
Monument was erected at Hyde and Grove streets. It was a historic
tableau of life in early California. The monument was later moved a
block up on Hyde to make room for the new SF Main Library.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-13)
1894 The new YMCA building at
Mason and Ellis was completed. It was dedicated in 1903 when the
debt was paid off.
(SFC, 5/13/99, p.A21)
1894 The SF Mint struck 24
Liberty dimes (1894-S). Philadelphia minted 1.3 million and New
Orleans produced 720,000. The SF dimes were produced by the mint
director as a special gift for visiting big shots. In 1980 a SF
minted 1894-S dime sold for $160,000. In 2007 an 1894-S dime sold
for $1.9 million.
(SFC, 9/23/05, p.F3)(SFC, 7/27/07, p.A11)
1894 The SF Bay ferry steamer
Sausalito was launched from the Fulton Iron Works in San Francisco.
The ship was retired in 1933 and in 1934 became the clubhouse of the
Sportsmen Yacht Club in Antioch, Ca.
(SFC, 11/30/05, p.B1)
1894 Buffalo were introduced to
Golden Gate Park. [see 1890]
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.5)(SFC, 7/29/97,
p.A6)
1894-1895 Matthew Kavanagh built the homes later
known as "Queen Anne Postcard Row."
(SFCM, 6/9/02, p.25)
1895 Nov 2, In San Francisco
the Chutes amusement park first opened on Haight Street, featuring
the shoot-the-chutes water slide. It relocated to Fulton Street and
10th Avenue in 1902 and was extremely popular right after the 1906
earthquake and fire, because it was the only amusement park and
theater that survived. In the post-quake years, Fillmore Street
became the entertainment area, with numerous nickelodeons and other
attractions. The Chutes on Fulton Street closed after New Years Eve,
1908, and reopened on Fillmore and Turk Streets on July 14, 1909,
but without the shoot-the-chutes. The New Chutes offered a host of
other amusement attractions and soon built a first class vaudeville
Theater, where in 1910, Sophie Tucker revived her career after being
black-balled by Flo Ziegfeld back in New York. The New Chutes would
burn on the Memorial Day weekend of the opening of the Summer
season, on May 29, 1911, the same weekend that Dreamland at Coney
Island would be destroyed on the other side of the continent. The
theater was saved, but the entire wooden Chutes amusement park was
destroyed and never reopened.
(AJSF, Vol. 14. No. 2, Winter, 2003)
1895 Nov, The Ingleside Race
Track opened on Thanksgiving Day and Semper Lex won the feature
Palace Hotel Stakes. Gambler Ed Corrigan led a group of investors
that formed the Pacific Jockey Club and bought 148 acres for the
track.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A2)
1895 The Jewish Bush Street
Temple went up at 1881 Bush St.
(SFCM, 7/18/04, p.8)
1895 The Ohabai Shalome Temple
was built. It closed in 1934. In 2003 it was made part of the
Japantown Kokoro Assisted Living Center.
(SFC, 9/2/03, p.A11)
1895 The Swedenborgian Church
in Pacific Heights, 2107 Lyon, was built by a consortium of artists,
architects, and spiritual followers in the Arts and Crafts style.
(SFEM, 6/27/99, p.49)
1895 The DeYoung Museum was
constructed. It was damaged so severely in an earthquake that its
trustees voted to tear it down and replace it.
(WSJ, 11/16/95, p.A-18)
1895 McLaren Lodge, a
combination home and park office, was constructed.
(Ind, 10/28/00, 5A)
1895 St. Mark's Lutheran Church
at O'Farrell and Franklin was dedicated. The construction was
overseen by pastor Julius Fuendeling (d.1912).
(SFC, 10/16/99, p.A20)
1895 Carville was a turn of the
century community on the dunes south of GG Park. It was built of
discarded streetcars and cable cars and later became the Outer
Sunset. A railway company sold off horse-drawn trolleys for $20 with
seats and $10 without seats. These formed the framework for many
beachside houses.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A15)(SFC, 1/14/99, p.D10)
1895 Gov. H.H. Markham
appointed Moses A. Gunst, millionaire cigar retailer, as a SF police
commissioner. Gunst served for 8 years and pushed through reforms
that included police uniforms and paddy wagons.
(Ind, 3/2/02, 5A)
1895 William Randolph Hearst
bought the New York Journal for $180,000 and moved to NYC.
(SFEM, 11/8/98, p.16)(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A9)
1895 A new normal school was
started in SF attached to the Girl's High School. The SF Girl's High
School separated from the normal school. The new institution was
named the SF Normal School and located on Powell between Clay and
Sacramento.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1895 Charlie Fey, a German
immigrant, sold the first Liberty Bell nickel slot machine, to a San
Francisco saloon keeper.
(SFEC, 5/30/99, Z1 p.8)
1895 A fierce gale wrecked the
Samson wrecking schooner while it was at work dismantling the
ill-fated steamer City of New York.
(G, Winter 96/97, p.3)
1895-1897 The 5 brick barracks along Montgomery
St. in the Presidio were constructed. Each one housed 2 companies of
109 men.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1895-1942 The Hagiwara Family operated the
Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park. In 1914 Makoto Hagiwara
introduced the fortune cookie.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(SFC, 9/7/05, p.F4)
1896 Mar 3, Snow fell in SF and
accumulated to 1.0 inch.
(SFEM, 12/22/96, p.20)
1896 Jul 25, An estimated 5,000
cyclists gathered in SF to demonstrate for better roads.
(Ind, 8/2/03, p.5A)
1896 Sep, The Univ. of the
Pacific School of Dentistry was founded by Doctor Charles A. Boxton
as the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.E8)
1896 Henry Doelger (d.1978), SF
and Daly City home builder, was born in SF.
(www.dalycityhistory.org/westlake/doelgerprofile.htm)
1896 The Presidio gate at
Lombard St. was constructed to mark the boundaries of the post and
to improve the post’s appearance.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1896 In San Francisco
construction began on the Ferry Building at the foot of Market St.
and its 235-foot clock tower. It was completed in 1898.
(SFC, 1/3/97, p.A1,4)(SSFC, 4/25/10, p.A2)
1896 The Moorish-Gothic McLaren
Lodge on the edge of Golden Gate Park was built as the home of John
McLaren.
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.4)
1896 The S.F.F.D. Engine
Company 33 at 117 Broad Street opened and served until 1974.
It was turned into a museum.
(SFEM, 3/30/97, p.4)
1896 Newly-elected Gov. James
H. Budd attempted to oust Moses A. Gunst from his position as SF
police commissioner.
(Ind, 3/2/02, 5A)
1896 The Anchor Brewing Co. was
named by Ernst Baruth and Otto Schinkel. They brewed beer at Pacific
Ave. and Larkin St. It later moved to 8th and Bryant and then to
Kansas and 17th before settling on Mariposa St. by Potrero Hill.
(SFC, 10/8/97, Z1 p.4)(SFC, 3/3/99, Z1 p.9)
1896 The Emporium opened at 841
Market St. at the site of the original site of St. Ignatius College.
The property had been purchased from the college and developed by
Abigail Parrot. The Beaux Arts façade was the only part of
the building to survive the 1906 earthquake.
(Ind, 11/24/01, 5A)(SSFC, 9/24/06, p.D1)
1896 A scandal erupted when
inspectors determined that 31 cows at the Almshouse were suffering
from tuberculosis.
(PI, 5/30/98, p.5A)
1896 Mission High School on
18th St. began operations. The original campus burned in 1922.
(SFCM, 8/15/04, p.12)
1896 In San Francisco Fr. John
P. Frieden, SJ (1844-1911) succeeded Fr. Allan as president of St.
Ignatius College. Frieden continued for the next 12 years.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1896 Antoine Borel, San
Francisco banker and Swiss consul, purchased the medieval castle of
Gorgier in the Canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland.
(Ind, 4/5/03, 5A)
1896-1906 Arnold Genthe (d.1942), a self-taught
photographer, recorded daily life in Chinatown.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, DB p.23)
1897 Jan 23, In San Francisco
Fong Ching (32), known as the king of Chinatown, was killed by two
gunmen at the Wong Lung barbershop at 819 Washington St. Nobody was
ever convicted. “Little Pete” had led the Sam Yup Tong and was
rumored to have killed 50 men.
(SFC, 2/17/09, p.A10)
1897 Mar 4, Lefty O’Doul
(d.1969), baseball star, was born in the old Butchertown
neighborhood south of market. He played for the SF Seals, and spent
11 years in the major leagues with the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees
and Giants before returning to manage the Seals and the Pacific
Coast League. He was the National League batting champ in 1929 with
the Phillies and again in 1932 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
(SFC, 3/5/96, p.C1)(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A9)
1897 Mar 18, Fr. Anthony
Maraschi (b.1820), founder of the University of San Francisco and
Saint Ignatius College Preparatory as well as the first pastor of
Saint Ignatius Church in San Francisco, California., died.
(GenIV, Winter
04/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Maraschi)
1897 Jul 15, The gold-laden
ship Excelsior from Alaska landed in San Francisco. Seattle mayor
W.D. Wood was visiting and immediately resigned his job, hired a
ship, and organized an expedition from SF to the Yukon territory.
(WSJ, 7/17/97, p.A20)
1897 The US Supreme Court ruled
that "Seamen are... deficient in that full and intelligent
responsibility for their acts that is accredited to ordinary
adults." The court added that sailors "had to be protected from
themselves and therefore were not subject to the Constitution’s
Thirteenth Amendment that prohibited involuntary servitude." This in
essence condoned the practice of "shanghaiing." The practice was
later described by Bill Picklehaupt in his 1997 book "Shanghaied in
San Francisco."
(SFC, 1/22/96, p.E5)
1897 Sacred Heart Catholic
Church, built in the Lombardi style, opened on Fillmore Street. In
1910 3 altars of Carrera marble, designed by Attilio Moretti, were
installed. In 2004 plans were made to close it due to $8 million in
costs for repairs from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
(SFC, 9/25/04, p.B1)(SFC, 5/13/05, p.F5)
1897 In San Francisco the
4-unit building at 425-431 Buchanan St., designed by William T.
Cummins, was built. The roofline was enhanced by 4 round towers.
(SSFC, 9/6/09, p.C2)
1897-1901 James D. Phelan (d.1930) served as mayor
of SF.
(SFC, 11/7/00, p.A15)
1897-1906 The Recreation Park ballfield at 8th and
Harrison streets was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)
1898 Mar 27, The cornerstone of
the Church of Corpus Christi was laid as neighborhood Italians
assembled with Archbishop Patrick Riordan and the Salesian Fathers
of SS Peter and Paul’s. The wooden church, built at the intersection
of Croke St. and the Ocean Shore RR (now Santa Rosa and Alemany),
cost $7,000. The wooden structure was replaced in 1951.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A17)
1898 May 25, 1st US troop
transport to Manila left San Francisco.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1898 Summer, Camp Merritt, a
temporary encampment just south of the SF Presidio, was closed.
1898 Aug 8, Adolph Sutro
(b.1830), former mayor of SF, died. He had acquired a 100,000 volume
private library, most of which was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.
He served as the 24th mayor of SF (1895-1897).
(G, Winter 98/99,
p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Sutro)
1898 Aug 24, Ernest Narjot
(b.1826), French-born painter, died in SF. He came to California
with the Gold Rush in 1849 and became one of the state’s foremost
artists. Much of his work was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.
(SFCM, 10/28/01, p.20)
1898 Dec, The field hospital
from Camp Merritt was moved onto the Presidio and established as a
US Army General Field Hospital with temporary quarters in a few of
the brick barracks on Montgomery St.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1898 Camp Merriam was
established at the eastern border of the Presidio and housed the
first volunteer units shipped to the Philippines. It was named after
Brigadier Gen’l. Henry C. Merriam, commanding general of the Dept.
of California.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1898 The William Westerfield
House was built for a German confectioner at Fulton and Scott. The
stick Italianate became a Russian Club and restaurant called Dark
Eyes in the 1930s. The Calliope Company commune took up residence in
the 1960s.
(SFCM, 6/9/02, p.25)
1898 In San Francisco Central
Tower at 703 market St. was built by Claus Sprechels for the Call
newspaper. It was designed by the Reid Brothers and Albert Roller
and survived the 1906 earthquake. Its 6 stories of cupolas were
removed as part of a 1938 renovation that left it with 21 stories.
(SSFC, 9/12/10, p.C2)
1898 In SF the Ferry Building
at the foot of Market St. was dedicated. It was designed by local
San Francisco architect A. Page Brown, replacing its wooden
predecessor. The clock on the building was silent until Dec, 1918.
The original design was based on the Giralda in Seville. The design
was altered to differentiate it from the Madison Square Garden Tower
built in 1984.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.E8)(SFEM, 8/9/98,
p.27)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferry_Building)
1898 In San Francisco the Holy
Cross stone church at Eddy near Divisidero was built.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, z1 p.7)
1898 A chain of lakes was
constructed in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A6)
1898 The "de Laveaga Dell" was
created in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park with a bequest from Jose
Vincente de Laveaga.
(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A26)
1898 In San Francisco W.A.
Merralls (d.1914), an eccentric British-born machine inventor, built
a structure at 236 Monterey Blvd. that became known as the Sunnyside
Conservatory. He filled the building with plants and artwork and
used it as a private retreat. The building was saved from demolition
and purchased by the city in 1980. In 1999 community members formed
the Friends of Sunnyside Conservatory and planned its restoration.
In 2009 a $4.2 million restoration of the property was completed and
opened to the public on Dec 5.
(SSFC, 2/15/09, p.B3)(SFC, 12/5/09, p.C3)
1898 The SF-based Bechtel Group
construction firm was founded. The firm’s projects later included
the Hoover Dam, the Trans-Arabian Pipeline, the Nevada Test Site,
and the SF BART.
(SFC, 1/16/98, p.E2)
1898 Angelo Giurlani founded
Star Fine Foods in San Francisco. His family ran Star Olive Oil in
the Lucca district of Tuscany.
(SFC, 12/17/02, p.A23)
1898 The SF Columbarium, a
cemetery for cremated remains, was built as part of 27-acre cemetery
in the Richmond [behind the Coronet Theater].
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1898 Elections for SF city
supervisors began.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A19)
1898 Voters approved a City
Charter calling for SF to buy up and own its public utilities and
transportation system.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A4)
1898-1905 The 9th Cavalry, a black unit from Fort
Mason, was shipped to help subdue the Philippines Insurrection.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, p.C14)
1899 Mar 22, SF State Univ. was
founded. The state Senate passed an appropriation bill for $20,000
to establish the SF State Normal School. Gov. Henry Gage later
signed it. Frederik Burk was the first president.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.W21)(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1899 Jun, The first phase of
Letterman Army Hosp. opened to treat patients from the
Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection.
(SFC, 6/26/96, p.A13)(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1899 Aug 23, The first ship to
shore wireless transmission was received at the Cliff House:
"Sherman is sighted." The Sherman was a troop ship bringing back
soldiers from the Philippines.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, p.D1)
1899 Dec 12, A herd of 5 bison
was settled into Golden Gate Park. Capt. S.M. Thompson was stomped
by one of the animals and his horse was disemboweled.
(SFC, 12/13/99, p.A17)
1899 Mount Zion Medical Center
was founded to serve the Jewish immigrant community. It merged with
UCSF in 1990.
(SFC, 6/17/99, p.A10)
1899 SF City Hall opened after
30 years of construction. It collapsed in the 1906 quake.
(OAH, 2/05, p.A10)
1899 The SF Board of
Supervisors passed anti-gambling ordnance and announced that the
Ingleside horse racing track would be closed. [see 1905]
(Ind, 8/17/02, 5A)
1899 Buffalo Soldiers from the
SF Presidio were assigned patrol duty at Yosemite National Park. The
assignment was repeated in 1903 and 1904.
(SFC, 2/1/03, p.A21)
1899 Goldengate Park was put
under the jurisdiction of the city rather than the state
Legislature.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A6)
c1899 Just before the turn of
the century Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory moved into the old Pioneer
Woolen Mill by Fisherman’s Wharf. The mill had produced blankets and
uniforms for the Union army during the Civil War.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, DB p.30)
1899 Freed Teller & Freed,
purveyors of tea and coffee at 1326 Polk, began delivering coffee by
horse and buggy. They closed up in 1999.
(SFC, 10/6/99, Z1 p.2)
1899 The first automobile in SF
drove down Van Ness.
(SFC, 12/31/99, p.A19)
1899 The first motion picture
in SF was shown at the Mechanic's Pavilion.
(SFC, 12/31/99,p.A19)
1899 The first home
installation of electric lights was switched on in the Western
Addition.
(SFC, 12/31/99, p.A19)
1899 The Matson shipping line
began using 266-foot square-rigger Falls of Clyde, built in Glasgow,
Scotland, in 1878, to haul molasses to California and return back to
Hawaii with kerosene. This continued until 1922 when the ship was
demasted and sent to Alaska, where it became a floating fuel dock.
In 1963 enthusiasts towed the ship back to Hawaii, where it later
came under the ownership of the Bishop Museum. In 2008 new owners
hoped to save an renovate the ship.
(SSFC, 10/19/08, p.A11)
1899 Pres. Wheeler of UC
Berkeley chaired the organizational meeting for a Pacific Commercial
Museum in SF. Attendees included Claus Spreckels, sugar maven and
owner of the SF Call, and Murray Scott, owner of the Union Iron
Works.
(SFEM, 1/30/00, p.12)
1899 The SF State Normal School
began on Powell St. The 1st class of teachers graduated in 1901.
(SFC, 10/8/04, p.F12)
1899 The population of SF was
342,782, and represented one of every 8 people in California.
(SFC, 12/31/99, p.A19)
1900 May 30, It was reported
that 9 deaths in Chinatown were caused by Bubonic plague, the
Yersinia pestis bacterium, and that 159 policemen had set up a
quarantine. In 2003 Marilyn Chase authored "The Barbary Plague: The
Black Death in Victorian San Francisco."
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)(SSFC, 1/12/03, p.M2)(WSJ,
3/25/03, p.D10)
1900 Nov 29, Over 20 men and
boys were killed and another 80 injured when the roof of the SF and
Pacific Glass Works collapsed and plunged them into red-hot furnaces
and brick floors. They were on the roof to watch Stanford play Cal
across 15th Street.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1900 Sep, The Spreckel’s Temple
of Music dedicated in Golden Gate Park. Adolph B. Spreckels
convinced his father, sugar king Claus Spreckels, contribute $60,000
to transform the Grand Court of the 1884 fair into a music
concourse.
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.5)(SFC, 7/29/97,
p.A6)
1900 St. Brigid Church,
designed by Henry Monton, was built in SF at Broadway and Van Ness
in Richardsonian Romanesque style. It closed in 1994 do to $5-7
million costs for seismic retrofitting. In 2005 the archdiocese
planned its demolition and sale to pay off settlements of priest
abuse cases.
(SFC, 2/1/05, p.B1)(SFC, 2/8/05, p.B5)
1900 The Most Holy Redeemer
Church in Eureka Valley was built.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A19)
1900 In SF the Sisters of the
Holy Family founded the Holy Family Day Home, an educational
facility for children. Their facility at 16th and Dolores was
damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A new structure was to
be completed in 2007.
(SFC, 10/14/05, p.F3)
1900 The state’s first car race
was held at the Ingleside Race Track.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A2)
1900 The San Francisco Board of
Supervisors expanded again to 18 members.
(SSFC, 2/28/10, p.E2)
c1900 The Ordonez cannon was
brought back to the Presidio in SF as a trophy of war by William
Randolph Hearst. It had been manufactured in Spain and was initially
captured by the Filipinos from the Spanish army. It reportedly
suffered a direct hit from US forces in an engagement near Subic
Bay.
(SFC, 6/9/97, p.A15,16)(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1900 William L. Murphy of
Stockton designed a folding bed for his SF apartment and applied for
a patent. He started a company to make and sell the popular beds
that came to be known as Murphy beds.
(SFC, 8/19/98, Z1 p.7)
1900 The Auto Club of
California was spawned by a meeting of 11 "automobilists" at the SF
Cliff House.
(SFC, 3/21/00, p.A17,20)
1900 Over 25% of the SF
population was of Irish descent.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.4)
1900 Andrew Smith Hallidie
(64), creator of the SF cable car system, died.
(ON, 10/03, p.9)
1900-1903 Union Square was redesigned with the
Dewey Memorial at its center. It was designed by sculptor Robert J.
Aitken and architect Newton J. Tharp. [see May 13, 1903]
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F2)
1901 Jan, Dr. Rupert Blue (34),
a bacteriologist with the US Public Health and Marine Hospital
Service, was dispatched to SF to investigate reports of Bubonic
Plague.
(ON, 1/00, p.6)
1901 Jan, 163 men convened at
Pioneer Hall in SF and launched what would become the California
Labor Federation.
(SFC, 1/26/01, p.A7)
1901 Feb 22, The steamer Rio de
Janeiro piled up on rocks at Fort Point at the bay entrance of San
Francisco and some 130 people died. 80 people were rescued, mostly
by Italian fishing boats and many of the dead were Chinese
immigrants. The ship was being guided by bar pilot Frederick
W. Jordan when it hit submerged rock near Lime Point and 128 of 210
passengers drowned in 300 feet of water.
(PacDis, Fall/’96, p.14)(SFEC, 2/23/96, z-1
p.5)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A17)
1901 May 12, Pres. McKinley
visited SF.
(SC, internet, 5/12/97)
1901 Nov 30, The ferryboat San
Rafael sank in a collision off Alcatraz. The accident served as the
setting for the first chapter in "Sea Wolf" by Jack London.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.A18)
1901 A sculpture of the German
philosophers Goethe and Schiller by Ernst Friedrich Rietschel was
placed in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1901 A monument to Navy
Commodore George Dewey was erected in Union Square for his 1898
victory at Manila Bay.
(SFC, 3/31/97, p.A14)
1901 The Geneva Office Building
and Power House was completed at Geneva and San Jose.
(SFC, 4/20/01, WBb p.7)
1901 James W. Coffroth arranged
the 1st SF heavyweight boxing championship. Jim Jeffries knocked out
challenger Jim Jeffries in 5 rounds.
(Ind, 3/22/03, 5A)
1901 SF Mayor James D. Phelan,
as a private citizen, filed for water rights in Yosemite’s Hetch
Hetchy Valley and at nearby Lake Eleanor.
(SFC, 9/15/02, p.A20)
1901 Eugene Schmitz, a handsome
bandleader, was elected mayor. Schmitz and Abe Ruef, a lawyer, ran a
political machine that took payoffs for everything connected with
the city.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A8)
1901 The Recreation and parks
Commission authorized the construction of a windmill 300 yards from
the ocean to pump water for park irrigation.
(SFC, 6/26/02, p.A18)
1901 The SF State Normal School
graduated its first class of 36 women.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1901-1904 The Flood Building on Market St. was
constructed by James Leary Flood, son of James Clair Flood. JC Flood
made a fortune in the Nevada Comstock silver mine.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.B12)(SFC, 7/4/03, p.E1)
1901-1996 Jacomena Maybeck, wife of the son of
architect Bernard Maybeck. She wrote "Maybeck - The Family View."
(SFC, 8/22/96, p.E5)
1901-1912 Jerome Bassity (Jere McClane), civic
leader, shuttled from City Hall to the cribs and cow yards where he
controlled as many as 200 prostitutes.
(SSFC, 9/22/02, p.D1)
1902 Feb 20, Ansel Adams,
American photographer, was born in San Francisco. He was an American
landscape photographer, especially of western wilderness and
mountain panoramas. In 1996 Mary Street Alinder released her
biography "Ansel Adams." Jonathon Spaulding released his "Ansel
Adams and the American Landscape."
(SFEC, 9/15/96, BR p.4)(HN, 2/20/99)
1902 Jul 25, The world
heavyweight championship between James J. Jeffries and Robert
Fitzsimmons was fought. The fight was reported to have been fixed.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1902 The San Francisco
Chronicle Blue Ribbon Cook Book was compiled by Annie R. Gregory
with assistance from 1000 homekeepers.
(SFC, 4/4/01, WB p.4)
1902 In SF the Dutch Windmill
was built to pump water to a reservoir on Strawberry Hill in Golden
Gate Park at a cost of $25,000. Quarry Lake (Lily Pond) was designed
for Goldengate Park. It was restored in 1981.
(SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.5)(SFC, 7/29/97,
p.A7)(SFC, 8/13/01, p.A18)(SFC, 6/26/02, p.A18)
1902 In SF A MUNI substation
was built at Turk and Fillmore.
(SFC, 3/16/09, p.B2)
1902 In SF the 12-story
building at One Kearny was built in a French Renaissance style. It
was designed by William Curlett. In 1964 an addition, designed by
Charles Moore, included new circulation systems and bathrooms. In
2009 a 10-story addition was completed on its other side.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.E1)
1902 The SF Conservatory of
Flowers received its imperial philodendron from Brazil.
(SFC, 9/16/03, p.A20)
1902 SF banned the sale of
cemetery lots.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1902 Former SF Mayor James
Phelan filed a federal claim "for the water from the Tuolemne River,
to be gathered by damming the mouth of the Hetch Hetchy Valley."
(ON, 7/03, p1)
1903 Jan 2, The first
electronic message was sent across the 2,610 mile Pacific Cable from
Honolulu to SF.
(Ind, 1/9/98, p.5A)
1903 Jan 2, The first electric
trolley from SF to San Mateo began to run.
(Ind, 12/26/98, p.5A)
1903 Feb 3, Edward F. Adams,
editorial writer for the SF Chronicle, founded the SF Commonwealth
Club.
(SFC, 2/1/03, p.E4)
1903 May 10, It was reported
that 11 presidents of the Chinese See Yup Society were arrested and
charged for conspiring to murder the 300 members of the Chinese
Society of English Education for exposing gambling corruption.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1903 May 13, The Dewey Memorial
in Union Square, San Francisco, was dedicated by Pres. Theodore
Roosevelt. Robert Aitken sculpted the 12-foot statue of Victory that
stood atop an 83-foot column. Alma deBretteville, later Alma
Spreckels, had posed as the model.
(SSFC, 5/11/03, p.D1)
1903 May 19, Dr. Horatio Nelson
Jackson bet $50 that he could cross the US from San Francisco in his
$2,500 Winton Touring car. He and his mechanic reached NYC July 26.
(SFC, 6/16/03, p.A1)
1903 May 23, Dr. Horatio Nelson
Jackson set off to cross the US from San Francisco in his $2,500
Winton touring car with his mechanic Sewell Croker. They reached NYC
July 26.
(SFC, 6/16/03, p.A1)(SFC, 6/18/03, p.A23)(ON,
9/04, p.10)
1903 May 31, It was reported
that the Coast Limited train out of SF plunged down a 50-foot
embankment near Santa Barbara and injured over 40 people with an
untold number killed.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1903 Jun 18, 1st
transcontinental auto trip began in SF and arrived in NY 3-months
later. [see Jul 26]
(MC, 6/18/02)
1903 Jul 4, Pacific Cable (SF,
Hawaii, Guam, Philippines) opened, and Pres. Teddy Roosevelt sent a
message. The first cable across the Pacific Ocean was spliced
between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila on Jul 3. Teddy Roosevelt
placed the atoll of Midway Island under Navy supervision. The
Commercial Pacific Cable Co. (later AT&T) set cable across the
Pacific via Midway Island and the first around the world message was
sent. The message took 9 minutes to circle the globe.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.T5)(HN, 7/3/98)(Maggio, 98)
1903 Jul 25, The castle on top
of Telegraph Hill (SF, Ca.) closed. [see Jul 26]
(SC, 7/25/02)
1903 Jul 26, Dr. Horatio Nelson
Jackson of Vermont and his mechanic Sewell Croker arrived in NYC
completing the first cross-country automobile trip in 63 days after
leaving SF. On July 26, 2003 Peter Kesling and Charlie Wake
completed a rerun of the original trip.
(WSJ, 7/19/02, p.W9)(WSJ, 5/7/03, p.B1)(SSFC,
7/27/03, p.A2)(ON, 9/04, p.12)
1903 Jul 26, It was reported
that the old castle built by Adolph Sutro on Telegraph Hill, SF, was
destroyed by fire. The German castle on Telegraph Hill had been
built by entrepreneur Frederick Layman.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A18)
1903 Sep 20, It was reported
that a deputy US marshal committed suicide and that 3 SF deputy
sheriffs were arrested over bribes paid by the Chinese to sidestep
the anti-Chinese Exclusion Act and gain entry into the US.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1903 Nov 25, In San Francisco
Alexander Garnett shot and killed Major J.W. McClung at the Palace
Hotel apartment of Mrs. Lillian Hitchcock Coit. Coit soon left the
city and spent the next 6 years in Paris. Garnett was convicted and
sentenced to 15 years at San Quentin, but only began serving time in
1909 following an appeal and restoration of records due to the 1906
fire.
(SSFC, 9/13/09, DB p.46)
1903 An allegorical sculpture
honoring Pres. McKinley showed a figure holding a palm branch in one
hand and a sword in the other was erected in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1903 The Merchants Exchange
Building at 465 California St. was designed by Willis Polk.
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.E3)
1903 In SF the Mercantile
Building at Third and Mission was completed.
(SFC, 8/1/08, p.A12)
1903 Some Noe Valley homes were
built astride the former Precita Creek.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, p.A1)
1903 Construction began on the
new Mary’s Help Hospital on Guerrero St. but was 1906 earthquake
pushed back the opening to 1912.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1903 Teddy Roosevelt visited SF
and dedicated the Dewey Memorial in Union Square. Roosevelt also
dedicated the YMCA, completed in 1894, and burned the paid off
mortgage note.
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.E5)(SFC, 5/13/99, p.A21)
1903 James D. Phelan, former
mayor of SF, signed his water rights in Yosemite’s Hetch Hetchy
Valley and nearby Lake Eleanor to SF.
(SFC, 9/15/02, p.A20)
1903 The San Francisco-San
Mateo Railroad Company extended its service down to San Mateo.
(GTP, 1973, p.73)
1903 Dr. Rupert Blue reported
that the bubonic plague epidemic had been confined to the 24 blocks
of Chinatown and that the district was now plague-free and
plague-proof.
(ON, 1/00, p.6)
1903-1909 Infantry barracks were built on Ruger
St. in the Presidio to provide quarters for troops being shipped to
cover the US expansion into the Pacific.
(G, Spring/98, p.5)
1904 Feb 14, Colonel Alvinza
Hayward died on Valentine’s day in SF. His San Mateo mansion was
converted to a luxury hotel. It burned down in 1920. Charity Hayward
died in 1905 in New Jersey. They were both later reunited at Cypress
Lawn in Colma.
(Ind, 12/8/01, 5A)
1904 Mar 1-1904 Mar 31, SF
experienced a record 23 days of rain for this month. The record was
broken March 30, 2006, as rainfall hit a 24th day.
(SFC, 3/31/06, p.B1)
1904 Sep 8, It was reported
that the hottest day in SF history had just been recorded at 100.2
degrees.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1904 Oct 17, Amadeo Peter
Giannini (d.1949) founded the Bank of Italy, the predecessor to the
Bank of America, on the Montgomery block in SF.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B4)(SSFC, 10/24/04, Par p.5)
1904 A statue of Benjamin
Franklin was erected in Washington Square by Henry D. Cogswell.
(SFC, 5/12/00, p.A23)(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A18)
1904 In San Francisco a 5-story
building was completed for the Folger Coffee Co. at 101 Howard St.
It survived the 1906 earthquake due to wooden piles driven 40 feet
into the bay fill below.
(SSFC, 12/27/09, p.C2)
1904 In San Francisco the
4-story, Mission Revival-style apartment building at 2300 Market
Street was built.
(SSFC, 6/26/11, p.C2)
1904 In San Francisco
construction began on the 8-story Grant Building on Market St.
(SFC, 11/28/00, p.A21)
1904 Lumber baron R.A. Vance
built mansion at 2400 Fulton St. in San Francisco. In 1968 it was
purchased by the Jefferson Airplane rock group.
(SSFC, 1/30/11, DB p.42)
1968 The Jefferson Airplane and
manager Bill Thompson purchased a mansion in San Francisco for
$70,000. It had been built in 1904 by lumber baron R.A. Vance. In
1986 the mansion was put on the market for $795,000.
(SSFC, 1/30/11, DB p.42)
1904 The St. Francis Hotel
overlooking Union Square was built based on an H-shaped design plan
by Bliss and Faville. A third wing was soon added and a 4th wing
came in 1913. In 1972 a multi-story modern tower, designed by
William L. Pereira Assoc., was added.
(SFEM,11/23/97, p.24)
1904 A mansion for Archbishop
Patrick Riordan was built on Alamo Square at 1000 Fulton St.
(SFCM, 6/9/02, p.25)
1904 The Koshland House at 3800
Washington was completed. It was a copy of the Petit Trianon at
Versailles.
(SFEM, 8/9/98, p.25)
1904 J.J. O'Connor Florists at
25th and Mission was established.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.5)
1904 Radio PH of the De Forest
Wireless Telegraph Company began broadcasting from the Old Palace
Hotel in SF.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A14)
1904 The Magdelene Asylum on
Potrero St. was expanded and renamed the St. Catherine's Home and
Training School. The school closed in 1932.
(SSFC, 8/24/03, p.A25)
1904 Mary Ellen Pleasant (89),
abolitionist and SF businesswoman, died and was buried in Napa, Ca.
Her monument reads “Mother of Civil Rights in California.” She had
built a mansion at 1661 Octavia, where Gov. elect Newton Booth
boarded. In 1902 Pleasant authored her autobiography.
(SFC, 6/10/04, p.B4)
1904 Agnes Wilson (b.1832),
painter, died. She arrived in SF with the gold Rush in 1850 and
taught painting to her son, Charles Theller Wilson (b.1855). Agnes
is California’s earliest know woman artist.
(SFCM, 10/28/01, p.20)
1905 Jan 14, Jane Lathrop
Stanford drank from a bottle of mineral water at her Nob Hill home
in SF and became violently ill. Analysis of the water revealed
strychnine. [see Feb 28]
(Ind, 5/26/01, 5A)
1905 Jan 21, The downstairs
club of the Merchants Exchange Building opened with a line to get 5
drinks for 60 cents.
(SFC, 4/7/97, p.E3)
1905 Feb 28, Jane Lathrop
Stanford, the wife of Leland Stanford, died of suspected arsenic
poisoning at the Moana Hotel in Honolulu. A coroner’s jury confirmed
the result. Her body was returned to the mainland under the care of
David Starr Jordan, the president of Stanford Univ. An examination
by Stanford physicians claimed no trace of strychnine and set heart
attack as cause of death. A will signed 19 months earlier had left
the bulk of her $30 million estate to Stanford Univ. [see Jan 14]
(Ind, 5/26/01, 5A)
1905 Apr 27, Edward J. Smith, a
SF tax collector, was reported to have fled the city following
allegations that he had misappropriated $265,000. He was later
captured in St. Louis.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W2)
1905 Jul 15, The picture of a
greyhound dog covered half the page of this day’s sports section of
the SF Call newspaper.
(GTP, 1973, p.56)
1905 Aug 19, Roald Amundsen and
his crew of 6 aboard Gjøe, a converted herring boat, made
contact with the US Coast Guard cutter Bear, which confirmed their
crossing the Northwest Passage following a 26-month journey.
Amundsen continued by dogsled to the Yukon while his crew completed
their journey at Point Bonita, California, just outside the Golden
Gate.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.D8)(WSJ, 4/18/00, p.A16)(Ind,
4/27/02, 5A)
1905 Nov, Eugene Schmitz,
president of the Musicians Union, was re-elected mayor of SF. His
Union Labor Party captured every seat on the Board of Supervisors. A
victory parade left the SF Chronicle Building clock tower on fire.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A8)(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.B5)
1905 Dec 17, It was reported
that Claribel David had become the 1st woman appointed to the SF
City Attorney's office.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1905 The PG&E substation of
Jessie St. was designed by Willis Polk. In 1996 the 1907 structure
was chosen to become the new home of the Jewish Museum of SF with a
design by Daniel Libeskind.
(SFC, 6/12/96, p.E1)(SFC, 2/23/00, p.C1)
1905 In San Francisco the
Burdette Building was built at 90 Second St. and opened as a saloon.
It was the only structure for block to survive the 1906 SF
earthquake.
(SSFC, 4/11/10, p.C2)
1905 In San Francisco the
8-story Grant Building 1095 Market Street was completed. It was
named after Joseph D. Grant, a local financier and industrialist.
The interior was ravaged by the fire that followed the 1906
earthquake and major renovations were made.
(SFC, 1/16/10, p.D1)
1905 The Sentinel Building was
constructed in San Francisco just before the earthquake. The 8-story
steel-framed "flatiron" structure with a copper dome at Columbus and
Kearney was designed by Salfield & Kohlberg for the notorious
political boss Abe Reuf. Reuf was later sent to San Quentin for his
transgressions. In 1973 film director Francis Ford Coppola purchased
the building for $500,000. In 1970 the building was named as a city
landmark.
(SFC, 6/16/97, p.A20)(SSFC, 7/26/09, p.C2)(SSFC,
12/27/09, DB p.46)
1905 In SF a building at 700
Montgomery St. was constructed in late classical style for the
Columbus Savings Bank. It survived the 1906 earthquake.
(SFC, 3/14/00, p.A14)
1905 In SF a 16,000
square-foot, Italianate-style mansion was built at 2820 Scott St. In
1915 it was elegantly embellished for a visit by Marie, the queen of
Romania. In 2005 it was acquired by the Paige family, owners of the
Paige Glass Co.
(SFC, 3/8/08, p.F2)
1905 In San Francisco’s
Dogpatch area the Edwardian style house at 1061 Tennessee was built.
In 2009 half of it was offered for sale as an 1,159 square-foot
condo at $679,000.
(SFC, 10/28/09, p.C2)
1905 The US Court of Appeals in
SF was designed in two phases. The 2nd phase was in 1933.
(SFEM, 2/22/98, p.25)
1905 In SF a reform movement
began led by former mayor James Phelan and Fremont Older, editor of
the San Francisco Bulletin. Pres. Theodore Roosevelt sent special
prosecutor Francis Heney to investigate graft in SF.
(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.B5)
1905 Wulzen’s Pharmacy was
established on Potrero Hill. The building later became the home of
Christopher’s Books.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, Z1 p.4)
1905 The SF union leaders
helped form the Asiatic Exclusion League which lobbied against
Japanese immigration and pressed for school segregation.
(SFEC, 9/20/98, Z1 p.5)
1905 The SF Jewish Congregation
Sherith Israel completed a new Beaux Arts structure, designed by
Albert Pissis (1852-1914) at California and Webster streets. Emile
Pissis (1854-1934) designed many of its stained-glass windows.
Frescoes in the dome were done by Attilion Moretti (1852-1915). The
structure survived the 1906 earthquake.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.E1)
1905 Bethlehem Steel under
Charles Schwab bought the Union Iron Works in SF.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.F2)
1905 The De Forest Wireless and
Telegraph Company established its KPH Radio station in San Francisco
and began broadcasting from the Palace Hotel. It was destroyed in
the 1906 earthquake. In 1912 Marconi bought the station and chose
Bolinas for its transmitter.
(SFC, 7/13/05, p.B2)
1905 The Ingleside Race Track
closed down.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A2)
1905 Samuel G. Murphy,
vice-president of Hibernia Bank, donated $20,000 for construction of
the Murphy windmill in Golden Gate Park. [see 1908]
(SFC, 6/26/02, p.A18)(SFC, 3/18/05, p.F3)
1905 Frank W. Epperson
(1804-1983) invented the Popsicle on a cold night in San Francisco.
In 1923 Epperson remembered his frozen soda water mixture and began
a business producing Epsicles in seven fruit flavors.
(www.icecreamusa.com/popsicle/history/)
1905 Ruben Garrett Lucius
Goldberg (1883-1970), anthropologist aka Rube Goldberg, was hired by
the San Francisco Chronicle as a sports cartoonist. He became
renowned as the comic inventor of complex machines to do simple
tasks. In 1948 he received a Pulitzer Prize for his political
cartooning.
(SSFC, 6/7/09,
p.W2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg)
1906 Apr 16, It was reported
that David C. St. Charles had developed a repeater system to connect
phone lines from SF to NY.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1906 Apr 17, Daniel Burnham,
Chicago architect, presented his design plans for San Francisco
modeled on the Parisian plans by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussman.
(SFC, 4/14/96, EM, p.20)
1906 Apr 18, At 5:12 a.m. the
San Francisco 8.2 earthquake occurred. Seismologists in 1977
reduced the magnitude to 7.9. 28,000 buildings were destroyed and
498 blocks leveled. One quarter of the city burned. About 700 people
died. The massive earthquake was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles and
as far inland as Nevada. It caused severe damage and loss of life in
the San Francisco Bay area, and a three-day fire spawned by the
shaking reduced 4.7 square miles of the city to blackened ruins.
Military officials estimated $400 million of damage and a total of
700-800 killed. Modern research estimates that closer to 3,000 of
San Francisco's 400,000 inhabitants lost their lives. Sweeney
Observatory in Goldengate Park was destroyed. Some 30,000 people
were left homeless and lived in GG Park for up to a year and a half.
The quake was centered in Olema. Old City Hall at Fulton and Larkin
was destroyed. The Fairmont Hotel was severely damaged just 2 months
before it was scheduled to open. In 2001 Dan Kurzman authored
"Disaster: The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906." In
2005 Philip Fradkin authored “The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of
1906: How San Francisco Nearly Destroyed Itself.”
(SFC, 4/4/96, p.A-106)(SFC, 4/8/96, p.A-1)(SFC,
4/14/96, p.Z1, p.3)(AP, 4/18/97)(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A5,7)(SFEC, 3/8/98,
p.W31)(SFC, 1/1/99, p.A13)(SFC, 4/22/01, BR p.3)(SFC, 2/15/02,
p.G8)(SFC, 4/7/05, p.B1)(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.F1)
1906 Apr 18, SF Mayor Schmitz
issued a proclamation that authorized police "to Kill any and all
persons found engaged in looting or in the Commission of Any Other
Crime."
(SFC, 9/29/99, p.C3)
1906 Apr 18, Dennis Sullivan,
SF Fire Chief, was severely injured when the chimney of the
California Hotel crashed into the adjoining firehouse. Sullivan died
of his injuries on April 22. In the 1920s a firechief residence was
built in his honor at 870 Bush St. A pond on the Potrero Hill potato
farm of John Center provided water that saved the Mission district
from the earthquake fire. Residents on Russian Hill saved 5 homes on
Green Street between Jones and Leavenworth from fire and dynamite
crews. The "Portals of the Past" monument in Golden Gate Park is a
marble remnant from a mansion destroyed by the earthquake and fire.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A26)(SFC, 8/20/98, p.B4)(SFC,
12/29/04, p.B1)(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.A8)(SFC, 4/24/06, p.A9)
1906 Apr 18, San Francisco
firefighters, with the assistance of the US Navy, managed to drag a
single fire hose from a pumper in the bay, over the shoulder of
Telegraph Hill, over a mile to the Jackson Street warehouses. They
saved Anson Hotaling’s Whiskey warehouses at 451 and 455 Jackson
street. Nearby Jones Alley was later renamed Hotaling Way.
(http://web.mac.com/danruden/APHotaling/About_Us.html)(SSFC,
9/13/09, p.N4)
1906 Apr 18, The SF earthquake
killed 119 people at Agnews State Hospital in San Jose.
(SFC, 9/29/97, p.A21)
1906 Apr 22, The SF Health
Office reported that about 500 bodies had been recovered from the
earthquake and fire. Insurance losses were estimated at $175 million
and total losses at $300 million.
(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.A8)
1906 Apr 22, Dennis Sullivan,
SF Fire Chief, severely injured in the April 18 earthquake, died of
his injuries.
(SFC, 12/29/04, p.B1)(SSFC, 4/23/06, p.A8)
1906 May 7, It was reported
that the Chinese community was furious at a proposal that it
relocate to Hunter's Point.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1906 Jul 1, In San Francisco
St. Ignatius College held a formal inauguration ceremony for a new
campus site, its 4th, at Hayes and Shrader. Since the earthquake 18
SI Jesuits took up temporary residence at the 57-room mansion of
Mrs. Bertha Welch at 1090 Eddy Street.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1906 Aug 27, In SF Colbert
Coldwell (23) and 2 partners, Albert Nion Tucker (36) and John
Conant Lynch (55), opened a real estate office at 53 Post St. In
1913 his 2 partners left and Coldwell invited Benjamin Arthur Banker
(28) to join his firm.
(SFC, 2/18/06, p.C1)
1906 Sep-1907 Feb, In San Francisco 5,610 fir and redwood shacks
were built during this period to provide housing for earthquake
refugees. They were placed in rows at 11 refugee camps and rented
for $2 per month.
(SSFC, 1/24/10, DB p.42)
1906 Oct 11, The San Francisco
school board ordered the segregation of Oriental schoolchildren,
inciting Japanese outrage. To counter local prejudice David Starr
Jordan, Stanford’s 1st president, David Pike Bowie, a San Mateo
Japanophile, and Japanese General Consul Kisaburo Ueno soon formed a
chapter of the Japan Society to foster bilateral understanding. The
order was later rescinded at the behest of President Theodore
Roosevelt, who promised to curb future Japanese immigration to the
United States.
(HN, 10/11/98)(SFC, 10/29/05, p.B7)(AP, 10/11/06)
1906 Oct 19, The crew of Roald
Amundsen aboard Gjoe, a converted herring boat, arrived off the
coast of San Francisco following their crossing of the Northwest
Passage in a 26-month journey.
(SFC, 10/19/06, p.B1)
1906 Nov 16, It was reported
that Mayor Eugene Schmitz and advisor Abe Reuf had been indicted by
a Grand Jury for extortion.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1906 Nov 30, President Theodore
Roosevelt publicly denounced segregation of Japanese school children
in San Francisco.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1906 The Crocker family donated
the current Nob Hill location of Grace Cathedral when their mansion
and nearby Grace Church burned down in this year.
(SFEC, 9/29/96, DB p.37)
1906 The Red Cross devised and
built standardized temporary houses that measured about 14 x 18 feet
and came in 2-3 room designs. They were designed to see people
through the winter and to be moved from public property by Aug of
1907.
(LaPen, 12/86, p.3)
1906 John McLaren agreed to let
the Academy of Sciences build in Golden Gate Park after the
earthquake. Metson Lake and Murphy’s Windmill were constructed in
Goldengate Park. The Murphy Windmill (1908) pumped 40,000 gallons of
water an hour for 20 years. In 2001 it was scheduled for a $2.75
million restoration.
(PacDis, Winter ’97, p.26)(SFC, 7/29/97,
p.A7)(SFC, 8/13/01, p.A13)
1906 In SF Purcell’s
Negro dance hall opened at 550 Pacific St. and Sid LeProtti began
playing there. It w3as one of the first buildings erected following
the earthquake and fire.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.D7)(SFC, 2/16/09, p.B2)
1906 The belt and suspender
factory at 130 Bush was constructed shortly after the earthquake.
The 10-story building was built on a 20x80 foot lot. Its story was
documented in the 1996 book by L.G. Segedin: "130 Bush, An
Illustrated Story About Four Buildings and a Monument in San
Francisco."
(SFEC, 1/5/97, BR p.1)
1906 In San Francisco the
16-story Whittell Building was constructed at 166 Geary Street.
(SSFC, 12/19/10, p.C2)
1906 Arthur and Lucia Matthews
opened their Furniture Shop in the California Street home of John
Zeile in order to contribute to the aesthetic rebuilding of SF
following the earthquake. The shop closed in 1920.
(SFC, 10/28/06, p.F6)
1906 The Café Tivoli on
Grant Street opened as a seamen’s boarding house and mom-and-pop
restaurant with a bocce ball court in back.
(SFC, 5/3/02, p.A18)
1906 A new Levi’s factory
opened on Valencia following the destruction of the one on Fremont
St. from the earthquake and fire.
(SFC, 4/9/02, p.A10)
1906 The Alaska Packers Assoc.
bought the square-rigged Balclutha ship and renamed it Star of
Alaska. It carried workers to the Chignick Cannery and transported
them back after the salmon season.
(SFEC,11/23/97, p.D3)
1906 A.P. Giannini saved
$80,000 from the Bank of Italy building before it burned and
reopened after the earthquake and fire before the other SF banks.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B4)
1906 The Okamura family founded
their Benkyodo company to manufacture Japanese confections in
Japantown.
(SFC, 2/8/01, p.A17)
1907 Jan 18, It was reported
that M. Aoki, the father of Keikichi Aoki (10), had filed suit for
his son's admission to Redding Primary School on Pine Street.
Admission had been refused because he was Japanese.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 Feb 10, It was reported
that Mayor Schmitz had agreed to close the city's "oriental schools"
and allow Asian children to attend white schools following a meeting
with Pres. Theodore Roosevelt.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 Feb 18, In SF according to
an agreement between Mayor Schmidt, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt and the
SF School Board, Japanese children under 16 were to be admitted to
the city’s public schools, skilled and unskilled laborers from Japan
were to be banned from entering the US and American laborers were to
be excluded from Japan.
(SSFC, 2/18/07, DB p.58)
1907 Feb 22, It was reported
that workers at the refugee camp in San Francisco’s Ingleside
district had agreed the comply with a directive by commander C.M.
Wallenberg to work one day per week for the betterment of the camp
or miss their allotment of free tobacco.
(SSFC, 2/18/07, DB p.58)
1907 Feb, SF Mayor Edward
Robeson Taylor (1838-1923) married Eustice Jeffers (27), the
daughter of an old friend.
(SFC, 11/6/07, p.B5)
1907 Mar 8, Abraham "Boss" Reuf
was arrested at the Trocadero roadhouse by court-appointed
detectives. The Chief of Police was also under indictment and could
not be trusted to make the arrest. Reuf was on good terms with the
Parkside Real Estate Co.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)(SFCM, 6/20/04, p.8)
1907 Mar 19, It was reported
that all but 2 supervisors admitted accepting bribes from United
Railroads street-car company, several telephone companies and the
Gas and Electric Company.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 Apr 18, SF Board of
supervisors, a year after the city’s 1906 earthquake, set the
official death toll for the disaster at 478. Let evidence showed
more that 3,400 fatalities.
(SFC, 1/15/05, p.B1)
1907 Apr 18, The Fairmont Hotel
opened in SF, exactly one year after the 1906 earthquake. It was
designed by Julia Morgan and named after mining magnate James Graham
Fair.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.F1)
1907 Spring, The sailing yacht
Martha, built in the Marina District of SF, was launched.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.1)
1907 May 5, San Francisco
streetcar workers of the Carmen’s Union went on strike after Patrick
Calhoun, president of the United Railroads, refused to accept a $3
per 8-hour day wage. Calhoun induced the strike and hired James
Farley to break the union. The strike ended up leaving 31 people
dead.
(SFC, 9/13/02, p.D9)(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.B1)
1907 May 7, In San Francisco a
gunfight erupted during the electrical workers strike in what came
to be known as "Bloody Tuesday." City union street car workers
fought with scabs and 4 people were killed and 20 seriously injured.
(SFC, 1/20/98, p.B3)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 May 15, Abe Reuf pleaded
guilty to charges of extortion.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 May 27, Bubonic Plague
broke out in San Francisco.
(HN, 5/27/98)
1907 Jun 13, A SF jury
convicted Mayor Eugene E. Schmitz of extortion.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 Jul 8, Mayor Eugene
Schmitz was sentenced to 5 years in San Quentin for graft and
bribery but the conviction was later overturned. Others were forced
out of office for accepting bribes from the telephone company, gas
company, trolley company, local skating rinks and boxing promoters.
Dr. Charles A. Boxton (d.1927) admitted to taking bribes and was
granted immunity by District Attorney W.H. Langdon for his
testimony. Boxton was then appointed temporary mayor for one week in
place of Mayor Schmitz and resigned a week later. The Native Sons of
California promptly struck Boxton from their rolls. Schmitz was
later elected to the SF Board of Supervisors. One of the bribes was
a $200,000 payment to the SF supervisors from Patrick Henry Calhoun,
president of the United Railroads, which operated nearly all of the
city’s public transit lines.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.E8)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)(SFEC,
12/26/99, p.W3)(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.B5)
1907 Jul 16, The SF
supervisors, under pressure from graft prosecutors, named Edward
Robeson Taylor (67), a doctor and lawyer, as mayor. He quickly
replaced 16 of 18 supervisors, forced the police chief to quit and
replaced many city officials with honest and competent men.
(SFC, 11/6/07, p.B5)
1907 Summer, A thriving
business was begun moving the temporary earthquake houses by wagon
to private lots. Lots in Daly City were offered for a total price of
$400 payable at $10 down and $10 a month.
(LaPen, 12/86, p.4)
1907 Aug 7, The Masons and
United Veterans of the Spanish War made plans to boot Dr. Boxton out
of their organizations.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.E8)
1907 Aug 26, Houdini escaped
from chains under water at Aquatic Park.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 Sep 8, It was reported
that the Cliff House again burned down.
(SFC, 4/14/99, Z1 p.4)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1907 Sep, The Cosmopolitan
magazine published the epic poem “A Wine of Wizardry” by George
Sterling (1869-1926). The poem and accompanying essay by Ambrose
Bierce sparked critical reaction across the continent. Sterling,
Jack London’s best friend, was the scion of a Long Island whaling
family and worked in an East Bay real estate firm.
(SSFC, 12/23/07, p.M4)
1907 Sep, By this time some 55
cases of bubonic plague were identified in SF and the issue became a
national concern.
(ON, 1/00, p.6)
1907 Oct 2, Another railroad
began serving the SF peninsula. The Ocean Shore Railroad ran from
12th and Mission across the peninsula on what is now Alemany Blvd.
to Daly City, Broadmoor, Thornton Beach and down the coast to the
end of the line at Santa Cruz.
(GTP, 1973, p.74)
1907 Nov, Edward Robeson Taylor
(1838-1923), appointed in July as interim mayor of SF, was elected
to the office.
(SFC, 11/6/07, p.B5)
1907 Mario Ciampi, architect,
was born in San Francisco.
(SFC, 10/22/05, p.F1)
1907 The "Sundial" sculpture by
M. Earl Cummings was created. It was a half-sphere mounted on a
turtle and set in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1907 Cartoonist Harry Conway
Fisher started his Mutt and Jeff cartoon strip while working as a
photographic layout person at the SF Chronicle. The strip returned
to the Chronicle in 1951.
(SFC, 4/6/01, Wba p.4)
1907 In San Francisco a 2-story
commercial building, designed by Sylvan Schnaittacher, was erected
at 77 New Montgomery St. In 1920 3 stories, designed by Mel
Schwartz, were added.
(SSFC, 2/20/11, p.C2)
1907 In SF the city’s
International Hotel, destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, was
rebuilt at 848 Kearny. By the 1920s it became part of the 10-block
Filipino American enclave known as Manilatown.
(SSFC, 8/19/07, p.B1)
1907 In SF the building at 261
Columbus, designed by Oliver Everett, was completed. It later became
the home of City Lights Bookstore.
(SSFC, 5/31/09, p.B2)
1907 In SF a 14-story,
71,345-square-foot building, designed by George Applegarth, was
completed at Market and New Montgomery. In 2007 it sold for some $26
million.
(SFC, 5/22/07, p.C6)
1907 In SF the Elevated Shops
building was constructed at 150 Powell St. It later became the
wrapping for 29 condominiums.
(SFC, 9/20/06, p.B5)
1907 A Del Monte cannery was
constructed on Jefferson St. It closed in 1937. In 1963 Leonard
Martin (d.2002 at 81) acquired the building and converted it to a
shopping complex.
(SFC, 1/29/02, p.A17)
1907 The 1st municipal stadium,
later known as the Polo Fields, and Speedway Meadow were constructed
in Goldengate Park.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A7)(SFC, 9/30/99, p.E5)
1907 The Haslett Warehouse was
constructed at Beach and Hyde. In 1998 plans were being made to
convert the 198,000-sq-ft building to an expensive hotel.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.B1)
1907 The 9-story Williams
Building was completed at 3rd and Mission.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A18)
1907 In San Francisco a 2-story
industrial building was built at 944 Folsom St. It was renovated in
1936. Boyd, a lighting manufacturer, purchased the building in 1995
and renovated it again as the Boyd Building.
(SSFC, 1/30/11, p.C2)
1907 Archbishop Patrick Riordan
established the Catholic Settlement and Humane Bureau at 1028 Market
St. to help care for orphans, minors and destitute mothers recover
from the earthquake. It later became the Catholic Charities of the
Archdiocese of SF.
(SFC, 9/15/98, p.A9)
1907 The elegant showroom,
later called The Great American Music Hall, opened on O’Farrell St.
(SFEC, 2/8/98, DB p.34)
1907 The Colonial Dames
organization donated the sculpture of the tortoise with a sundial on
its back, that stands in front of the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.
(SFC, 12/30/96, p.A13)
1907 The SF bribery trial
against Patrick Calhoun, president of the United Railroads, ended
with a hung jury.
(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.B1)
1907 The San Francisco Brewing
Company established a facility at 155 Columbus Ave, South San
Francisco.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, p.E8)
1907 In San Francisco some 600
new houses were built on the 440-foot-tall Bernal Hill as people
erected homes there following the 1906 earthquake.
(SSFC, 6/21/09, p.A2)
1907-1931 The Recreation Park at 15th and Valencia
streets was home to the SF Seals.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)
1907-1998 The Figoni Hardware store in North Beach
operated as a family business on Grant St.
(SFC, 2/7/98, p.21)
1908 Jan, Dr. Rupert Blue held
a mass meeting and called on the citizens of SF to support his war
against bubonic plague. Gov. James Norris Gillet had warned that the
city faced a general quarantine. In the following rat campaign an
estimated 2 million rats were killed.
(ON, 1/00, p.6,7)
1908 Feb 9, It was reported
that the Dr. Rupert Blue report on Butchertown had concluded that
the slaughterhouses were unsanitary, dangerous to health and
offensive to all residents and people traveling in that direction.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
1908 Mar 23, In San Francisco
Durham White Stevens (56), Japan’s foreign advisor to Korea, was
shot by a Korean nationalist. Stevens died 2 days later from
internal injuries. Chang In Hwan and Chun Myung Un attacked Stevens
as he approached the ferry landing. Chun was released from prison in
June, 1908, and fled the country. Chang was convicted of 2nd degree
manslaughter and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was paroled
after 10 years.
(AH, 10/07, p.54-58)
1908 Mar, In SF streetcar
riders returned after Patrick Calhoun replaced the car-men with
non-union drivers. The strike failed and the Carmen’s Union was
disbanded.
(SFC, 9/13/02, p.D9)
1908 Apr 28, In SF a fire began
just before midnight at a stable at 475 11th St. 48 horses belonging
to F.M. Barrett, a lumber drayman, were killed.
(SSFC, 4/27/08, DB p.58)
1908 May 6, The Great White
Fleet, sent by Pres. Roosevelt on an around-the-world voyage,
arrived in SF. The fleet left San Francisco on July 7.
(SFC, 5/6/08, p.B3)
1908 May 21, The SF Chronicle
reported that and quarantine had been lifted and that the remaining
refugees in Lobos Square have been ordered to leave by June 1. Some
1,050 lived there in 394 cottages.
(SSFC, 5/18/08, DB p.58)
1908 May 22, The SF Chronicle
reported that US Army Pvt. William Bulwada had been found guilty and
sentenced to 5 years in prison for having applauded for and shaken
hands with anarchist Emma Goldman, pending approval by Gen. Funston.
(SSFC, 5/18/08, DB p.58)
1908 May 25, In SF an ink
thrower spoiled a gown worn by Mrs. J. Magnin of 1606 Jackson St.
The ink thrower continued to strike over a dozen society figures,
despite police efforts to catch him.
(SSFC, 8/10/08, DB p.58)
1908 May 30, Mel
Blanc (d.1989), voice of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, and Porky Pig in
Warner Brothers cartoons, was born in San Francisco. When he died he
had "That's All Folks" inscribed on his tombstone.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, Z1 p.8)(AP, 5/30/08)
1908 Jul 3, In San Francisco
the coroner and his deputies celebrated the opening of the new
morgue at 368 Fell St.
(SSFC, 6/29/08, DB p.58)
1908 Aug 17, The SF Bank of
Italy opened new HQ at Clay and Montgomery.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1908 Nov 13, In SF the
corruption trial of Abe Reuf was interrupted by the shooting of
Assistant District Attorney Francis J. Heney by Morris Haas, an
ex-convict whom Heney had offended in a former graft trial. Heney
was expected to survive. Haas committed suicide 2 days later.
(SSFC, 11/9/08, DB p.58)
1908 Nov 30, SF Police Chief
William J. Biggy disappeared off a police boat in the SF Bay. The
chief was last seen vomiting over the side of the launch. He had
been under pressure since the shooting of prosecutor Francis J.
Heney 2 weeks earlier. Biggy’s body was pulled from the bay 2 weeks
later.
(SSFC, 11/30/08, DB p.58)(SSFC, 12/14/08,
p.54)(SFC, 2/17/09, p.A10)
1908 Dec 1, The US Dept. of
Agriculture as of this day restricted opium imports to the US based
on morphine content. Opium with under 3% morphine, which included
opium for smoking, was restricted. This severely impacted the
customs revenue in San Francisco and created an uproar in the city’s
Chinatown. The law became effective as of April 1, 2009.
(SSFC, 11/30/08, DB p.58)(SSFC, 3/15/09, DB p.50)
1908 Dec 10, Abe Ruef
(1864-1936), a San Francisco political power broker, was found
guilty of bribing a former supervisor to vote for the United
Railroad franchise. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but was
freed on parole in 1915. California Gov. William D. Stephens
(1917-1923) pardoned him.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.B6)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)(SSFC,
2/27/11, DB p.46)
1908 In San Francisco the
6-story commercial building at 185 Post was built. In 2008 tt was
remodeled veil of glass.
(SSFC, 2/13/11, p.C2)
1908 In SF the 12-story Crocker
Bank went up at the Montgomery, Pine and Bush intersection. In the
1980s 10 floors were taken off to make air space for the Crocker
Galleria.
(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)
1908 In SF the 14-story Adam
Grant Building was completed at 114 Sansome St. The Beaux Arts style
building was designed by architects Howard & Galloway.
(SSFC, 2/8/09, p.B3)
1908 In SF the Humboldt Bank
building at 785 Market St. was completed. The 19-story building
featured a Beaux-Arts style and dome by the Meyer & O’Brien
architectural firm.
(SFCM, 6/8/08, p.6)
1908 In San Francisco the
6-story Maskey Building, designed by Haves and Toepke, was
completed. In 1983 it was demolished, but 4 of the façade’s 6
bays were restored as the front of a 6-story wing of an office tower
at 48 Kearny St.
(SSFC, 5/3/09, p.B2)
1908 In SF the triangular,
11-story Phelan building was built at 760-784 Market St.
(SFC, 2/13/07, p.C3)
1908 In San Francisco a new
Home Telephone building, designed by Coxhead & Coxhead, was
built at 333 Grant St. It was declared a landmark in 1981 and in
2004 opened with 39 condominiums on the upper 6 floors.
(SFC, 11/11/04, p.E1)
1908 In San Francisco St.
Boniface Church was built on Golden Gate Ave.
(SFC, 12/25/98, p.A26)
1908 In San Francisco the Cliff
House bar Phineas T. Barnacle (PTB) was built. A new section was
added in 1914.
(SFC, 3/28/01, Food p.5)
1908 In San Francisco the
3-story First Chinese Baptist Church was built at 15 Waverly Place.
It was designed by G.E. Burlingame and incorporated clincker bricks
giving the structure a medieval air.
(SSFC, 4/5/09, p.B2)
1908 In San Francisco the
Pagoda Palace Theater opened on the corner or Powell and Union
streets in North Beach. The theater closed in 1994 and remained
vacant to 2009 when plans were approved for converting the building
into condominium dwellings and a Mexican restaurant.
(SFC, 1/9/09, p.B1)
1908 In San Francisco a Seth
Thomas street clock was erected on Columbus. In 1977 it was moved
across the street to 450 Columbus, in front of the new Matteucci
& Co. jewelry store. In 1999 it was hit by a truck and crashed
to the ground.
(SFC, 10/19/99, p.A1,15)
1908 In San Francisco Southern
Pacific built a hospital at Fell and Baker to treat employees. It
was sold to Upjohn pharmaceuticals in 1968 and was later converted
to senior housing.
(SFC, 4/17/09, p.E8)
1908 The Murphy windmill in San
Francisco’s Golden Gate Park began pumping water as the largest of
its kind in the world.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.F3)
1908 Guido Deiro was sent to
the United States to introduce the "fizarmonica systema piano" at
the Alaskan Exposition in Seattle, Washington and is credited with
naming the instrument " piano accordion." His brother Pietro Deiro
was the first to play the accordion in San Francisco.
(www.guidodeiro.com)
1908 In SF the private
Katherine Delmar Burke School was established in the Seacliff area.
(SFC, 12/13/00, p.A17)
1908 In San Francisco the
California Historical Society fell apart. It had earlier merged with
the California Genealogical Society and prospective members had to
produce a genealogical chart to qualify for membership.
(SFEC,10/26/97, DB p.55)
1908 In San Francisco John’s
Grill on Ellis St. was established.
(SFC, 6/10/96, C1)
1908 In San Francisco the House
of Shields bar at 39 New Montgomery St., opened and catered only to
men. Service to women was allowed around 1972.
(SSFC, 1/23/11, p.A2)
1908 James Casey got elected to
the SF Board of Supervisors for the express purpose of fixing the
roads. He induced Santa Clara, San Mateo and SF to pass resolutions
asking that Mission St.-El Camino Real be made a state highway.
(GTP, 1973, p.66)
1908 In San Francisco some 900
elderly men and women, many from the old Almshouse, moved into a
newly rebuilt Relief Home for the Aged and Infirm, later rebuilt and
renamed as Laguna Honda Home.
(SFC, 8/26/08, p.B5)
1908 In SF Hugh Lazzari founded
the Lazzari Fuel Co. It grew to become the nation’s largest
distributor of mesquite charcoal.
(SFC, 3/5/01, p.A24)
1908 In SF the Emporium
reopened at 841 Market St. It featured a new dome designed by Albert
Pissis. The original was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and
subsequent fires. It closed in 1996, but the original facade was
kept for the new Westfield San Francisco Centre, which opened in
2006.
(Ind, 11/24/01, 5A)(SSFC, 9/24/06, p.D1)
1908 San Francisco's 1st drag
bar opened.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.A1)
1908 Some 14,000 building
permits were issued this year in SF as the city recovered from the
1906 earthquake.
(SSFC, 9/14/08, p.B3)
1908 Pacific Gas and Electric
co. acquired a gas-making company in Daly City, Ca. Wastes contained
lamp-black, a finely powdered carbon, and thick, sticky tars
containing cancer-causing compounds.
(SFC, 3/2/09, p.B1)
1908 In San Francisco the W.T.
Garrett & Co. foundry created a 300-pound bell, one of the last
produced by the firm, as a gift from the Borel family to Grace
church, located at El Camino and Hwy. 92. In the 1950s the Hillbarn
Theater moved to the church and used the bell to send audiences back
to their seats after intermission. In 1968 the bell was moved to the
theater’s permanent home on Hillsdale Blvd, Foster City. In 2004 the
bell was stolen. In 2010 it was discovered at a scrap shop in San
Leandro and returned to the theater.
(SFC, 9/6/10, p.A1)
1908 Gustave Niebaum, San
Francisco multimillionaire, died.
(SFEM, 10/31/99, p.27)
1908-1983 The Meadowlands was a 500-acre shoreline
facility on the Bay in Mountain View that received garbage from SF.
(Ind, 5/11/99, p.12A)
1909 Jan 15, In San Francisco
police arrested Miss Frances Smith, attired in a jaunty sailor
costume, and Miss May Burke as they strolled down Montgomery street.
Smith was charged with masquerading in male attire and Burke was
charged with vagrancy.
(SSFC, 1/10/10, DB p.42)
1909 Feb 15, In San Francisco
anarchist Emma Goldman spoke to large audiences in Lyric Hall, at
Turk and Larkin streets. She gave 2 lectures: “The Devil Exonerated”
and “The Psychology of Violence.”
(SSFC, 2/15/09, DB p.50)
1909 Feb 16, The SF Citizens
Health Committee declared SF free of bubonic plague.
(ON, 1/00, p.7)
1909 Feb 27, Pres. Theodore
Roosevelt established the Farallon Islands, 28 miles off the coast
of San Francisco, as a wildlife refuge.
(SFC, 2/17/05,
p.A1)(www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/conFedBird.htm)
1909 Apr 1, A US federal opium
law went into effect. In SF Internal Revenue agents prepared for the
law by seizing and destroying all the opium cans they find in the
Chinese quarter.
(SSFC, 3/15/09, DB p.50)
1909 Apr 17, In San Francisco 5
bodies were recovered and probably eight or ten others buried in the
ruins of an early morning fire which destroyed the St. George hotel,
a lodging house for laborers at Howard and Eighth streets, and eight
other small buildings.
(www.gendisasters.com/data1/ca/fires/sanfrancisco-stgeorgehotelfire1909.htm)
1909 Apr 19, The new Orpheum
Theater opened in San Francisco, Ca.
(SSFC, 3/8/09, DB p.45)
1909 May 9, In San Francisco
135 delegates of the anti-Japanese Laundry League took steps at a
convention at Golden Gate Hall, 222 Van Ness Ave., to boycott all
Japanese enterprises on the Pacific Coast.
(SSFC, 5/10/09, DB p.50)
1909 May 19, San Francisco
Mayor Edward Taylor wrote a letter to Pres. Taft testifying to the
valuable aid of the federal government in the city’s recent campaign
against bubonic plague.
(SSFC, 5/31/09, DB p.50)
1909 Jun 16, In San Francisco
the Gjoe, explorer Roald Amundsen’s converted herring boat, was
passed as a gift to the people of San Francisco. He had used the
vessel to cross the Northwest Passage in 1905 and had arrived in SF
in 1906. In 1972 the Gjoe was returned to Norway and a commemorative
sculpture was left next to the Beach Chalet at Ocean Beach.
(Ind, 4/27/02, 5A)(SSFC, 6/14/09, DB p.50)
1909 Jun 22, In San Francisco
customs inspectors seized 149 tins of opium, evidently smuggled in
since a law prohibiting possession of opium for smoking went into
effect in April. 16 tins ere found at in the basement of Mow Lee’s
store at 76 Dupont St. The rest was found at a Chinese lodging house
at 704 Jackson St.
(SSFC, 6/21/09, DB p.50)
1909 Jul 12, In San Francisco
the New Chutes opened to the public in the block surrounded by
Fillmore, Turk, Eddy and Webster. Amusements included a artificial
lake that receives boats from chutes. Fortune tellers, shooting
galleries and other attractions led to the Flea Theater.
(SSFC, 7/12/09, DB p.42)
1909 Aug 7, Alice Huyler Ramsey
(22) arrived in San Francisco on a ferry boat after driving a 1909
Maxwell Model DA across the country. She had left New York on June 9
on the first ever cross-country trip by a woman.
(SFC, 7/10/09, p.D3)
1909 Sep 9, San Francisco held
a parade in honor of its work horses. Some 2000 horses and 986
drivers paraded down Market Street before thousands of spectators.
(SSFC, 9/6/09, p.46)
1909 Oct 6, Pres. William Taft
visited San Francisco.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.50)
1909 Nov 1, In San Francisco a
ban on cows went into effect, except for a narrow district that was
set apart for handling cattle to be slaughtered. A new ordnance made
it unlawful to keep more than 2 cows and provided that when 2 cows
are kept within city limits, at least an acre of land must be
provided for their pasturage.
(SSFC, 3/22/09, DB p.50)
1909 Nov 14, In San Francisco
Yee Yup was shot down by Gee Gong, a former employee in the laundry
of the dead man. The On Yicks have now killed 4 members of the Yee
family, while the Yee family have but one death to their credit. It
was feared that the murder would escalate family rivalries in
Chinatown.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, DB p.46)
1909 Nov 30, The SF Convention
and Tourist League was incorporated as a non-profit membership
organization to bring outsiders to the city. The League generated 27
conventions its first year with a total attendance of 30,000.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W43)
1909 Dec 15, San Francisco’s
Palace Hotel re-opened. It had survived the 1906 earthquake but was
gutted by the following fire.
(SFEC, 11/17/96, p.C4)(SFC, 8/22/09, p.A10)
1909 Dec 24, Luisa Tetrazinni,
opera star, gave a free concert in front of the Chronicle building
on Market St. for some 200,000 people.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A8)
1909 In San Francisco colonial
revival houses were built in the Presidio for non-commissioned
officers along Ord and Riley avenues.
(SFC, 4/25/01, WB p.4)
1909 The 1,300-seat Columbia
Theater was constructed in SF and named after a major venue
destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. It was designed by Walter Bliss
and William Faville, who also designed the St. Francis Hotel. In
1928 it was renamed the Geary Theater. It was badly damaged in the
1989 earthquake. It opened in 1910 with “Father and the Boys.”
(WSJ, 11/16/95, p.A-18)(SFC, 10/21/04,
p.A15)(SFC, 9/15/06, p.E2)
1909 In SF the City of Paris
department store was built on Geary St. facing Union Square. The
site was taken over by Nieman Marcus in 1974.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F2)
1909 The Hearst Building in SF
was constructed at Market and Third. It was remodeled in 1937 by
Julia Morgan.
(SFC, 8/15/05, p.C5)
1909 In San Francisco the
4-story Hugo building was built at 200 Sixth St. It was designed by
Theo W. Lenzen. In 1988 the residential hotel went empty. In 1997
Brian Goggin installed his “Defenstration” artwork featuring
furniture apparently tumbling from the building’s windows. In 2009
San Francisco used eminent domain to acquire the property and
planned demolition for new low-income housing.
(SSFC, 9/20/09, p.C2)
1909 In SF the cornerstone of
the Odd Fellows building at Seventh and Market St. was laid. The
fraternal organization had arrived in California in 1849.
(SFC, 11/28/00, p.A21)
1909 In SF a building on
Stockton St. was erected to house the western headquarters of
Metropolitan Life Insurance. In 1990 the Ritz-Carlton Hotel opened
there.
(SFC, 9/10/98, p.B1,4)
1909 The SF 1863 Cliff House
was rebuilt after a 1907 fire. Emma Sutro Merritt, the daughter of
Adolph Sutro, chose a smaller neoclassic design which lasted to the
present.
(SFC, 1/7/97, p.B1)(SFC, 4/14/99, Z1 p.4)
1909 In SF the 198,000 sq. ft.
Haslett Warehouse near Beach and Hyde was completed by the
California Fruit Canners Assoc. to hold loads of canned goods.
(SFC, 10/17/00, p.A24)
1909 In SF the Mission Park
Congregational Church was built at 601 Dolores St. It later became
the Norwegian Lutheran Church. It went out of commission as a church
in 2005 and was purchased in 2007 by businessman Siamak Akhavan, who
renovated it and put it up for sale in 2010 for $7.49 million. In
2011 it was sold for $6.6 million as the new home for Children’s Day
middle schoolers.
(SFC, 6/4/10, p.D2)(SFC, 5/5/11, p.D6)
1909 In SF the First Baptist
Church was built at Waller and Octavia. It was the 5th building of
the congregation that dated back to 1849.
(SFC, 11/18/99, p.A22)
1909 In SF St. Mary’s Cathedral
was rebuilt and rededicated.
(SFC, 6/13/96, p.C3)
1909 In San Francisco a 6-story
department store, designed by George A. Applegarth, was built at
1019 Market St. The Greek revival structure was framed by Corinthian
columns.
(SSFC, 11/22/09, p.C2)
1909 In San Francisco the
6-story Goldberg Bowen building was built at 250 Sutter St.
(SSFC, 1/2/11, p.C3)
1909 Patrick H. McCarthy
(d.1933), standard-bearer of the Union Labor Party, was elected
mayor of San Francisco.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.C3)
1909 The SF Board of Directors
suggested changing all the numbered avenues of the Richmond District
to streets named after Hispanic leaders.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.C7)
1909 SF outlawed slot machines,
despite collecting some $200,000 a year in taxes from 3,200
machines.
(Econ, 7/10/10, SR p.10)
1909 John H. Eagal, manager of
the automobile department of the Studebaker, San Francisco branch,
said “The future of the electric automobile is assured… The past few
months have seen an increase in demand for the electric cars that
has been surprising to manufacturers all over the country.”
Studebaker sold battery-powered cars from 1902 to 1912.
(SSFC, 1/10/10, DB
p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Electric)
1909-1911 Patrick H. McCarthy served as mayor of
SF.
(SFC, 9/12/98, p.C3)
1910 Jan 18, Aviator Eugene Ely
performed his first successful take off and landing from a ship in
San Francisco. [see Jan 18, 1911]
(HN, 1/18/99)
1910 Jan 24, Ford Nichols, the
Episcopal bishop of California, laid the cornerstone of Grace
Cathedral.
(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A19)
1910 Feb 17, In San Francisco 3
elephants appearing at a Broadway vaudeville house went on a rampage
while parading in North Beach.
(SSFC, 2/14/10, DB p.42)
1910 Feb 22, In San Francisco
the Sierra Club, under the leadership of Prof. A.G. McAdie, named 2
peaks of the Sutro Forest. The loftiest peak in the city was named
Mount Davidson in honor of noted English-born geographer George
Davidson (1825-1911), and the other Sutro Crest, in honor of former
mayor and philanthropist Adolph Sutro.
(SSFC, 2/21/10, DB
p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Davidson_%28geographer%29)
1910 Mar 6, In San Francisco a
dance marathon at Puckett’s Cotillion Hall ended and Manager Puckett
awarded $145 to six couples who broke the world record of 14 hours
and 41 minutes. The contest had begun the previous evening with 17
couples.
(SSFC, 2/28/10, DB p.42)
1910 Apr 15, In San Francisco
detective Tim Riordan arrested Jolly Trixie, aka Miss Kitty
Plunkett, for allegedly violating the Penal Code. She was accused of
being deformed and exhibiting her deformity in a Fillmore Street
show house. Plunkett said she wighed only 585 pounds as opposed to
the alleged 685 pounds. 2 physicians testified that she was pefectly
symmetrical.
(SSFC, 4/11/10, DB p.50)
1910 Apr 20, Eva Swan (26), a
SF schoolteacher, disappeared. Doctor’s assistant Ben Gordon (18)
kept the secret until after a fight with Dr. James Grant over $18 in
wages. He then went to the police. Her body was found on Sep 23
buried under a basement at 320 Eureka St. and soaking in nitric acid
with every joint sawed through. Grant and nurse Marie Messerschmidt
were arrested on murder charges after the failed abortion went awry.
(http://realchoice.0catch.com/library/deaths/bl10eswan.htm)(SSFC,
9/19/10, DB p.50)
1910 Jul 28, Bill Goodwin,
announcer (Burns & Allen, Boing Boing Show), was born in SF,
Calif.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1910 Aug 7, In San Francisco
the Chutes vaudeville theater on Fillmore St. attracted Sophie
Tucker, who revived her career after being black-balled by Flo
Ziegfeld back in New York. Tucker performed the Grizzly Bear song in
San Francisco. Sophie Tucker at the Chutes theater creates a genuine
furor with her rendition of “The Dance of the Grizzly Bear.” She did
two Sunday through Saturday runs, August 7 - 13, and September 18 -
24. in 1910.
(AJSF, Vol. 14. No. 2, Winter,
2003)(http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000131701)
1910 Aug 19, The advance guard
of the Barnum & Bailey Circus began arriving in San Francisco,
claiming to be the biggest ever to visit the Pacific Coast. It
included 1,280 people, 85 railroad cars, 700 horses and 400
elephants.
(SSFC, 8/15/10, DB p.42)
1910 Sep, A SF Grand Jury
banned dancing in the cafes of the Tenderloin and ordered all
entertainment in the area to be performed on stage.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1910 Sep, $50,000 in gold bars
from the Tanana gold fields of Alaska was stolen from the steamship
Humboldt. 6 men and a woman were arrested in Dec. and the bullion
was recovered in a series of raids on rooming houses and hotels near
Sixth and Howard.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1910 Oct 3, San Francisco new
police Chief Seymour closed down dancing of the “bunny hug” and the
“hug-me-tight” in the Tenderloin. As of the next day female habitues
of the Tenderloin will not be allowed to puff their usual cigarettes
in public.
(SSFC, 10/3/10, DB p.50)
1910 Oct 11, Buffalo Bill’s
Wild West and Pawnee Bill’s Far East combined shows arrived in San
Francisco. They set up on 8 acres at 12th and Market with a big
arena and 22 tents. This was part of Col. William Cody’s farewell
tour.
(SSFC, 10/3/10, DB p.50)
1910 Oct 11, The San Francisco
Rotary Club offered a $10,000 prize to the aviator who first flies
from SF to New York.
(SSFC, 10/10/10, DB p.50)
1910 Nov 28, In San Francisco
John Edwards, knows as the “King of the Opium Ring,” was arrested at
his home at 133 Fillmore. Drugs found included 40 pounds of crude
opium. His arrest followed a police raid in Chinatown on Nov 26 in
which 210 persons were arrested.
(SSFC, 11/28/10, p.50)
1910 Nov, SF city voters
approved a $5 million bond for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Int’l.
Exposition. Voters also approved a $45 million bond to fund the
Hetch Hetchy project for water from the Tuolumne River originating
on Mount Lyell.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)(SFC, 9/15/02, p.A20)
1910 Dec 8, In San Francisco
the Jesuits of St. Ignatius broke ground on a new church at Parker
and Fulton. This was the site of the old Masonic Cemetery
Association.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1910 Dec 17, In San Francisco
25 men were arrested for spitting on sidewalks. It cost them $5 to
regain their liberty.
(SSFC, 12/12/10, DB p.46)
1910 Dec 24, Luisa Tetrazinni,
opera diva, sang at the Charlotte Mignon (Lotta) Crabtree fountain
at Market and Kearney in a free performance before a crowd of
250,000.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A1)(SFEC, 10/3/99, p.B10)
1910 Jerome Moskowitz (d.2001)
was born in Oakland. His father. Louis Moskowitz, had founded a
small clothing shop at Third and Mission in SF. Jerome took over the
store in 1957 and created Rochester Big and Tall clothing store
chain.
(SFC, 11/30/01, p.A27)
1910 In San Francisco the Clay
Theater on Fillmore St. opened as a nickleodeon. The single-screen
theater closed down in 2010.
(SFC, 8/23/10, p.E1)
1910 In SF the 9-story Central
YMCA at 220 Golden Gate Ave. was completed. In 2009 it was closed to
make way for affordable apartments for the homeless.
(SSFC, 5/17/09, p.B1)
1910 Hotel Herald opened on
Eddy Street.
(SFC, 7/23/04, p.B1)
1910 The 5-story Hotel
Richelieu with 185 rooms was completed at the corner of Van Ness and
Geary.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1910 William Bourne, owner of
the Spring Valley Water Co., commissioned the Chicago firm of Daniel
Burnham to build a water temple at Sunol. Wilis Polk, the West Coast
representative of the firm, accepted the commission.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.A26)
1910 The Mission Theater was
constructed in 3 parts between this year and 1932. James and Merritt
Reid did the original design. Timothy Pflueger redesigned the old
Premium Theater and incorporated it into the lobby of the New
Mission.
(SFC, 7/31/99, p.A13)(SFC, 12/25/03, p.A20)
1910 A 67,000-square-foot
building designed by architect Newton Tharp was completed. In 1913
the building was moved brick by brick to 170 Fell St. It was used by
the by the SF Unified School District for administration until the
1989 earthquake.
(SFC, 1/7/98, p.A15)
1910 The Denman Grammar School,
designed by Newton Tharp, was built on a promontory overlooking
Alamo Square. It later became the Ida B. Wells High School.
(SFCM, 8/15/04, p.15)
1910 In SF William T. “Cocktail
Bill” Boothby (d.1930), devised his Boothby cocktail at the Palace
Hotel. It was essentially a Manhattan with a Champagne float.
(SFC, 12/14/07, p.F2)
1910 Jim Casey induced the SF
Motor Club to sponsor a show at Tanforan with the proceeds going to
road improvement. Air pilots, balloonists, and glider pilots joined
the first automobile drivers and demonstrated their skills.
(GTP, 1973, p.66)
1910 SF passed a law that
stopped cremation.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1910 Carleton Watkins,
photographer, was committed to Napa State Hospital for the Insane,
where he died 6 years later.
(SFEC, 5/23/99, DB p.42)
1910s Joseph A. Leonard
(1850-1929), California, created a residence park in the Ingleside
Terraces of SF.
(SFC, 4/10/04, p.F1)
1910-1997 Nell Sinton, one of the early California
abstract painters. Her family had moved to SF in 1851.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.D6)
1911 Jan 7, Aviator James
Radley, operating a French Bleriot airplane, performed over South
San Francisco, skimmed the the West Virginia, the flagship of
Rear-Admiral Barry, and checked the time of San Francisco Ferry
Tower clock on both sides.
(SSFC, 1/2/11, DB p.42)
1911 Jan 15, An explosive bomb
was dropped from an airplane during an aviation meet in South San
Francisco. The plane was about 400 feet high and the bomb dropped
within 10 feet of its target.
(SSFC, 1/16/11, DB p.42)
1911 Jan 18, Naval aviation was
born when pilot Eugene B. Ely flew a Curtis Pusher biplane onto the
deck of the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco harbor.
(SFC, 7/2/96, p.a15)(SFC, 5/7/97, p.A15)(AP,
1/18/98)(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A19)
1911 Jan 28, In San Francisco
143 were taken prisoner following a raid on gambling at a poolroom
at Fourth and Mission streets run by Brophy & Collins.
(SSFC, 1/23/11, p.42)
1911 Feb 25, A rare snowstorm
hit San Francisco.
(SSFC, 2/20/11, DB p.46)
1911 Mar 12, In San Francisco a
squad of immigration officials captured 6 Chinese slave girls, said
to have been purchased for $25,000.
(SSFC, 3/13/11, DB p.42)
1911 Apr 6, In San Francisco
the Police Board examined 9 Mission saloon keepers who were cited
for selling liquor to women decoys. Mission District Police Capt.
Henry Gleeson faced a possible charge of neglect of duty.
(SSFC, 4/3/11, DB p.46)
1911 May 4, In San Francisco
Police chief Seymour instructed Capt. Thomas Duke of Central Station
to notify the proprietors of brothels that $2 per day would be the
maximum they would be allowed to charge the 100 prostitutes at 633
Jackson and 719 Commercial Street. Current charges for the women
were $5 per day.
(SSFC, 5/1/11, DB p.46)
1911 May 18, San Francisco
received its first shipment of red onions from Stockton and growers
received $2.25 per sack for all they could deliver. Italian
gardeners earned about $500 an acre from their crop.
(SSFC, 5/15/11, DB p.46)
1911 May 29, In SF the
amusement park known as "The Chutes," located on Fillmore Street,
burned down. The fire originated in the Chutes restaurant and
destroyed 13 stores in the Chutes building. All the animals in the
“Happy Family House” as well as the donkeys and ponies in the Chutes
stable were killed. There would not be another amusement park in San
Francisco for over 20 years, until Chutes-at-the-Beach opened at
Ocean Beach in the mid-1920s, changing its name to
Playland-at-the-Beach by 1928 and lasting until 1972. The
shoot-the-chutes attraction was torn down in January 1950.
(AJSF, Vol. 14. No. 2, Winter, 2003)(SSFC,
5/29/11, DB p.46)
1911 Jun 13, Luis W. Alvarez
(d.1988), physicist (Nobel-1968), was born in SF, Ca.
(MC, 6/13/02)(www.britannica.com)
1911 Aug 13, In San Francisco
10 members of the Industrial Workers of the World were arrested
during a riot in North Beach. Speakers had been addressing a crowd
denouncing all forms of government along with a tirade against the
pope.
(SSFC, 8/14/11, DB p.42)
1911 Sep 15, SF Police Chief
D.A. White abolished the “dead line” designed to keep the women of
the underworld within the confines of Chinatown. The line was first
instituted by Police Chief Biggy had been irregularly enforced.
(SSFC, 9/11/11, DB p.46)
1911 Sep, Ishi, a native
Californian Indian, walked out of the forest near Oroville, Ca. He
underwent examination at UC medical center in SF and liked to
practice "drawing bow" on Parnassus Heights.
(SFC, 7/14/96, zone 1 p.2)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1911 Oct, SF began to
officially celebrate Columbus Day.
(SFC, 10/8/04, p.F12)
1911 Dec 8, The 61-member SF
Orchestra, later known as the SF Symphony, played its first
performance before some 1400 people and featured works by Wagner,
Haydn and Tchaikovsky. The performance featured violinist Fritz
Kreisler.
(SFC, 9/5/11, p.A12)
1911 The Sunol Water Temple
near Niles Canyon in Alameda County, Ca., was designed by Willis
Polk as a tribute to Vesta and the SF water system. He designed it
with 12 circular columns supporting a wood and tile roof.
(SFC, 12/19/96, p.A21,26)
1911 In SF the Perine Mansion,
designed by Conrad Meussdorffer, was built at 535 Powell St. It
later became the home of Tessie Wall (d.1922), a SF madam.
(SFC, 7/2/07, p.E1)
1911 In SF the Old First
Presbyterian Church laid the cornerstone for its Byzantine style
edifice at Van Ness and Sacramento. The church was later rocked by
financial scandal under Rev. John Creighton. In 1999 Stephen Taber
authored his book on the 300-member church: "Pioneer Community of
Faith."
(SFC, 5/20/99, p.A19)
1911 In SF the First St. John’s
United Methodist Church, designed by George Washington Kramer, was
constructed at Larkin and Clay. It went empty in 2005 as the church
agreed to sell the land to Pacific Polk Properties to build a
27-unit condominium. It failed to attain status as a city landmark
and was slated for demolition in 2009.
(SFC, 5/27/09, p.B1)
1911 In SF a 2-story building
was constructed in Art Nouveau style at 1660 Haight St. to serve as
a vaudeville house. It later became a neighborhood market and
then a clothing bazaar.
(SSFC, 1/10/10, p.C2)
1911 In the SF Bay Hazel
Langenour became the 1st woman to swim the Golden Gate span.
(SFCM, 1/25/04, p.15)
1911 James "Sunny Jim" Rolph
was elected as mayor of SF. He went on to become the governor of the
state in 1930. He lived by the motto: "Make no enemies." He claimed
to be a descendent of Pocahontas.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A14)(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4,5)
1911 SF Bay Area wild oysters
were pretty much wiped out by this time.
(SFC, 4/28/03, A14)
1912 Jan 1, The Cross City Race
was first run under the sponsorship of the Pacific Athletic
Association. Hillard L. Baggerly, sports editor of the SF Bulletin,
suggested an annual cross-city race to help advertise for the coming
1912 Expo. Mayor P.H. McCarthy called the start. It was later
renamed "Bay to Breakers" in 1964. Bobby Vlught won in 45 min. and
10 sec. He won again in 1913.
(SFEM, 5/10/98, p.8)(Ind, 5/11/02, 12A)
1912 Jul 2, Mary’s Help
Hospital opened at 145 Guerrero St. It was made possible by a
bequest from Catherine Birdsall Johnson (d.1893).
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1912 Aug 31, Mayor James Rolph
had his first interview with engineer Michael Maurice O’Shaughnessy
(1864-1934).
(Ind, 3/11/00, p.5A)
1912 Dec 28, The SF Mayor James
Rolph piloted the city-owned Municipal Railway’s first streetcar.
The Geary Street Line, from Geary and 39th to Kearney and Market,
was the 1st municipally built railway in the US to compete with the
private United Railroads. The double-ended streetcar was built by
W.L. Holman Car Co. of SF. Service began the next day.
(www.streetcar.org/mim/streetcars/fleet/antique/1/index.html)(SSFC,
4/15/07, p.B5)(SFC, 4/14/09, p.B1)
1912 Zoeth Eldredge authored
“The Beginnings of San Francisco.”
(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A10)
1912 In SF a 3-story Edwardian
home was built on the corner of Leavenworth and Chestnut by Luke and
John Fay. It replaced an earlier structure built by David Fay, whose
family owned a soap factory at Chestnut and Mason. A residential
garden, designed by Thomas Church was added in 1958. In 1998 SF
accepted the property for conversion to park.
(SFCM, 8/28/05, p.11)
1912 In SF the Colombo Building
at 1 Columbus Ave was built.
(SFC, 3/9/06, p.B1)
1912 The Fillmore Auditorium
building was constructed.
(SFC, 11/1/96, p.C9)
1912 In San Francisco the
Sharon Building was built by the descendants of William Sharon
(1821-1885), a US senator from Nevada, who made his fortune in
silver. It was designed by NYC architect George Kelham.
(SFC, 2/23/10,
p.E1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sharon)
1912 The new Gartland Aparments
opened at Valencia and 16th with an elevator and steam heat. Arson
in 1975 destroyed the building and left 14 dead.
(SFC, 9/14/02, p.A16)
1912 A movie house was built at
2550 Mission between 21st and 22nd. The property was later bought by
City College and was scheduled for demolition in 1999. It was to be
replaced by a $30 million Mission District campus.
(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A13)
1912 Arthur Looff and his
partner John Friedle built Looff’s Hippodrome near the ocean and
Golden Gate Park to house a carousel built by Looff’s father Charles
I.D. Looff in 1906. It underwent restoration in the 1980s.
(SFC, 12/28/96, p.A24)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.F6)
1912 In San Francisco the
Tadich Grill moved to 545 Clay St. until Wells Fargo took over the
space in 1967.
(SFC, 10/8/97, Z1 p.7)
1912 Michael Maurice
O'Shaughnessy was appointed the city engineer.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.C4)
1912 The Urban Realty Company
leveled the Ingleside Race Track and put up the Ingleside Terraces
housing development. The old race track became Urbano Drive and a
28-foot-tall stone sundial was built in the old infield in 1913.
(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A2)(SFCM, 4/14/02, p.6)
1912 In San Francisco St.
Ignatius College changed its name to St. Ignatius Univ.
(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1912-1913 A series of in-town SF suburbs were
mapped. These included Ashbury Terrace, Balboa Terrace, Ingleside
Terrace, Lincoln Manner, St. Francis Wood and Sea Cliff. Frederick
Law Olmstead laid out the central axis up St. Francis Boulevard.
Lots in St. Francis Wood sat unsold until the Twin Peaks Tunnel
blasted through West Portal in 1917.
(SFCM, 7/10/05, p.4)
1912-1930 James Rolph Jr. was the Mayor of San
Francisco. Under him the first municipal railroad system in the US
was built.
(SFC, 4/14/96, EM, p.22)
1913 Jan, Dr. Milton Francis
Clark, medical representative of the king of Greece, successfully
installed a new silver-and-diamond heel joint in a small dog.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1913 Jul 19, A Catholic
clinic opened at Mary’s Help Hospital. Patients paid according to
their ability.
(Ind, 8/11/01, 5A)
1913 Aug, A 2:00 a.m. liquor
sales ban went into effect.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1913 Sep, The cornerstone of
the Mission Dolores Church was laid at 16th and Dolores to replace
the church destroyed in the 1906 earthquake.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1913 Oct 25, The cornerstone
for the "new" City Hall was laid by Mayor James Rolph. The building
was designed by architects Bakewell and Arthur Brown Jr., the
designers of Berkeley’s old City Hall. A time capsule was later set
behind a granite stone and was discovered by chance in 1996.
(SFEM,7/28/96, p.38)(SFEM, 1/4/98, p.6)(SFEC,
1/2/00, p.D4)
1913 Oct, An 18,000 seat
Masonic Ave. ballpark for the SF Seals was begun.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1913 Dec 2, The US Senate
passed the Raker Act which authorized SF rights to dam the Tuolumne
River in Yosemite National Park for water-collection and
power-generation facilities.
(www.sfwater.org/)
1913 Dec 6, President Woodrow
Wilson signed the Raker Act into law. It authorized SF rights to dam
the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park for water-collection
and power-generation facilities.
(www.sfwater.org/)
1913 The San Francisco Civic
Auditorium was constructed. It was damaged by the 1987 earthquake
and was shut down for 19 months for repairs.
(WSJ, 11/16/95, p.A-18)
1913 In San Francisco the Hotel
Senate, aka Crescent Manor, opened at 467 Turk Street. It was
designed by architect Charles J. Rousseau.
(SFC, 12/13/10, p.D1)
1913 In San Francisco the 1910
67,000-square-foot building designed by architect Newton Tharp, was
moved brick by brick to 170 Fell St. It was used by the SF Unified
School District for administration until the 1989 earthquake.
(SFC, 1/7/98, p.A15)
1913 In San Francisco the
2-story building at 200 Powell St. was built. It was designed by
Salfield and Kohlberg and was remodeled in 1933 and 2008.
(SSFC, 9/26/10, p.C4)
1913 Notre Dame des Victoires
church in San Francisco was built on Bush Street.
(SFCM, 4/30/06,
p.4)(www.noehill.com/sf/landmarks/sf173.asp)
1913 In San Francisco the
11-story Flatiron Building, designed by Havens and Toepke, was built
at 540 Market St.
(SSFC, 4/12/09, p.B3)
1913 In San Francisco the
2-story headquarters of the Commercial fire Dispatch Co. was built
at 229 Oak St.
(SFC, 11/25/09, p.D3)
1913 In San Francisco Charles
Baker was convicted for embezzling $220,000 from Crocker National
Bank. In 1929 his son Roy Baker confessed to embezzling $72,000 over
3 years from Oakland Bank.
(SFC, 5/7/04, p.F2)
1913 In San Francisco motorized
pumps were installed in the Dutch and Murphy windmills in Golden
Gate Park. Their maintenance was neglected and they eventually
ceased to operate.
(SFC, 6/26/02, p.A18)
1913 In San Francisco
neighborhood activists burned 30 of the old Carville houses.
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.D10)
1913-1973 A Charles Looff Carousel entertained
generations at Playland at the Beach. The assembly was shipped south
and installed in Long Beach in 1983.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A20)
1914 Feb 7, Steel work was
completed on Exposition (Civic) Auditorium, SF.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1914 Mar 18, SF temperatures
hit a record 86 degrees. This March record lasted to March 11, 2005,
when SF temperature reached 87.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.B5)
1914 Mar, Pianist Henry Cowell
(1897-1965) performed his 2nd public concert at the St. Francis
Hotel.
(SFEM, 1/26/97, p.5)
1914 Jul 29, Transcontinental
telephone service began with the first phone conversation between
New York and San Francisco.
(AP, 7/29/97)
1914 Sep, Some 100,000 people
attended a peace rally in Golden Gate Park.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1914 Nov 25, Joe DiMaggio
(d.1999), later baseball star known as the Yankee Clipper, was born.
(SFC, 6/16/99, p.A18)
1914 The Eureka Valley Station
was built in SF as work began on the Twin Peaks Tunnel.
(SFC, 2/4/05, p.F9)
1914 In SF a building was
constructed at 50 Oak St. for the Young Men’s Institute. It was
later remodeled as the home of the SF Conservatory of Music.
(SFC, 9/20/06, p.B5)
1914 The Hobart building was
completed at the Montgomery, Pine and Bush intersection.
(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)
1914 The SF Mint received a
roof over the courtyard. Electricity was installed along with an
engine room.
(SSFC, 1/28/03, p.E1)
1914 A new St. Ignatius Church
opened at the 5th site of St. Ignatius College on the block
bordered by Fulton, Masonic, Stanyon and Turk, the site of the old
Masonic Cemetery Association. The faculty residence opened there in
1920, the college in 1927 and the high school in 1929.
(SFCM, 3/29/02, p.48)(GenIV, Winter 04/05)
1914 St. Patrick’s Church,
first erected 1872 on Mission between 3rd and 4th, was rebuilt in
Gothic Revival style following the 1906 earthquake.
(SFEC, 11/1/98, p.C1)
1914 St. Luke’s Hospital opened
with 150 beds. it was touted as the West’s most modern health
facility.
(Ind, 10/3/98, p.5A)
1914 Cal Ewing, owner of the
Pacific Coast league Seals, erected the 18,000 seat Ewing Field on
Masonic Ave south of Geary Blvd., now the site of Wallenberg High
School. It was used for a half-season by the SF Seals and they fled
back to Rec. Park because of the fog.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)
1914 SF bought 125 streetcars
from the Jewett Car Co. in Ohio and put them to work hauling
passengers for the Panama Pacific Int’l. Exposition.
(SFC, 6/10/08, p.B1)
1914 The German ambassador
arrived in the US with $150 million to spend on behalf of his
country’s war effort. Enterprising San Franciscans made business in
shipping deals and supplies. Coal from Mayor James Rolph’s coal
company was sold to supply a German cruiser squadron off of South
America.
(SFEC, 10/9/96, E3)
1914 George Gray, cement
magnate, was shot to death by a worker. His rock quarries cut into
the east side of Telegraph Hill.
(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A18)
1915 Jan 25, The inventor of
the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, inaugurated transcontinental
telephone service in the United States. Bell placed the first
ceremonial cross-continental call from New York to his old colleague
Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.D1)(AP, 1/25/98)(HN, 1/25/99)
1915 Feb 15, Albert Samuels,
jeweler, installed a 20-foot-tall, 4-sided clock (Samuel’s Clock) in
front of his store, The House of Lucky Wedding Rings, near Market
and 5th in honor of the opening of the Panama-Pacific Expo. In 1941
[1943] the store was moved across the street to 856 Market next to
the Flood Building and the clock followed.
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.C4)(SFC, 11/18/00, p.A9)
1915 Feb 20, President Wilson
opened the Panama-Pacific Expo in San Francisco to celebrate the
opening of the Panama Canal. A 20-acre salt marsh was paved
over at Crissey Field for the Expo. It was held on what later became
the Marina District and 300,000 people attended opening day. Herb
Caen claimed to have been conceived in this year during the expo. A
40-ton organ with 7,000 pipes played the "Hallelujah Chorus." It was
made by the Austin Organs Co. of Hartford, Conn. After the fair it
was moved to the Civic Auditorium and used for 7 decades until the
1989 earthquake damaged it.
(SFC, 6/14/96, p.A1)(SFC, 10/4/96, p.A22)(SFC,
4/27/98, p.A20)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1915 Feb 25, It was San Mateo
Day at the Panama-Pacific Expo. The main entrance on Scott Street
had 50,000 waiting visitors. Patrons remembered the day as Violet
Day.
(Ind, 9/15/01, 5A)
1915 Mar 14, Lincoln Beachey,
air devil, plunged into the shallows of SF Bay and was killed as
some 50,000 fans watched his performance during the Panama-Pacific
Expo. The battleship USS Oregon recovered the plane and body.
(Ind, 9/5/98, p.5A)
1915 Aug, A fire in the
Presidio killed the wife of Brig. Gen. John J. Pershing and 3 of
their 4 children.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1915 Dec 28, San Francisco
Mayor James Rolph Jr. dedicated the "new" $3.5 million City Hall.
The French Renaissance Revival building, was designed by Arthur
Brown Jr.
(www.inetours.com/Pages/SFNbrhds/Civic_Center.html)(SFEM,7/28/96,
p.38)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1915 The "Pioneer Mother"
statue by Charles Gaff in Golden Gate Park was a memento from the
Panama Pacific Expo. It initially stood on a 26-foot pedestal and
represented the women who arrived after the men of the Gold Rush.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.A26)(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1915 A bronze bust of Ludwig
van Beethoven by Henry Baerer was erected in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1915 The film “A Jitney
Elopement” starred Charlie Chaplin. He also directed the film, which
was set in San Francisco.
(SFC, 4/10/09, p.E8)
1915 The song "Hello Frisco"
was a musical chart-topper.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.D1)
1915 In San Francisco the
2-story Agriculture Building at 101 Embarcadero was built. It was
designed by A.A. Pyle. It began life as a post office so mail
ferries could pull right up.
(SSFC, 1/17/10, p.C2)
1915 The Clift Hotel was built
at the corner of Geary and Taylor. In 1999 it sold for $80 million
and in 2003 went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
(SFC, 8/19/03, p.B1)
1915 The new commandant’s house
on Pope Street at Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio was built for
$12,200 in the Georgian Revival style.
(SFC, 4/25/01, WB p.4)
1915 In SF, Ca., philanthropist
Phoebe Apperson Hearst led a fund to save the Palace of Fine Arts
building, designed by Bernard Maybeck for the Panama Pacific Fair,
from demolition. The building later became the Exploratorium. In
1960 Walter Johnson gave $4 million to rebuild the structure.
Another restoration project began in 2004.
(SFC, 5/2/98, p.E1)(SFC, 9/7/07, p.B12)
1915 The Mediterranean-style
Agriculture Building on the AF waterfront was completed.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.B3)
1915 The Nourse Civic
Auditorium (later named the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium) was
completed.
(SFC, 4/14/96, EM, p.20)
1915 Spring Valley Playground
was built at Larkin and Broadway. In 1929 it was renamed the Helen
Wills Playground after tennis star Helen Wills.
(SFC, 7/23/04, p.F1)
1915 A 7 block stretch of
Fillmore was set up in a Spanish style "Streets of Sevilla"
attraction. Flamenco dancing by Estrellita, a Moorish style patio
and cafe, and a bullring with bulls was featured.
(SFEC,10/26/97, DB p.41)
1915 A new firehouse was built
for the Expo. After the event it was placed on a barge and towed to
the foot of Harrison St. as the home for Engine 35 and the base for
the city’s 2 fireboats.
(SFC, 6/19/97, p.A15,19)
1915 The First Congregational
Church of SF at Post and Mason was dedicated following damages in
the 1906 quake.
(SFC, 7/24/99, p.A17)
1915 Edward Joseph Hanna
succeeded Archbishop Riordan as Archbishop of SF and served until
1935. Hanna was the city's 3rd Catholic archbishop.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.A22)
1915 The Cross City Race was
begun as a social event in connection with the Panama-Pacific Expo.
(SFEM, 5/11/97, p.6)
1915 Frank Vincent Dumond of
New York was commissioned to paint 2 large narrative works of
"Pioneers" for the Exhibition. The paintings were later installed
into the Main Library.
(SFC, 2/25/97, p.E1)
1915 Mr. Cahill founded Cahill
Construction. The company’s work later included St. Mary’s
Cathedral, the SF Hilton and the California Academy of Sciences in
Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 9/26/00, p.A21)
1915 The Daly City Lagomarsino
family employed dozens of women to pick violets and fashion them
into bouquets and boutonnieres for the World’s Fair in SF.
(GTP, 1973, p.118)
1915 The Spediacci family
started Speedy’s New Union Grocery at Union and Montgomery.
(SFC, 11/27/00, p.A18)
1915 Dr. Boxton was restored as
dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
(SFC, 9/9/96, p.E8)
1915 Alexander Bell placed the
first ceremonial cross-continental call from New York to his old
colleague Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.D1)
1916 Feb 12, Joseph L. Alioto,
future mayor of SF, was born in North Beach at 572 Filbert St.
(SFC, 1/30/98, p.A10)
1916 Apr 15, The cornerstone
for the new Civic Center library was laid. The $1,650,000 building
was designed by George W. Kellham.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1916 Jul 10, A Citizen’s Law
and Order Committee was formed by 1,000 leading Bay Area
industrialists in response to a longshoreman’s strike to "enforce
the right of employers to hire union or non."
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1916 Jul 22, In San Francisco
some 50,000 people marched in a Preparedness Day parade sponsored by
business leaders and opposed by labor. A bomb went off on Market St.
at Steuart during the parade. 10 people were killed including Arthur
Nelson. The bomb was set by a professed anarchist. Labor leader Tom
Mooney was convicted but it turned out that the evidence was
fabricated. In 1930 Gov. Clement Young denied a pardon for Mooney.
He was pardoned in 1939 by Democratic Governor Culbert Olson.
(AP, 7/22/97)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)(SFC, 9/22/01,
p.A3)(OAH, 2/05, p.A10)(SFC, 7/8/05, p.F6)(SSFC, 4/27/08, DB
p.58)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mooney)
1916 Sep 22, Warren Billings,
one of 5 people charged in the July 22 San Francisco Preparedness
Day bombing, was sentenced to life in prison.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1916 Dec 14, SF bakers asked
the Board of Supervisors to authorize a smaller loaf. The said the
current 12-ounce, 6-cent loaf was deemed too expensive by consumers.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1916 A bronze bust of Miguel de
Cervantes surrounded by Don Quixote and Sancho Panza was erected in
Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A20)
1916 Mr. and Mrs. Adolph
Spreckels presented an Alexis Rudler bronze cast of Rodin’s "The
Thinker," to SF.
(FAMSF, 2/98)
1916 In San Francisco a 9-story
building at 150 Otis St. was built to serve as the city’s first
juvenile hall and detention center. In 2010 plans were underway to
convert it to permanent living space for homeless veterans.
(SFC, 4/23/10, p.C2)
1916 In San Francisco a set of
4 linked homes on Russian Hill, designed by Willis Polk, were built
at 1-7 Russian Hill Place.
(SSFC, 9/27/09, p.C2)
1916 The California Academy of
Sciences moved to a new building in Goldengate Park.
(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A15)
1916 Jelly Roll Morton opened
the Jupiter on Columbus Ave.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.D7)
1916 An 8-foot addition was
made to the 24-foot fountain bestowed to SF by Charlotte Mignon
(Lotta) Crabtree in1875.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A1)
1916 Harry B. Allen began
developing the Sea Cliff tract. Final stages were reached in 1928.
(SFC, 8/29/03, p.E3)
1916 The Royal Theater on Polk
St. opened as a nickelodeon.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.B5)
1916 Over 450 acres in Colma
were devoted to raising violets. 100 dozen bunches were taken to SF
daily.
(GTP, 1973, p.59)
1917 Jan 1, It was reported
that police had seized the files of the anarchist paper "The Blast"
after a struggle with editor Eleanor Fitzgerald at the paper’s
Dolores Street offices.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 Feb 15, The Main Branch of
the SF Public Library at the Civic center was dedicated. It was
designed by George Kelham in the Beaux-Arts Classical style at a
cost of $1.1 million.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)(SFEC, 1/23/00, DB p.29)
1917 Feb 24, Thomas Mooney was
sentenced by Judge Franklin Griffin to death by hanging for the 1916
Preparedness Day bombing.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 Apr, Opening Day of the
Bay began as a celebration to mark the start of the boating season.
(SFC, 4/27/98, p.A1)
1917 Jul 7, A federal Grand
Jury indicted 147 people including multimillionaire Leopold Michels
and many San Franciscans in the case of "Germany’s gigantic
conspiracy against American neutrality." The "neutrality plot"
involved an alleged attempt to foment revolution in India against
British rule and a conspiracy to ship supplies from SF to German
ships in the Pacific.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 Aug 11, Some 1,300 United
Railroads employees went on strike and crippled the city’s transit
system.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 Aug 26, The president of
the police commission said that United Railroads can not mount
gunmen on its trolleys.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 Sep 17, Some 20,000 iron
workers went on strike in SF, Oakland and Alameda in the biggest
strike ever on the Pacific Coast. Marines were sent to guard the
Union Iron Works and 32 men were arrested in street demonstrations.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 Oct, The 68-mile standard
gauge Hetch Hetchy Railroad for hauling concrete for the Hetch
Hetchy Dam was completed. Mayor Rolph became president and Michael
O’Shaughnessy vice-president and general manager.
(Ind, 3/11/00, p.5A)
1917 Dec 11, Aviator Katherine
Stinson landed at the Presidio and established a new endurance
record by flying from San Diego.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1917 The Twin Peaks Tunnel
blasted through to West Portal. It opened in 1918.
(SFCM, 7/10/05, p.4)
1917 The Fourth Street
drawbridge, a bascule bridge with a 700-ton concrete counterweight,
was built. It was named for Peter R. Maloney, a police inspector who
founded the South of Market Boys charity group. In 2003 it closed
for a $17 million overhaul.
(SFC, 3/27/03, p.A3)
1917 Willis Polk designed the
SF Hallidie Building. It was completed at 130 Sutter St. in 1918 and
was the first building in America to feature glass curtain walls.
(SFEM, 8/8/99, p.42)(SFC, 11/30/10, p.C1)
1917 A Neclassic church was
built at 651 Dolores in SF. In 2008 the Second Church of Christ,
Scientist, planned to replace the building due to lack of funds for
earthquake reinforcement.
(SFC, 10/16/08, p.B5)
1917 The SF Conservatory of
Music was founded by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodghead. It was
initially called the Ada Clement Piano School and located on
Sacramento St. In 1956 it moved into a former infant shelter at 19th
Ave. at Ortega. In 2006 it moved into a new $80 facility in the
Civic Center.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W14)(SFC, 4/27/06, p.E1)
1917 The red lights of the
Barbary Coast went out. Louis Sidney "Sid" LeProtti was the pianist
who led the So Different Jazz Band at Purcell’s, one of the most
famous Negro dance halls in the country at 520 Pacific St. of the
San Francisco Barbary Coast district. A 1982 book by Tom Stoddard:
"Jazz on the Barbary Coast" covers the era.
(SFC, 4/14/96, p.C-15)(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.D7)
c1917 St. Paul’s elementary
school in Noe Valley was constructed.
(SFC,11/12/97, p.A17)
1917 The Beaux Arts Main
Library, a neoclassical palazzo, was designed by George W. Kelham,
and completed in this year. The interior was adorned with murals by
Frank Vincent De Mond and by Gottardo Piazzoni in 1932.
(SFC, 11/28/96, p.C6)(SFC,12/10/97, p.E1)(WSJ,
1/19/98, p.A20)
1917 The San Francisco Board of
Supervisors changed the Richmond District name to Park-Presidio
District, over concerns of confusion with the city of Richmond in
the East Bay. Australian George Turner Marsh, one of the district’s
earliest residents, called his home the Richmond House in honor of
his old Melbourne suburb. In 2009 legislation was introduced to
change the name back to Richmond.
(SFC, 1/28/09, p.B1)
1917 John McLaren at 70 managed
to convince the Board of Supervisors to write legislation to allow
him to remain as Superintendent of Parks for as long as he lived.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A8)
1917 The Muni began offering
motor bus transit service.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.A4)
1917 Columbus Salame was
founded in San Francisco. In 1967 its Salami making operation was
moved to South San Francisco.
(SFC, 7/24/09, p.D2)
1917 The flower market on Bush
St. closed and moved to 5th and Howard. It later moved again to 6th
and Brannan.
(GTP, 1973, p.59)
1917 Maj. Gen. Frederick
Funston (b.1865), a hero of the 1906 earthquake, died.
(SFC, 3/8/01, p.A22)
1917 Abigail Eastman Meagher
Parrot, the widow of millionaire banker and merchant John Parrot,
died.
(Ind, 11/24/01, 5A)
1917 Ignatz Steinhart, civic
benefactor, died. He willed $250,000 for a public aquarium that
opened as the Steinhart Aquarium in 1926.
(SFC, 6/22/00, p.A18)
1918 Feb 3, The $4.25 million,
12,000 foot Twin Peaks tunnel for the SF Muni Railway opened with
Mayor James Rolph at the helm of the first streetcar to go through
to West Portal. Access to the west of the mountain spawned the 1st
residential parks including West Portal Park, St. Francis Wood,
Balboa Terrace, and Forest Hill.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)(SFCM, 3/3/02, p.40)(SFC,
2/4/09, p.B7)
1918 Jun, Bethlehem Steel
director Charles Schwab was featured on the cover of the 1st issue
of the Bethlehem Star, an employee newsletter.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.F2)
1918 Jul 4, A record 17 war
vessels were launched the Bay Area. The steamer "Defiance" was
sponsored by Mrs. Charles Schwab.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1918 Aug 27, It was reported
that German master spy Edward Michael Zacho was captured in SF.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1918 Oct-Nov, Some 2,021 people
in SF died of the flu. San Franciscans wore protective face masks
during the [Spanish] flu epidemic of this year. Researchers in 1997
attempted to isolate the virus from victims buried in the Arctic and
Alaska.
(SFC, 12/24/96, p.E3)(NPR, 9/29/97)(SFEC,
12/26/99, p.W5)
1918 Nov 22, J.B. Densmore of
the federal Dept. of Labor issued a report that charged that Thomas
Mooney and Warren Billings were convicted of murder upon false
testimony. He also charged widespread corruption of SF authorities
trying to discredit the labor movement.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W5)
1918 Dec 31, The clock on the
Ferry Building was equipped with a new siren, designed by Harry C.
Heath, that sounded at 8 a.m., noon and 4:30 p.m. to keep the
dock-workers on schedule. The siren stopped working in 1972. Some
parts were salvaged in 2001 during renovations.
(SFC, 4/28/98, p.E8)(SFC, 11/23/01, p.A22)
1918 The Neoclassical Pier 29
bulkhead was completed.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.B3)
1918 In San Francisco the
Forest Hill Station provided a subway connection from the Forest
Hill neighborhood to downtown SF.
(SSFC, 2/27/11, p.C2)
1918 The Save-the-Redwoods
League was founded.
(SFC, 10/18/96, B1)
1918 St. Francis Fountain, a
candy maker on 24th St., was founded.
(SFC, 10/8/97, Z1 p.4)
1918-1942 James McSheehy served on the Board of
Supervisors. He was known for his colorful remarks e.g. in regard to
a new building proposal he said it "had all the earmarks of an
eyesore," and after he learned that Hetch Hetchy also had
hydroelectric plants he said: "Do you mean to tell me that the
people of San Francisco are drinking water after the electricity has
been taken out of it?"
(SFC, 2/22/96, p.A21)
1919 Dec 8-31, The first round
trip transcontinental flight was made from NYC to SF and back. The
plane landed at the Army's Crissy Field.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)(Ind, 7/13/99, p.11A)
1919 Victor Hirtzler, chef at
the St. Francis Hotel, published his 443-page cookbook.
(SFC, 2/19/96, zz-1 p.2)
1919 The Memorial Museum moved
to a new Golden Gate Park, Spanish-style building designed by Louis
C. Mulgardt. It was later renamed the M.H. de Young Museum.
(SFC, 10/3/97, p.A22)(SFC, 10/21/04, p.A15)
1919 The Georgian-Revival house
at 2930 Vallejo St. at Baker was built.
(SFC, 4/29/98, Z1 p.1)
1919 St. Francis Cathedral in
North Beach was completed and rededicated. It had been reduced to
ruins by the 1906 earthquake.
(SFC, 2/23/98, p.A18)(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A21)
1919 SF accepted the deed to
the Forest Hill subsection, but residents continued to maintain the
streets until 1977.
(SFC, 12/20/02, p.E5)
1919 In San Francisco the Tosca
Café opened on Columbus Avenue in North Beach.
(SFC, 11/19/09, p.A1)
1919 The Albion Brewery shut
down with the advent of Prohibition.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.A19)
1919 Phoebe Apperson Hearst
(77), wife of Senator George Hearst and mother of William Randolph
Hearst, died in the influenza epidemic. She had donated an estimated
$25 million to UC Berkeley, hospitals, schools, senior centers, art
galleries and other institutions. She was buried at Cypress Lawn in
Colma.
(SFEM, 10/24/99, p.20)(CHA, 1/2001)
1920 Jun 28, The Democrats
opened their convention, the first in the West, in San Francisco.
James Cox of Ohio was elected presidential candidate on the 44th
ballot on July 6.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A19)(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)(AH,
10/04, p.56)
1920 Jul 6, The Democrats ended
their convention in San Francisco with the selection James Cox of
Ohio and running mate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Cox and FDR were
committed internationalists and lost the elections due to the
isolationism of the times.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)(AH, 10/04, p.56)
1920 Jul 22, Milton Marks
(d.1998), later state Senator, was born in SF.
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A15)
1920 Sep 8, New York-to-San
Francisco air mail service was inaugurated. US postal planes began
flying across the country, but these flights took place only in
daylight because pilots relied on visual landmarks to navigate.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Government_Role/1918-1924/POL3.htm)(AP,
9/8/00)
1920 Dec 20, SF leaders
celebrated the opening of the New Mandarin Cabaret at Grant Ave. and
Bush St.
(SFC, 12/19/03, p.E2)
1920 Dec 20, Four SF Bay ferry
lines that carried automobiles merged to improve service.
(SFC, 12/19/03, p.E3)
1920 Dec 22, Bootleggers said
their was plenty of liquor available for San Franciscans.
(SFC, 12/19/03, p.E2)
1920 Dec, The SF police
commission revoked permits for all boxing bouts after George Boyd
and other members of a Howard Street gang, linked to boxing, were
arrested for killing police detectives Miles Jackson, Lester Dorman
and Sonoma Ct. Sheriff James A. Petray. A mob of 2,000 attempted to
lynch the gang members at the Santa Rosa jail.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1920 The horror film “The
Penalty” starred Lon Chaney and was shot on the Barbary Coast of San
Francisco.
(SFC, 4/10/09, p.E8)
1920 The Mission Armory was
built atop Mission Creek so that horses could be watered within its
walls. The creek is a fork of the Arroyo de los Dolores. The waters
originally emptied into Mission Bay, where KQED was later housed
near Division and DeHaro streets.
(SFEC, 2/15/98, p.A12)
1920 The last run of the
SF-Santa Cruz Ocean Shore Railroad was made.
(GTP, 1973, p.74)
1920 Attilio and Natalina
Mechetti, immigrants from Lucca, Italy, opened a candy store in
North Beach that became known as the Gold Spike. It opened
officially as a restaurant and bar after prohibition was lifted.
Their grandson Paul Mechetti closed it down in 2006 following a
dispute with the landlord over repairs.
(SFC, 2/4/98, Z1 p.8)(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B2)
1920 Los Angeles surpassed SF
in population 576,673 to 506,676.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)
1920s An oyster blight
devastated the oysters in the SF Bay.
(Hem., 1/97, p.92)
1920s SF founded the company
town of Moccasin at Moccasin Creek when it bought land for a
reservoir, powerhouse and tunnel to take the Tuolemne River water
from Hetch Hetchy to SF.
(SFEC, 9/14/97, Z1 p.4)
1920s M.M. O’Shaughnessy
oversaw the water projects of SF under Mayor Rolph.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.5)
1920s-1930s Geneva Lake was drained after some
kids drowned in it. It became the football field for Balboa High
School (1928).
(SFCM, 7/7/02, p.23)
1921 Jan 1, The Cal Bears beat
Ohio State 28-0.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1921 Feb 22, An air mail plane
left San Francisco at 4:30 a.m., landing at New York (Hazelhurst
Field, L. I., N. Y.) at 4:50 p.m. on February 23.
(www.airmailpioneers.org/history/Sagahistory.htm)
1921 Aug, Rev. Patrick Heslin
of Holy Angels Church in Colma was kidnapped. William A. Hightower
(41) was later convicted of Heslin’s murder and served 44 years in
prison. He was paroled in 1965 at age 86.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W20)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1921 Sep 5, Actress Virginia
Rappe died in suite rooms (1219-1221) rented by film comedian Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle at the St. Francis Hotel in SF. Arbuckle was
charged with her murder. In 1922 he was acquitted of a reduced
charge of manslaughter, but his career was over. In 2004 Jerry Stahl
authored the imaginary memoir “I, Fatty.” Evidence suggested that
Rappe had died due to a botched abortion.
(SFC, 8/4/04, p.E4)(AH, 2/05, p.46)
1921 Nov 18, The trial of film
actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle opened in San Francisco. [see Sep 5]
(AH, 2/05, p.46)
1921 In San Francisco the
Palace Garage was built at 125 Stevenson, an alley across from the
Palace Hotel. It was designed by the O’Brien Brothers.
(SSFC, 2/21/10, p.C4)
1921 In San Francisco a row of
houses was built in the Presidio for pilots with families stationed
at Crissy Army Air Field. In 2005 a $3 million project renovated 13
of the houses to be rented at current market prices, estimated at
$3-4 thousand.
(SFC, 6/17/05, p.F1)
1921 In San Francisco a tower
was added to the de Young building in Golden Gate Park.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, DB p.8)
1921 In SF Irene Bell Ruggles,
president of the California Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs,
opened the Madame C.J. Walker Home for Girls at 2066 Pine Street. It
was named after the cosmetics entrepreneur who became the first
female African American millionaire.
(SFC, 2/16/09, p.B2)
1921 In San Francisco the
Alexander building went up at the Montgomery, Pine and Bush
intersection.
(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)
1921 In San Francisco the
Forest Hill station of the Municipal Railway was constructed
opposite Laguna Honda.
(SFC, 1/19/99, p.A11)
1921 In San Francisco the
Daughters of Charity opened St. Elizabeth’s Infant Hospital for
unwed mothers.
(SFC, 9/15/98, p.A9)
1921 In San Francisco the
Community Music Center on Capp St. was founded with backing by the
Fleishhackers, Lilienthals and other wealthy families. Its Victorian
home date back to the 1880s.
(SFC, 1/18/96, p.A14)
1921 In San Francisco a trust
was created to finance the building of the War Memorial Veteran’s
Building and the Opera House. The American Legion and the SFMOMA
were original beneficiaries of the trust.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A19)
1921 The SF Convention and
Tourist League was renamed the SF Convention and Tourist Bureau.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W43)
1921 Margaret Mary Morgan was
elected as the 1st SF woman supervisor.
(SFC, 11/7/03, p.E3)
1921 In San Francisco the
Market Street Railway Co. was created.
(SFC, 4/20/01, WBb p.7)
1921 In San Francisco Purcell’s
Jazz Club at 520 Pacific St. closed down.
(SFEC, 4/12/98, p.D7)
1922 Feb 3, A jury deadlocked
10-2 in favor of conviction in the 2nd murder trial of Roscoe
"Fatty" Arbuckle.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1922 Apr 12, A San Francisco
jury acquitted actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in his 3rd murder trial
following 2 hung juries.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)(AH, 2/05, p.47)
1922 Apr 18, The office of Will
Hays, head of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of
America (MPPDA), announced that Roscoe Arbuckle was banned from
working in motion pictures, effective immediately.
(AH, 2/05, p.47)
1922 Jun 23, The new Castro
Theatre in Eureka Valley opened with the film "Across the
Continent." It was designed by Timothy L. Pflueger who also created
Oakland’s Paramount Theatre and the pacific Stock Exchange. It cost
$300,000 to build.
(SFC, 6/18/97, p.E1,3)
1922 Jun 25, The SF Chronicle’s
sports pages became the Sporting Green with the sports section
printed in green.
(SSFC, 6/7/09, p.W2)
1922 Aug, Templeton Crocker led
a movement to "organize anew" the California Historical Society. The
society began publishing a magazine that has continued ever since.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, DB p.9)(SFEC,10/26/97, DB p.55)
1922 Sep 11, In SF the new
Curran Theater opened next door to the Columbia Theater. Homer
Curfan (d.1952) lost his old lease and built the new theater with
the Wobber Brothers.
(SFC, 7/12/02, p.E9)(SFC, 9/15/06, p.E2)
1922 Horace Clifton co-founder
of the SF Opera attracted Gaetano Merola as its 1st conductor.
(SFC, 5/27/05, p.B6)
1922 San Francisco’s Warfield
Theater was built on Market St.
(SFC, 5/11/05, p.C1)
1922 The Fitzhugh Building was
built on Union Square. The federally recognized landmark was
demolished in 1979 for a new Saks Fifth Ave., 5-story, department
store.
(SFC, 2/27/04, p.E6)
1922 The Golden Gate Theater
was built for vaudeville but became mostly used for cinema. It
closed in 1975.
(SFC, 12/28/01, WB p.G7)
1922 Parkside Elementary
School, demolished in 2004, was built at 25th Ave. and Vicente.
(SFC, 6/17/04, p.B4)
1922 An architectural committee
was formed to shape the new Civic Center. Its members included
Bernard Maybeck, Willis Polk, Arthur Brown Jr. and G. Albert
Lansburgh.
(SFEM, 8/31/97, p.7)
1922 Julius Roz, an Italian
immigrant, opened his Telegraph Hill turreted restaurant, Julius’
Castle, at 1541 Montgomery. It was designed by Louis Mastropasqua.
In 1980 the SF Planning commission bestowed landmark status on the
structure.
(SFC, 3/28/01, p.5)(SFC, 5/13/05, p.F2)
1922 SF held 13 State Assembly
seats.
(SFEM, 11/17/96, p.12)
1922 60 acres of land was
purchased for the future SF Zoo.
(SFC, 7/30/04, p.E15)
1922 Dr. Morris Herzstein
donated the Golden Gate Park monument of John J. Pershing, General
of the Armies, America’s greatest WW I hero. The doctor was
thoughtful enough to include a maintenance endowment.
(SFC, 12/30/96, p.A13)
1922 The Commodore Sloat
Elementary School was founded.
(SFC, 4/28/97, p.A209)
1922 The Castro Theater opened
on Castro St.
(SFEC, 5/4/97, DB p.27)
c1922 Sam’s Grill opened in
downtown SF.
(SFC,10/22/97, p.A17)
1922 Looff and Friedle added
the Big Dipper roller coaster and the Chutes-at-the-Beach water ride
to their Hippodrome operations.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.F6)
1922 Henry Doelger sold his hot
dog stand at the corner of 7th Ave. and Lincoln Way, and joined his
brother Frank in the real estate business.
(GTP, 1973, p.108)
1922 The Mission High School on
18th St. burned down. A new West Wing was completed in 1927 and the
Main Building in 1927.
(SFCM, 8/15/04, p.12)
1922 The oil tanker Lyman A.
Stuart sank off the coast of San Francisco.
(G, Winter 96/97, p.3)
1922-1941 The Eureka ferry plowed the Bay and was
the largest passenger ferry of its time carrying 2,300 people and
120 cars. It was later docked at Hyde Pier.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, DB p.31)
1923 Jan, The main Galileo High
School building opened at Van Ness and Francisco. Students had
gathered in WW I Red Cross shacks for 2 years waiting for the new
building.
(SFCM, 8/15/04, p.14)
1923 Apr, The first sunrise
Easter service on Mt. Davidson was held.
(SFC, 4/24/98, p.A17)
1923 Jun 23, Air mail service
between SF and NYC was boosted with 50 new Douglas airplanes.
(SFC, 6/22/01, WBb p.8)
1923 Jul 5, Edward Robeson
Taylor (b.1838), former mayor of San Francisco (1907-1910), died.
Taylor, a doctor and lawyer, had also served as dean of Hastings
College of the Law and was a founder of the Book Club of California
as well as a published poet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Robeson_Taylor)
1923 Aug 2, Following a return
trip form Alaska the 29th president of the United States, Warren G.
Harding (57), died in San Francisco at the Palace Hotel of a "stroke
of apoplexy." Not considered to have been a particularly intelligent
man, Harding owed his rise to political power to the driving
ambition of his wife, Florence Kling Harding. As president, the Ohio
native was troubled by scandals caused by his weakness for pretty
women and a tendency to place unscrupulous friends—called "The Ohio
Gang"—in positions of power. Graft, corruption and other scandals
that led to the suicides of two high Federal officials had begun to
taint the Harding Administration when the president suddenly died of
a heart attack, just before the Teapot Dome Scandal broke, the
largest scandal of his administration. In 1998 Carl Sferrazza
Anthony published "Florence Harding: The First Lady, The Jazz Age
and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President." Vice
President Calvin Coolidge became president upon the death of Warren
G. Harding.
(TMC, 1994, p.1923)(AP, 8/2/97)(SFEC, 3/1/98,
p.W27)(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A15,19)(HN, 8/2/98)(HN, 8/2/98)(HNQ, 12/7/98)
1923 Sep 26, The SF Opera
Company performed its first work, "La Boheme," at the Civic
Auditorium.
(SFC, 5/26/96, SFEM p.17)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1923 Sep 29, Thousands jostled
their way through the new Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1923 The O’Shaughnessy Dam on
the Tuolumne River was completed. The first Hetch Hetchy water began
flowing to the Bay Area in 1934.
(Ind, 3/11/00, p.5A)(SFC, 9/15/02, p.A20)
1923 The Fitzhugh building was
built on the corner of Geary and Powell at Union Square. The site
later was taken by Saks Fifth Ave.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F2)
1923 The Standard Oil Building
at 225 Bush was constructed in Italian Renaissance style. It was
expanded in 1949 and was sold in 1994 to Pacific Resources
Development Inc. In 1999 it became the NBC Internet Building leased
by Xoom.com from Ocwen Asset Investment Corp.
(SFC, 9/9/99, p.B2)(SFC, 9/6/01, p.A11)
1923 The palazzo-style Shriners
Hospital for Children was opened in the Sunset as a combined meeting
hall and care facility for disabled children. The 5-acre site on
19th Ave. had an annex attached in 1969. In 1997 it planned to leave
for new quarters in Sacramento. Developers planned to demolish it
for 152 housing units. [1st source said 1924]
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.A17)(SFC, 5/20/97, p.A12)(SFC,
1/9/98, p.A18)
1923 John W. Stacey founded
Stacey’s Bookstore in the Flood Building at Market and Powell. In
the 1950s the store moved to 851 Market St. On Jan 6, 2009, the
store announced it would close in March, 2009, due to competition
and economic conditions.
(SFC, 1/7/09, p.B1)
1924 Jan 27, The American Rugby
Olympic team played its 1st game at Ewing Field on Masonic Ave. The
team went on to Paris to win a gold medal.
(Ind, 2/16/02, 6A)
1924 Mar 12, Yehudi Menuhin (7)
made his first professional doing Beriot's "Scene de Ballet" at the
a SF Symphony young people's concert.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1924 Apr 23, The 825 seat
Metropolitan Theater opened on Union St. It was refurbished in 1998
for $2 million.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, DB p.37)(SFC, 1/29/00, p.E1)
1924 Jun 23, Lt. Russell
Maugham flew from New York to San Francisco in his 3rd attempt at a
dawn to dusk traverse of the continent.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1924 Jul 2, The 1st day of
transcontinental airmail service brought news to SF mailed from New
York after 34 hours and 45 minutes.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W7)
1924 Jul 5, The SF Playground
Commission opened the 328-acre family recreation center called Camp
Mather in Yosemite. It had 35 old bunkhouses from its days as a
sawmill operation.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, Z1p.5)
1924 Sep 10, Willis Polk
(b.1867), San Francisco architect, died. He had designed the Filoli
estate on the Peninsula and the glass-fronted Hallidie Building on
Sutter St.
(SFC, 12/19/96,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Polk)
1924 Oct, The SF Chronicle
moved to its new building at Fifth and Mission. This replaced the
1890 de Young building at Kearny and Market. The Chronicle building
included a clock tower with Simplex clock, that operated without
failure until 2010.
(SFC, 8/7/99, p.A8)(SFC, 1/17/09, p.E1)(SSFC,
4/25/10, p.A2)
1924 Nov 11, The California
Palace of the Legion of Honor, dedicated on Armistice Day, opened in
Lincoln Park. It was constructed to resemble the Hotel de Salm in
Paris. The Parisian Hotel was used by Napoleon as headquarters for
his Legion d'Honneur. After the 1987 earthquake it was closed for
renovation. It opened in 1995 after three years work and $37 mil. It
was originally given to the City by Alma Spreckels, the wife of a
local sugar baron, as a World War I memorial. She stocked it
with her personal collection of more than 70 Rodin sculptures.
(WSJ, 11/16/95, p.A-18)(SFEM, 11/7/99, p.4)
1924 The film "Greed" starred
Gibson Gowland and Zasu Pitts. It was made by Erich von Stroheim in
San Francisco based on the novel "McTeague" by Frank Norris about a
Polk Street dentist. The original 8-hour film was cut down to 140
minutes.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.D1)(SFEC, 2/7/99, DB p.61)(SFC,
2/24/00, p.A20)(SFC, 4/10/09, p.E8)
1924 In SF Sts. Peter and Paul
Church was rebuilt in North Beach on Washington Square. The original
1884 church, at the corner of Grant and Filbert, was destroyed in
the 1906 earthquake.
(SSFC, 5/17/09, DB p.50)
1924 A new Federal Reserve
building was built in the SF financial district.
(SFC, 4/21/05, p.C1)
1924 In San Francisco the
3-story Leonard R. Flynn elementary school was built at 3125 Army
Street (later Cesar Chavez St.). It was designed by John Galen
Howard.
(SSFC, 2/14/10, p.C2)
1924 In San Francisco Billy
Newman (d.1984) opened Newman’s Gym on the ground floor of the
Cadillac Hotel at Leavenworth and Eddy streets. In 1984 there was a
move to designate the oldest boxing gym in the US as a historic
landmark.
(SSFC, 8/23/09, DB p.50)
1924 In SF, Ca., Kezar Stadium
/ Pavilion was constructed at 755 Stanyan St. next to Goldengate
Park. In 2008 it was reported that an unusually high number of
long-term workers at the pavilion had died of cancer.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A7)(SSFC, 2/24/08, p.A10)
1924 In SF the Crystal Plunge
at 775 Lombard St., aka the Crystal Palace Salt Water Baths, was
built by Edward Cerruti. In 1956 it closed due to damage from
storms.
(SFC, 1/6/06, p.F6)
1924 In SF the Hibernia Bank at
1098 Valencia, designed by Bakewell & Brown, was built. The bank
was later closed and the building was taken over for use by the
Social Security Administration.
(SSFC, 8/16/09, p.C2)
1924 In San Francisco the Hills
Bros. coffee plant, designed by George Kelham, was built at 345
Spear. In 1986 the plant was converted to a block of offices topped
by condominiums.
(SSFC, 4/3/11, p.D2)
1924 The Dean Witter brokerage
firm was founded in San Francisco.
(SFC, 2/6/97, p.A1)
1924 Phebe Ward Bostwick
(d.1997 at 88) of SF was admitted to Stanford at age 15 after being
identified as "gifted" by Dr. Lewis Terman, developer of the
Stanford-Binet intelligence test. After WW II she served as the
principal of Galileo High School for 25 years and then director of
master planning for the SF Community College District.
(SFC, 7/19/97, p.A21)
1924 In San Francisco William
O’Connor (1884-1933), jewel thief, staged a $100,000 robbery at the
Houston-Gillmore jewelry store. He was captured, convicted and
sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was later paroled for
hospitalization in Idaho for his tuberculosis. In 1933 he requested
to be returned to San Quentin, where he died in 1935.
(SSFC, 7/11/10, DB p.42)
1924 Charlotte Mignon (Lotta)
Crabtree, the red-headed vaudeville dancer known as the "California
Girl," died.
(SFC, 4/10/98, p.A1)
1924 Frederic Burk, president
of SF State Normal School, died.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1924-1929 The development of Westwood Highlands
included 283 homes on the south slope of Mount Davidson between
Sherwood Forest and Monterey Heights.
(SFEC, 9/5/04, p.6)
1925 Feb 15, Michael de Young
(b.1849), co-founder of the SF Chronicle, died. Son-in-law George T.
Cameron took over as publisher of the paper.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, BR
p.6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._H._de_Young)
1925 Jul 25, Jerry Paris,
director, actor (Jerry-Dick Van Dyke Show), was born in SF, Calif.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1925 Aug 18, In California the
Hetch Hetchy power plant at Moccasin Creek began operating. PG&E
distributed the power and profits went to SF. The $50 million Hetch
Hetchy dam and powerhouse provided water and power to San Francisco.
(SFC, 12/6/02, p.E16)(SFEC, 5/11/97, BR p.5)
1925 In San Francisco the
26-story Pacific Telephone building was built at 140 New Montgomery
St.
(SSFC, 9/13/09, p.C2)
1925 In San Francisco Harding
Park Golf Course opened next to Lake Merced. Construction costs were
$295,000.
(SFCM, 10/2/05, p.25)
1925 In San Francisco a west
wing was added to the de Young Museum.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, DB p.8)
1925 In San Francisco the
Central Jewish School at Grove and Buchanon was constructed. It
later became a Korean church.
(SFCM, 7/18/04, p.8)
1925 In San Francisco the Beach
Chalet, designed by architect Willis Polk, opened. It became a
popular roadhouse known as the "Villa by the Sea" on the Great
Highway. It fell into disrepair and closed in 1981. In 1996 it began
to be renovated for re-opening.
(SFC, 10/29/96, p.A12)(SFEC, 12/15/96, p.C4)
1925 In San Francisco Herbert
Fleishhacker Sr. built the Fleishhacker Pool near Ocean Beach. The
pool was the world's biggest outdoor saltwater swimming pool. It
measured 1000 feet by 150 feet. It closed down in 1971. The
Fleishhacker Playfield acquired a train called the Little Puffer
after it was purchased by a local car dealer for 3 cases of gin and
an old Oldsmobile. The train had carried ore in a Colorado mine and
hauled freight in Santa Cruz. The SF Zoo (1929) used it for kids
until 1978 when it was retired for a new gorilla exhibit. In 1997
there was a push to bring it back to service. The train was
refurbished and started up again in 1998. [see 1929]
(SFC,10/21/97, p.A20) (SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W38) (SFC,
8/26/98, p.A13) (SFC, 1/4/99, p.D2)(SFC, 7/30/04, p.E15)
1925 SF bought the lodge at
Camp Mather and 22 cabins from the Curry Company for $12,500. Later
28 cabins, converted election booths from SF, were added.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, Z1 p.5)
1925 Old Kezar Stadium opened
with a footrace. It closed in 1988 and re-opened in 1991 as a high
school-sized stadium for 10,000.
(SFCM, 8/10/03, p.7)
1925 Frank Geiss began to help
organize the Cross City Race (begun in 1915 [see 1912]). He later
became full-time manager of the event that became the "Bay to
Breakers."
(SFEM, 5/11/97, p.8)(SFEM, 5/10/98, p.10)
1925 The 106-foot sailing
schooner "Mariner" raced from SF to Tahiti in a record 20 days.
Robert Helen was one of the crew members. Helen oversaw many major
harbor clearing operations for the US Navy during WW II.
(SFC, 8/1/98, p.A19)
1925 In San Francisco the
Schlage Lock and Key company located a new factory near the rail
tracks in Visitacion Valley. The factory closed in 1999.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A13)
1925 In San Francisco the Soko
Hardware Co. was opened by the father of Masao Ashizawa at Buchanan
and Post.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, p.D1)
1925 The SF Stock Exchange was
first connected to the NY Stock Exchange when a ticker tape was
installed by Western Union.
(SFC, 7/24/98, p.B1)
1925 A.P. Giannini of SF bought
the Bowery National Bank in NYC.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B1)
1925-1926 The Moorish-accented Orpheum Theater was
built as a Hollywood-Spanish showcase for the Pantages vaudeville
circuit. In 1996 it was slated for reconstruction to allow the
staging of grand-scale musicals. It re-opened in 1998 with the
musical "Show Boat."
(WSJ, 9/19/96, p.A18)(SFC, 1/10/98, p.E1)
1926 Jan 29, Wind tore tons of
scaffolding from the 15-story addition to the Clift Hotel and
damaged the roofs of the Woodrow Hotel and the Curran Theater.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)
1926 Jan 31, A bomb exploded in
Brant Alley behind Sts. Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church on Filbert
St.
(SFC, 1/26/01, WBb p.4)
1926 Mar 12, Yehudi Menuhin (9)
made his first official SF Symphony debut playing "Lalo's "Symphonie
Espagnole" under concertmaster Louis Persinger at the Curran
Theater.
(SFC, 3/13/99, p.A9)
1926 Apr 1, A carpenter’s
strike began in SF. By May 18 there were 102 assaults, kidnappings
and other violence and a grand jury investigation was called.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.WBb5)
1926 Apr 10, The steel work on
the new Mark Hopkins Hotel was completed. The hotel was designed by
George D. Smith.
(SFC, 4/6/01, Wba p.4)(SFC, 11/30/01, WB p.G8)
1926 Apr 13, Over 6,000 women
celebrated the opening of the newly built women’s City Club on Polk
Street.
(SFC, 4/13/01, WBb p.3)
1926 Apr 20, Prohibition agents
raided a mansion at 463 Fair Oaks and discovered a moon shine plant.
(SFC, 4/20/01, WBb p.7)
1926 Apr 21, Mayor Rolph
declared April 22 Straw Hat Day in an effort to draw attention to
the area’s mild climate.
(SFC, 4/20/01, WBb p.7)
1926 Apr 27, Gov. Friend W.
Richardson and the State Board of Control approved plans for the
construction of 2 new piers in the SF harbor.
(SFC, 4/27/01, Wba p.8)
1926 May 25, A SF County Grand
Jury decided to subpoena police officials and the DA to investigate
ongoing mob violence associated with the carpenter’s strike.
(SFC, 5/25/01, WBb p.2)
1926 Jun 16, SF Park
Commissioners ordered the closing of the Page Street entrance to
Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 6/15/01, WBb p.3)
1926 Jul 22, Three elephants
escaped from Golden Gate Park and ran wild in the Sunset for about 3
hours.
(SFC, 7/20/01, WBb p.7)
1926 Jul 25, Ned M. Greene,
federal prohibition administrator for Northern California and
Nevada, confessed to charges of using seized liquors for his own
use, protecting bootleggers, socializing with rum runners and
associating with women of the criminal underworld along with other
charges. He later testified in his own defense and declared that his
actions were lawful.
(SFC, 7/20/01, WBb p.7)(SFC, 12/14/01, WB p.G8)
1926 Sep 21, San Francisco held
a benefit to raise money for victims of a Sep 17 Florida hurricane
that killed 374-600 people.
(SFC, 9/21/01, WB p.5)
1926 Sep 30, Harry S. Scott,
president of Mission Rock Co., proposed spending $8 million to
develop Mission Rock into a great shipping terminal and industrial
site in exchange for an extended lease.
(SFC, 9/28/01, WB p.6)
1926 Oct 1, Five gasoline
distribution companies announced they would lower the price of
gasoline to 18 cents a gallon to compete with the Richfield Oil Co.,
which cut its price to 19 cents.
(SFC, 9/28/01, WB p.6)
1926 Oct 12, The Board of
Health ordered hog ranchers to move their operations out of SF by
Jan 1, 1927.
(SFC, 10/12/01, WB p.5)
1926 Oct 23, US Secret Service
operatives arrested the 5th member of an alleged 9-member gang of
apartment-house letter-box thieves.
(SFC, 10/19/01, WB p.6)
1926 Oct 28, A SF Grand Jury
indicted 8 men for murder in connection with violence related to the
carpenter’s strike and the fatal beating of nonunion worker C.W.
Campbell.
(SFC, 10/26/01, WB p.7)
1926 Oct 30, Another bomb
exploded at S.S. Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church on filbert St. It
was the 3rd in less than a year and the most powerful to date.
(SFC, 10/26/01, WB p.7)
1926 Nov 11, Construction began
on the $5 million War Memorial Opera House.
(SFC, 10/5/01, WB p.6)
1926 Nov 17, George Sterling
(d.1926), California poet and critic, committed suicide by swallowed
cyanide in the locker room of the Bohemian Club on Taylor Street in
SF. His wife had committed suicide by poison in 1918.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sterling)(SFC, 11/16/01, WB
p.G4)
1926 Dec 1, The $4.2 million
Mark Hopkins Hotel was scheduled for completion.
(SFC, 4/6/01, Wba p.4)
1926 Dec 21, SF Supervisor
Milton Marks introduced a resolution to form a city public utilities
commission to handle the rapidly growing utilities of SF.
(SFC, 12/21/01, WB p.G16)
1926 Dec 22, Ned M. Green was
acquitted of charges that he embezzled liquor. He received orders to
resume duties as Prohibition Inspector but did not return to his
office.
(SFC, 12/21/01, WB p.G16)
1926 Dec 24, Helene Strybing
(80) died. She left over $100,000 for the creation of an arboretum
and botanical garden in Golden Gate Park.
(SFC, 12/28/01, WB p.G7)
1926 Sargent Johnson
(1888-1967), African-American artist in SF, made his copper piece
"Mask of a Girl."
(SFEC, 4/12/98, DB p.43)
1926 The SF Fairmont Hotel
opened a 6,000-square-foot penthouse suite as a private residence,
taking up the entire 8th floor. In 2007 it rented for $12,500 a
night.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.F1)
1926 In SF the 12-floor
apartment building at 2500 Steiner St., designed by Conrad Alfred
Meussdorffer, was erected at a cost of some $500,000.
(SFCM, 6/3/07, p.17)
1926 In SF the 6-story Adam
Grant Building underwent extensive remodeling and expansion next
door to 130 Bush. It was home to a dry goods manufacturer and
wholesaler (Never Rip Overalls).
(SFEC, 1/5/97, BR p.4)
1926 In SF the 6-story Ben Hur
apartment building was built at the corner of Hyde and Ellis.
(SFC, 3/16/09, p.E10)
1926 In SF the 25-story
Hunter-Dulin building at 111 Sutter St., designed by NY architects
Schultze and Weaver, was built on the old site of the Lick Hotel. It
was the only Chateauesque/Romanesque design in the city. Fiction
detective Sam Spade had his office on the 6th floor.
(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)(SSFC, 7/10/11,
p.D2)(http://tinyurl.com/68rn88y)
1926 In SF the 13-story Castle
Apartments at 823-829 Geary St., designed by C.O. Clausen, were
built.
(SSFC, 8/28/11, p.C2)
1926 In SF the Alhambra Theatre
on Polk St. near Union opened.
(SFC, 2/12/98, p.E1)
1926 In SF the Balboa movie
theater was built in the Richmond District by Sam Levin.
(SFCM, 10/5/03, p.6)
1926 In SF the Harding Theater
was built on Alamo Square at Divisedero and Hayes. Developers in
2005 planned to raze it for condos and retail space. In 2008 a
developer planned to restore much of the interior for commercial or
entertainment purposes along with an adjacent 8-unit condo.
(SFC, 1/14/05, p.F1)(SFC, 8/29/08, p.B1)
1926 In SF the Roosevelt
Theater opened on 16th St. as a vaudeville house. The "Roosie" soon
became a movie theater and was later renamed the York.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A26)
1926 In San Francisco Mayor
Rolph dedicated the new $2 million Relief Home on the site of the
old facility. The main building at Laguna Honda was constructed. It
was designed by architect John Reid Jr., brother-in-law of SF Mayor
James Rolph. The new hospital was named the Laguna Honda Home in
place of the former Almshouse.
(SFC, 5/12/98, p.A17)(PI, 5/30/98, p.5A)(SFC,
8/26/08, p.B5)
1926 In SF the Royal Theater on
Polk St. changed from a nickelodeon to a movie house.
(SFC, 2/24/98, p.B5)
1926 In SF Henry Doelger built
25 homes on 39th Ave., his first year in business.
(GTP, 1973, p.108)
1926 In SF George Whitney
became general manager of Looff’s operations at the beach and the
park became Whitney’s Playland-at-the-Beach. By 1942 he owned
everything from Sutro Baths to Fulton St.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.F6)
1926 In SF The Key System
launched the 276-foot Peralta ferry boat. It was the sister ship to
the Yerba Buena and ran between Oakland and SF.
(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A24)
1926-1938 The Recreation Park at 15th and Valencia
streets was home to the Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast League. It
had a booze cage where fans could get a shot of whiskey for 75
cents.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)
1927 Jan 11, Actress Bertha
Kalich made her 1st SF appearance in Herman Sudermann’s "Magda" at
the Curran Theater.
(SFC, 1/11/02, p.G4)
1927 Jan 26, John McLaren, SF
Park Superintendent, predicted that the 550-acre McLaren Park would
be completed in 3 years.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.G6)
1927 Mar 1, Bank of Italy
became a National Bank. California’s laws prohibiting branch banking
changed and A.P. Giannini consolidated his banking properties into
the Bank of America of California.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B4)(SC, 3/1/02)
1927 Mar 7, The mysterious
bomber of SS Peter and Paul Church on Filbert St. was shot and
killed as he made a 5th attempt to destroy the church.
(SFC, 3/1/02, p.G8)
1927 Apr 7, Philo Farnsworth
first demonstrated a working prototype of a TV. His first
tele-electronic image was transmitted on a glass slide in his SF lab
at 202 Green St. AT&T Bell Labs scientists invented
long-distance TV transmission. Later an audience in New York saw an
image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover in the first successful
long-distance demonstration of television.
(SFEC, 8/18/96, BR p.3)(WSJ, 9/22/95, p.A-7)(AP,
4/7/97)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)
1927 Apr 9, The new Princess
Apartments at Turk and Hyde offered a Kelvinator electric
refrigerator in every apartment. They were run from a central unit
in the basement.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.G2)
1927 Apr 12, The 1st regular
passenger service between SF and LA was scheduled to begin by
Pacific Air Transport at Crissy Field. The plane could carry 4
passengers and mail or 6 passengers without mail.
(SFC, 4/5/02, p.G2)
1927 May 1, The 600-acre park
in the Excelsior district was dedicated to John McLaren.
(SFC, 4/26/02, p.G8)
1927 May 7, Mills Field, later
SFO, opened for business with Captain Frank A. Flynn as
superintendent.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)(Ind, 5/5/01, 5A)(SFC,
3/26/04, p.F7)
1927 May 14, The John D.
Spreckels mansion at Pacific and Laguna was sold for a reported
$150,000. An exclusive apartment building was planned for the
location.
(SFC, 5/10/02, p.G7)
1927 Jun 7, Agnes Lunde (23)
and Maxim Ogterop (19) set out on a transcontinental hike to NYC to
beat a previous record set by Edward Weston.
(SFC, 6/8/02, p.G8)
1927 Jun 12, Mayor James Rolph
dedicated the new Mission High School on 18th St.
(SFCM, 8/15/04, p.12)
1927 Jun 14, Voters approved a
$4 million bond for the War Memorial Opera House and Veteran’s
Building and $1.4 million Bernal Cut project.
(SFEM, 8/31/97, p.7)(SFC, 6/14/02, p.G7)
1927 Jun 18, A bronze statue of
Joan of Arc was presented by Dr. Archer M. Huntington as a tribute
to his wife in a ceremony hosted by the Palace of the Legion of
Honor.
(SFC, 6/14/02, p.G7)
1927 Jun 26, Direct commercial
radio service between the Philippines and the US was inaugurated
with a message from Manila to SF.
(SFC, 6/21/02, p.G2)
1927 Jul 12, Thousands of San
Franciscans welcomed Lt. Lester Maitland and Lt. Albert Hegenberger
after their heroic flight from the West Coast to Hawaii. The
returned on the steamer Maui.
(SFC, 7/12/02, p.E9)
1927 Aug 30, The Board of
Supervisors passed a new traffic ordnance that would make jaywalking
illegal following the mayor’s signature.
(SFC, 8/30/02, p.E2)
1927 Sep 7, American television
pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth (21) succeeded in transmitting an image
through purely electronic means by using a device called an image
dissector. When Philo T. Farnsworth was 13, he envisioned a
contraption that would receive an image transmitted from a remote
location—the television. Farnsworth submitted a patent in January
1927, when he was 19, and began building and testing his invention
that summer. He used an "image dissector" (the first television
camera tube) to convert the image into a current, and an "image
oscillite" (picture tube) to receive it. On this day his tests bore
fruit. When the simple image of a straight line was placed between
the image dissector and a carbon arc lamp, it showed up clearly on
the receiver in another room. His first tele-electronic image was
transmitted on a glass slide in his SF lab at 202 Green St. The New
York World’s Fair showcased the television in April 1939, and soon
afterward, the first televisions went on sale to the public.
(AP, 9/7/97)(HNPD, 9/7/98)(SFEC, 8/18/96, BR p.3)
1927 Sep 8, A woman arrived in
SF from China and claimed to be Gen. Chiang Kai-shek’s wife. The
Gen. declared that he had divorced his legal wife in 1921 and freed
2 concubines this year.
(SFC, 9/20/02, p.E6)
1927 Sep 16, SF celebrated
Lindbergh Day, proclaimed so by Mayor Rolph on Sep 6, and held a
municipal reception for the aviator.
(SFC, 9/6/02, p.E3)
1927 Oct 20, The film "The
Blood Ship" opened in SF. It was set on the Barbary Coast of SF with
a screenplay by Norman Springer, a former SF news reporter.
(SFC, 10/18/02, p.E2)
1927 Oct 21, The SF Symphony
opened its 17th season with a concert at the Curran Theater with
conductor Alfred Hertz beginning his 13th year.
(SFC, 10/18/02, p.E2)
1927 Nov 2, In San Francisco
prohibition agents raided a brewery at 1407 San Bruno Ave. with
nearly 2,000 gallons of beer brewing in 4 500-gallon vats.
(SFC, 11/1/02, p.E7)
1927 Nov 29, Genevieve
Paddleford arrived as the 1st woman inmate at the new women’s
quarters at San Quentin Prison. She was serving 1 to 10 years for
stealing $600 worth of clothing.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.E9)
1927 Nov, SF received one of 58
Japanese dolls sent by the Japanese government in exchange for
12,739 blue-eyed dolls sent by American children to the children of
Japan.
(SFC, 7/24/97, p.A17)
1927 Dec 4, The Foresters of
America dedicated their Memorial Fountain gift at Golden Gate Park
to their 255 members, who died in WW I.
(SFC, 11/29/02, p.E9)
1927 Dec 13, Joe Parente, a
convicted bootlegger, escaped to a ship off the SF coast. He was
arrested in Vancouver Dec 21.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.E8)(SFC, 12/20/02, p.E5)
1927 Carlton Morse created the
radio show "One Man's Family." It was set in Sea Cliff in San
Francisco and continued to 1959.
(SFEC, 12/27/98, BR p.3)
1927 In San Francisco the
Avenue Theater opened on San Bruno Avenue in the southeastern
Portola District.
(SSFC, 5/24/09, p.A2)
1927 Campion Hall at USF was
built.
(SFCM, 3/29/02, p.48)
1927 In San Francisco the
2-story, Olde English style house at 400 Castenada Ave. in Forest
Hills was built. It was designed by Harold Stoner.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.C2)
1927 The Hearst Fountain and
Music Concourse were constructed in Goldengate Park.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A7)
1927 In SF a 25-story high-rise
was completed at 111 Sutter, the city’s 4th tallest building. It was
designed for the Hunter-Dulin & Co. brokerage firm by Schultze
& Weaver of NYC.
(SFC, 12/29/05, p.B5)
1927 In SF the Russ Building, a
435-foot, 31-story skyscraper, was completed on Montgomery Street at
Bush and Pine. It was the tallest building in SF at this time.
(SFC, 7/17/97, p.A16)(SFEC, 5/16/99, Z1
p.4)(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)
1927 In San Francisco a single
story building at 344 Kearny was built for the Harrigan Weidenmuller
Co., Realtors. In 2009 the Baroque storefront hosted a nail salon.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.C2)
1927 The Russian Orthodox Holy
Virgin parish was founded. In 1965 they established a Cathedral at
26th and Geary.
(SFC, 1/25/02, p.G6)
1927 In SF Julia and Michael
Archangel Disernia opened a pharmacy on the corner of Mission and
Precita. In 1998 their son closed the establishment.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.C7)
1927 The ferryboat Fresno began
transporting cars across the SF Bay.
(SFC, 4/28/05, p.B1)
1927 SF began receiving water
from the new Hetch Hetchy Reservoir.
(SFC, 1/4/97, p.A15)
1927 Alexander Roberts became
the 3rd president of the SF State Normal School.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, Z1 p.4)
1928 Jan 16, The 4 Marx
Brothers arrived at the Columbia Theater in SF to perform in the
Kaufman and Berlin musical "The Cocoanuts." The farce dealt with the
Florida land boom.
(SFC, 1/10/03, p.E6)
1928 Jan 31, Homer F. Curran
and several other investors purchased Louis Lurie’s entire interest
in the Lurie Theater for $500,000.
(SFC, 1/31/03, p.E4)
1928 Feb 7, Paul Rubio,
convicted SF rum runner, was kidnapped from private detectives by
friends between San Diego and San Juan Capistrano.
(SFC, 2/7/03, p.E3)
1928 Mar 30, Petaluma farmers
shipped 58 carloads of eggs by train to SF. 50,000 cases contained
some 18 million eggs.
(Ind, 4/26/03, p.5A)
1928 Apr 14, The first air
service from SF to Los Angeles began.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.4)
1928 Apr 26, County officials
reached a tentative agreement for SF to pay 55% and Santa Cruz to
pay 15% for a $5.3 million scenic highway from SF to Santa Cruz.
(SFC, 4/25/03, E4)
1928 May 16, Work on the
400-foot-wide Great Highway from the Cliff House to Sloat Blvd.
reached Rivera Street under the direction of Superintendent John
McLaren.
(SFC, 5/16/03, p.E8)
1928 Jun 16, In San Francisco
the new Hotel La Salle opened at 225 Hyde St. The 6-story hotel had
150 guest rooms, each with its own bathroom.
(SFC, 6/13/03, p.E5)
1928 Jul 28, Sears, Roebuck
& Co. purchased a Mission Street property for $500,000.
(SFC, 7/25/03, p.E10)
1928 Aug 10, The Univ. of
California crew won the rowing championship at the Olympics in
Holland.
(SFC, 8/8/03, p.E6)
1928 Aug, Balboa High School
opened. It was built in the Spanish Moorish style.
(SFCM, 7/7/02, p.23)(SFCM, 8/15/04, p.11)
1928 Sep 1, US Boy Scouts
planted 3,000 Lincoln Highway posts at one mile intervals across the
US. The 1st was at Times Square and the last in San Francisco at the
Legion of Honor.
(SFCM, 9/1/02, p.6)
1928 Sep 19, Suspected arson
fires caused over $300,000 in damage to 2 lumber mills in the
Mission district. Most of the damage was at the J.H. Kruse Co. at
Treat and 23rd.
(SFC, 9/19/03, p.E8)
1928 Sep 29, The Pickwick Stage
System's new terminal and hotel opened at Fifth and Mission. The
8-story hotel had 200 rooms.
(SFC, 9/26/03, p.E8)
1928 Oct 20, Mayor James Rolph
Jr. piloted the 1st new N car of the Municipal Railway over its new
route in the Sunset District.
(SFC, 10/10/03, p.E8)
1928 Oct 20, The SF Orpheum's
management announced it would lift its ban on smoking, banish the
feature movie and expand the vaudeville program to 8 acts in order
to revive the good old days of vaudeville.
(SFC, 10/17/03, p.E9)
1928 Oct 26, The Pickwick Stage
System filed documents to form a passenger airplane service
connecting SF, San Diego and Chicago. It planned to use a fleet of
tri-motored, 12 passenger Bach monoplanes.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.E10)
1928 Oct, An expanded 60,000
seat Kezar Stadium opened with 30,000 new seats.
(SFC, 3/30/00, p.A7)
1928 Nov 14, SF Traffic Law
Enforcement recommended the removal of Lotta's Fountain from the
intersection at Third and Market due to traffic obstruction.
(SFC, 11/14/03, p.E2)
1928 Nov 15, Mayor James Rolph
Jr. led ground-breaking ceremonies at the foot of St. Mary's Ave. in
the Mission for the Bernal Cut, intended to create a high-speed
artery to San Mateo County.
(SFC, 11/14/03, p.E2)
1928 Nov 18, SF rum king Joe
Parente spurned efforts of a Canadian rum combine to save him and
surrendered himself to US immigration. He was led off for a 2 year
prison term.
(SFC, 11/14/03, p.E8)
1928 Nov 21, Eugene E. Schmidt
(64), 3-time mayor of SF, died of heart failure at his 3127 Franklin
St. home.
(SFC, 11/21/03, p.E4)
1928 Nov 24, Genero Ferri was
shot to death at his Lombard St. home. It was reportedly over a
dispute for control of the liquor rackets. Alfredo Scarisi was named
as the killer. Scarisi’s body was soon found along with fellow
gangster Vito Pileggi on a road near Sacramento.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.D3)
1928 Dec 5, California Sec. of
State Frank C. Jordan issued a certificate of incorporation to the
Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District. The next step in the new
bridge campaign would be to appoint 12 directors.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.E13)
1928 Dec 6, Workers blasted
through the last barrier of rock in the 16-mile tunnel in the
foothill division of San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy water project.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.E13)
1928 Dec, Mario Filippi was
shot to death in the basement of his restaurant at 18 Sacramento St.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.D3)
1928 O’Connor, Moffat & Co.
was built at Stockton and O’Farrell Streets. The site later was
taken by Macy’s.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.F2)
1928 A group of Italian men in
San Francisco formed Il Cenacolo to support Italian art, music,
language and culture.
(SSFC, 2/29/04, p.E1)
1928 Rafael Homes, a family
owned business, opened as a direct importer of hand-crafted
furniture from Italy.
(SFEM, 11/3/96, p.21)
1928 The Avenue Sweet Shop and
Fountain Shop opened on San Bruno Avenue in the Portola District of
southeast SF.
(SFEC, 1/4/04, p.5)
1928 Joe’s Lunch improvised a
late night meal for big band vocalist Bunny Burson. It was a
concoction of eggs, ground beef, spinach, onions, and
mushroom’s and named "Joe’s Special."
(Hem., 5/97, p.24)
1928 The ice cream and oatmeal
cookie sandwich called "It’s-It" was invented at
Playland-at-the-Beach by owner George Whitney. The
made-to-order It’s It sandwich was a disk of vanilla ice-cream
between 2 oatmeal cookies dipped in melted chocolate. The trademark
was acquired by Jamal’s Enterprises in 1974.
(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W30)(SFC, 5/20/98, Z1 p.3)
1928 A.P. Giannini of SF bought
the small Bank of America in NYC. He then wrapped his East Coast
Banks under the corporate parent Transamerica Corp. with New York
banker Elisha Walker as CEO.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B1)
1928 "Levi's" became a
trademark. Walter Haas Sr. succeeded Sigmund Stern, the nephew of
Levi Strauss, as president.
(SFC, 4/29/03, B1)
1929 Jan 1, Henry and Mildred
Anna Williams of NY and Paris donated gifts valued at over $2
million to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. This
included an art collection of 53 great paintings, furniture and
tapestries.
(SFC, 12/26/03, p.E2)
1929 Jan 11, Prohibition agents
in San Francisco seized 1,100 cases of whiskies and 2,000 gallons of
Belgian alcohol worth $90,000 at 1861 16th Ave.
(SFC, 1/9/04, p.E6)
1929 Jan 24, Dr. Ray Lyman
Wilbur, president of Stanford Univ. (1916-1941), accepted the
position of Sec. of the Interior under Pres. Hoover. Wilbur took a
leave of absence to serve.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.E3)
1929 Jan 26, San Francisco
police took Frances Orlando (19) to the Bush Police Station because
she was dressed in men's clothing.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.E3)
1929 Feb 1, The 1st general
audit of SF city accounts in 30 years revealed startling deficits in
virtually every office.
(SFC, 1/30/04, p.E6)
1929 Feb 13, Pres. Calvin
Coolidge was reported to have recommended a $5 million appropriation
for a federal office building in the SF Civic Center and a 2-story
wing at the Seventh and Mission federal building.
(SFC, 2/13/04, p.E4)
1929 Mar 7, The Junior League
of SF officially opened the new Pinehaven children's home at 30th
Ave. and Wawona.
(SFC, 2/05/04, p.E8)
1929 Mar 17, A bulldozer began
construction at Nevada and Powhattan in Bernal Heights on a roadway
about the crest of Bernal Hill.
(SFC, 3/12/04, p.F8)
1929 Mar 23, SF got its 1st
dial telephone. The transition from manual operations was to be
completed by April 28.
(SFC, 3/19/04, p.F4)
1929 Mar 21, SF police posed as
flappers staged a "petting party" at the top of Buena Vista Park and
captured Rodger Vilk (18), the "petting party robber."
(SFC, 3/19/04, p.F4)
1929 Mar 26, The SF board of
Supervisors voted 14-1 to remove Captain Frank A. Flynn from his
post as superintendent of Mills Field, following the story of a
Lindbergh complaint. Charles Lindbergh had come to San Francisco’s
Airport, Mills Field, to promote his airline, Transcontinental Air
Transport. His plane was forced off the field by another plane and
became stuck in the mud.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, AS p.6)(SFC, 3/26/04, p.F7)
1929 Mar 26, The SFC reported
that a test shipment of California juice grapes was on its way to
the Orient. Grapes were packed in a new way that would allow them to
stay frozen for a year.
(SFC, 3/26/04, p.F7)
1929 Mar 27, A girl page was
appointed for the 1st time in the California State Assembly.
(SFC, 3/26/04, p.F7)
1929 Apr 3, A 3-alarm fire
destroyed the factories of the California By-Products Company and
the Coast Butcher's Supply Company in the 2000 block of San Bruno
Ave. The loss was estimated at $300,000.
(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1929 Apr 4, The PUC estimated
the cost of a 4-track Market Street subway at $9 million per mile.
(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1929 Apr 6, The San Mateo
Chamber of Commerce offered the 460-acre "Speed " Johnson flying
field to SF as an airport. The SF Board of Supervisors recommended a
$2 million bond issue for the development of a municipal airport at
Mills Field.
(SFC, 4/2/04, p.F3)
1929 Apr 22, Harold E. Jones,
director of research at the Univ. of Cal. Institute of child Welfare
reported that children doing poor schoolwork and those most often
exhibiting objectionable traits were found to be those who attend
motion picture shows frequently.
(SFC, 4/16/04, p.F5)
1929 Apr 23, A marble bench,
designed by Harvey William Corbett, in the Garden of Shakespeare in
Golden Gate Park was dedicated to Alice Eastwood, who originated the
garden.
(SFC, 4/23/04, p.F5)
1929 Jun 10, Mayor Rolph
addressed some 50,000 people massed at the end of Lincoln Way for
the official opening of the Great Highway.
(SFC, 6/4/04, F2)
1929 Jun 30, The cornerstone
for a new $55,000 Catholic Japanese Mission was laid at Octavia and
Pine Streets.
(SFC, 6/25/04, p.F6)
1929 Jul 1, UC President W.W.
Campbell retired and was replaced by Robert Gordon Sproul (38), the
youngest to hold the office.
(SFC, 6/9/04, F7)
1929 Jul 2, Mayor Rolph
announced that a US naval bombing base will be located in the SF Bay
Area. One was expected at Alameda, the other at Benicia.
(SFC, 7/2/04, p.F9)
1929 Jul 2, Dr. Adelaide Brown
spoke at the opening of the American Birth Control League and
disclosed that a birth control clinic has been functioning in SF
since February.
(SFC, 7/2/04, p.F9)
1929 Jul 16, Col. Charles
Lindbergh was severely angered when he realized a sound-camera man
had recorded a private conversation using a concealed microphone.
The “voice that has never been filmed” left San Francisco’s Mills
Field airport on the cameraman’s reel.
(SFC, 7/16/04, p.F4)
1929 Jul 22, Lincoln Univ.
formally dedicated its new buildings at 1335 Sutter St. The
University was established in the Phelan building until it acquired
the 2 buildings on Sutter.
(SFC, 7/16/04, p.F4)
1929 Jul 30, The SF Board of
Supervisors ordered the arrest of hog ranchers in Butchertown and
abatement proceedings against the plants and property to force them
out.
(SFC, 7/30/04, p.F2)
1929 Jul, Joe Bocca, "the
Sicilian Strong Man," was found shot and stabbed to death in his car
at the sand dunes at 39th and Noriega.
(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.D3)
1929 Aug 7, The new 12-story
Gaylord Hotel on Jones St. was dedicated. It had 175 modernistic
rooms all equipped with a radio, electrified buffet and twin wall
beds.
(SFC, 8/6/04, p.F5)
1929 Aug 25, Graf Zeppelin
passed over SF for LA following a trans-Pacific voyage.
(SSFC, 8/22/04, p.F8)
1929 Aug 27, The SF Board of
Supervisors voted to abandon the 48-year-old Pacific Avenue cable
line.
(SFC, 8/27/04, p.F6)
1929 Aug 28, Damascus Gallur,
San Quentin bandmaster, was released from state prison following a
recent stroke. He was serving a life sentence for the murder of
August Hotchkiss, an Oakland money lender.
(SFC, 8/27/04, p.F6)
1929 Sep 1, Maddux Air began
the 1st direct aerial passenger service from SF to NY. The 48 hour
trip included 2 nights on trains.
(SSFC, 8/22/04, p.F8)
1929 Sep 4, SF’s largest
parking garage opened in the 7 lower floors of the new 26-story
medical office building at 450 Sutter.
(SFC, 9/3/04, p.F8)
1929 Sep 4, A fire destroyed
most of the Rolando Lumber company between 4th and 5th streets from
Berry to Channel.
(SFC, 9/3/04, p.F8)
1929 Sep 11, The San Francisco
Bohemian Club honored Winston Churchill, former Chancellor of the
Exchequer in Britain’s recently ousted Conservative government, at a
luncheon.
(SFC, 9/10/04, p.F2)
1929 Sep 20, Kelly’s Tavern
opened at Geary and 20th Ave. with the slogan: “The tavern’s doors
never close.”
(SFC, 9/17/04, p.F4)
1929 Sep 25, Merchants and
residents west of Twin Peaks celebrated the opening of the new
Laguna Honda Boulevard.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.F9)
1929 Sep 26, The SF State
Teacher’s College at Waller and Buchanon was demolished. New
quarters moved to the site of the old Presbyterian orphan asylum.
(SFC, 9/24/04, p.F9)
1929 Oct 18, The Bayshore
Highway officially opened to traffic.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.F13)
1929 Nov 1, It was reported
that Ogden L. Mills had offered to sell the 150-acre Mills field to
SF for $1,000 an acre.
(SFC, 10/29/04, p.F11)
1929 Nov 9, Mae West opened her
play “Diamond Lil” at the Curran Theater.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.F8)
1929 Nov 10, Ying Kao, former
Vice Consul in SF, and his wife, Susie Ying Kao, were sentenced to
prison and fined in China for attempting to smuggle $500,000 of
opium to SF.
(SFC, 11/12/04, p.F11)
1929 Nov 18, There was a fire
at UC Hospital that began when film in the X-ray projection room
exploded.
(SFC, 11/19/04, p.F8)
1929 Nov 24, George Richard
Moscone was born in SF to George Joseph Moscone, a milk wagon
driver, and his wife, Lena.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A19)
1929 Nov 29, The SF health
board discovered that practically none of the hog ranchers had moved
or prepared to move from Butchertown within a 120 day time limit
expiring Dec. 1.
(SFC, 11/26/04, p.F4)
1929 Dec 3, The Bethlehem Steel
Co. announced that it will acquire the Pacific Coast Steel Co. of SF
and its associated Southern California Iron and Steel Co.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.F8)
1929 Dec 4, A fire destroyed
the 35-room home of George Pope (1864-1942) at Pacific and
Divisidero. George was the son of lumberman Andrew Jackson Pope,
co-founder of Pope & Talbot.
(Ind, 6/7/03, p.5A)
1929 Dec 16, SF Supervisors
agreed to accept a Bank of Italy $41 million offer to purchase the
May 1928 bond issue for acquisition of the Spring Valley Water
system.
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.F2)
1929 Dec 20, Mount Davidson
became part of the SF park system as the city received deeds to 32
acres of the northwestern slope including the site of Easter sunrise
services.
(SFC, 12/17/04, p.F2)
1929 In SF the Shell Building
was built at the 100 Bush and Battery. The 28-story Gothic Moderne
structure was designed by George Kelham.
(SSFC, 2/1/09, p.B3)
1929 The luxurious William
Taylor Hotel was completed at McAllister and Leavenworth in SF. It
was later renamed the Empire Hotel. In 1981 it was purchased by
Hastings College of Law and converted to student dorm rooms.
(SFCM, 10/26/03, p.8)
1929 The original 1894 building
of the de Young Museum was torn down.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, DB p.8)
1929 Pier 45 was completed in
Gothic revival architectural style.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.B3)
1929 The SF Library Board of
Trustees commissioned artist Gottardo Piazzoni (1872-1945) to paint
a series of 10 decorative landscapes to flank the grand staircase of
the main library.
(SFC, 2/25/97, p.E1)
1929 The Academy of Advertising
Art was founded in San Francisco by Richard S. Stephens. It grew to
become the largest private art and design college in the US. By 2007
close to 10,000 students were enrolled. Stephens, art director for
Sunset Magazine, founded the academy with his wife Clara and $2000.
In 2004 it changed its name to the Academy of Art University.
(SFC, 5/22/98, p.B2)(SFC, 10/22/99, p.C14)(SFC,
3/10/04, p.B2)(SFCM, 9/30/07, p.12)
1929 The SF Zoo opened.
(SFC, 7/29/04, p.B1)
1929 SF began removing bodies
from the cemetery in the Richmond. Many of the headstones were used
to build a seawall at Aquatic Park and the crematorium was torn
down. All but 2 acres were paved over for streets and homes.
(SFC, 4/9/98, p.A21)
1929 SF supervisors evicted the
hog tenements of Butchertown where as many as 30,000 pigs per
building had been raised for butchering.
(Ind, 7/15/00,5A)
1929 PG&E built a power
station in Hunters Point, SF. In 1998 it agreed to close the plant
once it was no longer needed. In 2006 plans on decommissioning
estimated a cost of $70 million to include cleaning of toxins.
(SFC, 3/16/06, p.C1)
1929 Lizzie Ralston, wife of
former banker William Ralston (d.1875), died. She was cremated and
her remains were placed in a columbarium at Cypress Lawn.
(Ind, 11/2/02, 5A)
Go to SF
1930-1959
Go to www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = SF