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, 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 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 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 The Ferry Building at the
foot of Market St. was dedicated. 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)
1898 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 Goldengate Park.
(SFC, 7/29/97, p.A6)
1898 The "de Laveaga Dell" was
created in 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 Yerba Buena Island became a
recruit depot for the US Navy.
(SFC, 5/7/97, p.A15)
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. 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 construction
began on the 8-story Grant Building on Market St.
(SFC, 11/28/00, p.A21)
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 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 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 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)
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)
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, a 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.
(SFC, 10/1/99, p.B6)(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W3)
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 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)
908 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 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 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.
(SFC, 6/4/10, p.D2)
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 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
schoolteacher, disappeared. Her body was found in September buried
under a basement and soaking in nitric acid with every joint sawed
through. Dr. James Grant and nurse Marie Messerschmidt were arrested on
murder charges after a failed abortion went awry.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)
1910 Jul 28, Bill Goodwin,
announcer (Burns & Allen, Boing Boing Show), was born in SF, Calif.
(SC, 7/28/02)
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 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 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 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 Jun 13, Luis W. Alvarez
(d.1988), physicist (Nobel-1968), was born in SF, Ca.
(MC, 6/13/02)(www.britannica.com)
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 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)
1911 In SF the amusement park
known as “The Chutes,” located on Fulton Street, burned down. The rides
that survived the fire were moved, including the Shoot-the-Chutes, to
Ocean Beach, which inspired the first name for the amusement area,
Chutes at the Beach.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playland_(San_Francisco))
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 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 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)
1912-1967 Tadich Grill moved to 545 Clay St. until
Wells Fargo took over the space.
(SFC, 10/8/97, Z1 p.7)
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 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 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 The Panama-Pacific
Exposition opened. A 20-acre salt marsh was paved over at Crissey Field
for the Expo.
(I&I, Penzias, p.215)(SFC, 10/4/96, p.A22)
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. The Panama-Pacific Int’l. Exhibition was
held on what became the Marina 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)(HN, 2/20/98)(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
Hallidie Building on Sutter St.
(SFEM, 8/8/99, p.42)
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 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 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 Hunter-Dublin
building was completed at the Montgomery, Pine and Bush intersection.
Fiction detective Sam Spade had his office on the 6th floor.
(SSFM, 10/12/02, p.13)
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