Editing San Francisco (section)

== History ==
{{see also|History of San Francisco}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of San Francisco}}

=== Indigenous history ===
The earliest [[archeological site|archeological evidence]] of [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|human habitation]] of the territory of San Francisco dates to 3000&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/pointreyes/overview2.pdf|title=Archaeological Research Issues for the Point Reyes National Seashore – Golden Gate National Recreation Area|access-date=June 12, 2008|last=Stewart|first=Suzanne B.|date=November 2003|publisher=Sonoma State University – Anthropological Studies Center|archive-date=June 24, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624193135/http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/pointreyes/overview2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Yelamu]] group of the [[Ramaytush]] people resided in a few small villages when an overland [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish exploration party]] arrived on November 2, 1769, the first documented European visit to [[San Francisco Bay]].<ref name="Portola">{{cite web|title=Visitors: San Francisco Historical Information|url=http://sfgov.org/site/visitor_index.asp?id=8091|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301022510/http://sfgov.org/site/visitor_index.asp?id=8091|archive-date=March 1, 2006|date=n.d.|access-date=June 10, 2008|publisher=City and County of San Francisco}}</ref> The [[Ohlone languages|Ohlone]] name for San Francisco was ''Ahwaste'', meaning "place at the bay".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Billiter |first=Bill |date=January 1, 1985 |title=3,000-Year-Old Connection Claimed : Siberia Tie to California Tribes Cited |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-01-01-me-10267-story.html |access-date=September 25, 2023 |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> The arrival of Spanish colonists, and the implementation of their Mission system, marked the beginning of the assimilation of the Ramaytush people, and the decline of their language and culture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indigenous Peoples of San Mateo County |url=https://www.smcoe.org/for-communities/indigenous-people-of-san-mateo-county.html |access-date=January 18, 2024 |work=San Mateo County Office of Education}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone |url=https://www.ramaytush.org/ |access-date=January 18, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 4, 2018 |title=The Ramaytush Ohlone – Lessons on stewardship from the ancestral stewards of the Peninsula |url=https://www.parksconservancy.org/article/ramaytush-ohlone-lessons-stewardship-ancestral-stewards-peninsula |access-date=January 18, 2024 |work=Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy}}</ref>

===Spanish era===
[[File:Victor Adam after Louis Choris - Vue du Presidio san Francisco, 1822 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Juan Bautista de Anza]] established the [[Presidio of San Francisco]] for the [[Spanish Empire]] in 1776.]]
[[File:Mission San Francisco de Asís (Oriana Day) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|[[Mission San Francisco de Asís]] was founded by Padre [[Francisco Palóu]] on October 9, 1776.]]
The [[Spanish Empire]] claimed San Francisco as part of [[Las Californias]], a province of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]]. The Spanish first arrived in what is now San Francisco on November 2, 1769, when the [[Portolá expedition]] led by Don [[Gaspar de Portolá]] and [[Juan Crespí]] arrived at [[San Francisco Bay]]. Having noted the strategic benefits of the area due to its large natural harbor, the Spanish dispatched [[Pedro Fages]] in 1770 to find a more direct route to the [[San Francisco Peninsula]] from [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], which would become part of the [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] route. By 1774, [[Juan Bautista de Anza]] had arrived to the area to select the sites for a [[Spanish missions in California|mission]] and [[presidios of California|presidio]]. The first European maritime presence in San Francisco Bay occurred on August 5, 1775, when the Spanish ship [[San Carlos (1768 ship)|''San Carlos'']], commanded by [[Juan Manuel de Ayala]], became the first ship to anchor in the bay.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Raup|first1=H. F.|title=The Delayed Discovery of San Francisco Bay|journal=California Historical Society Quarterly|volume=27|issue=4| year=1948|page=293|doi=10.2307/25156125 |jstor=3816007 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3816007|access-date=November 12, 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Soon after, on March 28, 1776, Anza established the [[Presidio of San Francisco]]. On October 9, [[Mission San Francisco de Asís]], also known as Mission Dolores, was founded by Padre [[Francisco Palóu]].<ref name="DeAnza-Moraga-Palou"/> In 1794, the Presidio established the [[Fort Point National Historic Site|Castillo de San Joaquín]], a fortification on the southern side of the [[Golden Gate]], which later came to be known as Fort Point.

In 1804, the province of [[Alta California]] was created, which included San Francisco. At its peak in 1810–1820, the average population at the Mission Dolores settlement was about 1,100 people.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cleary |first=Brother Guire |url=http://www.catholic-sf.org/013103.html |title=Mission Dolores Links San Francisco with its 18th Century Roots – Founded as La Mission San Francisco De Asis by Franciscans, it survived earthquake and fire |work=Catholic San Francisco |date=January 31, 2003 |access-date=March 23, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205190950/http://catholic-sf.org/013103.html |archive-date=February 5, 2007 }}</ref>

===Mexican era===
{{See also|Yerba Buena, California}}
[[File:Doña_Juana_Briones_de_Miranda_(7222900876)_(cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Juana Briones de Miranda]], known as the "Founding Mother of San Francisco"<ref name="Briones de Miranda">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Juana-Briones-San-Francisco-s-founding-mother-4757183.php|title=Juana Briones – San Francisco's founding mother|first=Gary|last=Kamiya|date=August 23, 2013|work=SFGATE}}</ref>]]
In 1821, the [[The Californias|Californias]] were [[Mexican War of Independence|ceded to Mexico]] by Spain. The extensive [[missions in California|California mission system]] gradually lost its influence during the period of [[First Mexican Republic|Mexican rule]], although it was not  until 1833 that the missions would be secularized. Agricultural land became largely privatized as [[Ranchos of California|ranchos]], as was occurring in other parts of California. Coastal trade increased, including a half-dozen [[barques]] from various Atlantic ports which regularly sailed in California waters.<ref name="sfmuseum-early">{{cite web |last = San Francisco News Letter| title=From the 1820s to the Gold Rush |date= September 1925|url = http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html |access-date = November 11, 2024|publisher = The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco| url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022224825/http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html |archive-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref><ref>Cf. {{cite book|author-link=Richard Henry Dana Jr. |author-first1=Richard Henry|author-last1=Dana Jr. |title=[[Two Years before the Mast]]|year=1840}}</ref>

With the enactment of the [[Mexican Secularization Act of 1833]], the missions were made to divest themselves of their extensive landholdings and emancipate the indigenous people under their control. As part of the process of secularization, Governor [[José Figueroa]] opened up San Francisco to civilian settlement. Prior to secularization, the only settlements in San Francisco had been the military settlement at the Presidio and the religious settlement at Mission Dolores.<ref name="Briones de Miranda"/> In 1835, the Presidio garrison, commanded by [[Mariano Vallejo]], relocated to the [[Presidio of Sonoma]], which was regarded as needing a greater military presence due the proximity of the Russian settlement at [[Fort Ross]]. Only a small detachment remained at the Presidio of San Francisco.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing USA| isbn = 9781598842227| pages = 343–345| editor = Danver, Steven L| last = Chandler| first = Robert J| title = Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia| chapter = Bear Flag Revolt (1846): Sonoma| date = 2010| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qk7eEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA343}}</ref> Mission Dolores sold most of its property in 1836, retaining only the church and related structures.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yenne |first=Bill |title=The Missions of California |publisher=Thunder Bay Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-59223-319-8 |location=San Diego, California |pages=18–19}}</ref>

In 1833, [[Juana Briones de Miranda]] was granted a small [[ranchos of California|rancho]] at [[El Polín Spring]], near the Presidio, founding the first non-indigenous civilian household in San Francisco.<ref name="Briones de Miranda"/> In 1834, the ''pueblo'' of [[Yerba Buena, California|Yerba Buena]] was founded. [[Yerba Buena Cove]] (named after [[Clinopodium douglasii|a native herb]]) was already a favored anchorage spot and the new settlement and trading post was founded by its shores. Yerba Buena was located in what is now the city's [[Chinatown, San Francisco|Chinatown]] and [[Financial District, San Francisco|Financial District]] and was centered on a plaza that is now  [[Portsmouth Square]].<ref name="sfmuseum-early"/><ref>{{Cite journal| volume = 9| issue = 11| pages = 110–111| last = Eldredge| first = Zoeth Skinner| title = El Paraje de Yerba Buena| journal = Municipal Record| location = San Francisco, CA| date = 1916-03-16| hdl = 2027/uc1.32106019794160?urlappend=%3Bseq=110| url = https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106019794160?urlappend=%3Bseq=110}}</ref><ref name="browning">{{Cite book| publisher = Great West Books| isbn = 9780944220085| last = Browning| first = Peter| title = San Francisco/Yerba Buena: From the Beginning to the Gold Rush 1769-1849| date = 1998}}</ref> A land survey of Yerba Buena was made by the Swiss immigrant [[Jean Jacques Vioget]] as prelude to the city plan.<ref name="sfmuseum-early"/> 
[[File:A view of Yerba Buena (San Francisco). On July 9, 1846, Capt. Montgomery of the Sloop of War Portsmouth, raised the American Flag in the plaza and seized the region of the United States LCCN2004666425.jpg|thumb|left|The 1846 [[Battle of Yerba Buena]] was an early U.S. victory in the [[Conquest of California|American conquest of California]].]]
[[Francisco de Haro]] became the first [[alcalde]] of Yerba Buena. In 1835, the second alcalde, [[José Joaquín Estudillo]], approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena: to [[William A. Richardson|William Richardson]].<ref name="sfmuseum-early"/> Yerba Buena began to attract American and European settlers; an 1842 census listed 21 residents (11%) born in the United States or Europe, as well as one Filipino merchant.<ref>{{Cite web |title=san_francisco_history:san_francisco_census_1842 [SFgenealogy] |url=https://www.sfgenealogy.org/doku.php?id=san_francisco_history:san_francisco_census_1842 |access-date=June 18, 2022 |website=www.sfgenealogy.org}}</ref> 
Following the [[Bear Flag Revolt]] in Sonoma and the beginning of the [[Conquest of California|U.S. Conquest of California]], American forces from the ''[[USS Portsmouth (1843)|USS Portsmouth]]'' under the command of [[John B. Montgomery]] captured Yerba Buena on July 9, 1846, with little resistance from the local Californio population, raising the American flag over Yerba Buena plaza (later renamed Portsmouth Square in commemoration of this event).

Following the capture, U.S. forces appointed both [[José de Jesús Noé]] and [[Washington Allon Bartlett]] to serve as co-[[alcalde]]s (mayors), while the conquest continued on in the rest of California. On January 30, 1847, Mayor Bartlett ordained that the city should officially change its name from "Yerba Buena" to "San Francisco", as the former name was only locally recognized and the latter name was in use on international maps.<ref>{{cite web |title=Yerba Buena Renamed San Francisco |publisher=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco |url=http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist/name.html |access-date=November 20, 2024}}</ref> There was also concern that a new town being planned by General Vallejo on the [[Carquinez Strait]] was to be called "Francisca", after the first name of his wife. After the name change to "San Francisco", the name of Vallejo's town was changed to [[Benicia, California|Benicia]], after his wife's middle name. Following the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] in 1848, [[Alta California]] was [[Mexican Cession|ceded from Mexico to the United States]].

{{clear}}

=== Post-Conquest era ===
[[File:San Francisco in July 1849 Painting by George Henry Burgess.jpg|thumb|San Francisco in 1849, during the beginning of the [[California gold rush]]]]
[[File:SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg|thumb|right|[[Port of San Francisco]] in 1851]]
Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, post-Conquest San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=4–5}} Situated at the tip of a windswept peninsula without water or firewood, San Francisco lacked most of the basic facilities for a 19th-century settlement. Its 1847 population was said to be 459.<ref name="sfmuseum-early"/>

The [[California gold rush]] brought a flood of treasure seekers. Prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival [[Benicia, California|Benicia]],<ref>{{cite web|title=San Francisco's First Brick Building|publisher=The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco|date=July 16, 2004|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/brick.html|access-date=June 13, 2008}}</ref> raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849.<ref name="1849pop">{{cite book|last=Richards|first=Rand|title=Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide|publisher=Heritage House|year=1992|isbn=978-1-879367-00-5|oclc=214330849|url=https://archive.org/details/historicsanfranc00rich}}</ref> The promise of wealth was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of [[mast (sailing)|masts]] in San Francisco harbor.<ref name="buriedships">{{cite news|last=Harris|first=Ron|title=Crews Unearth Shipwreck on San Francisco Condo Project|agency=Associated Press|date=November 14, 2005|url=http://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/story.asp?story=6287&headline=Crews|access-date=September 4, 2006}}</ref> Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as [[storeship]]s, [[bar (establishment)|saloons]], and hotels; many were left to rot, and some were sunk to establish title to the underwater lot. By 1851, the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870, [[Yerba Buena Cove]] had been filled to create new land. Buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings.<ref name="buriedshipsSFgenalogy">{{cite web|title=Buried Ships|url=http://www.sfgenealogy.org/sf/history/hgshp1.htm|last=Filion|first=Ron S.|publisher=SFgenealogy|access-date=April 19, 2016}}</ref>

California was quickly [[Compromise of 1850|granted statehood]] in 1850, and the U.S. military built [[Fort Point, San Francisco|Fort Point]] at the [[Golden Gate]] and a fort on [[Alcatraz Island]] to secure San Francisco Bay. San Francisco County was one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850.<ref>Report of Committee on Counties, January 4, 1850, revised to 27 counties on February 18, 1850 – {{cite book |last=Coy|first=Owen C. |title=California County Boundaries |publisher=California Historical Survey Commission |year=1923 |location=Berkeley |pages=1–2}}</ref> Until 1856, San Francisco's city limits extended west to [[Divisadero Street]] and Castro Street, and south to 20th Street. In 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of [[San Bruno Mountain]]. Everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco.<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--no by-line.--> |title=Statutes of California and Digests of Measures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4a83AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA145|publisher= J. Winchester|page=145 |date=1856}}</ref>
[[File:Bank of California Building San Francisco (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|The [[Bank of California]], established in 1863, was the first commercial bank in [[Western United States]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/dont-bank-on-california-especially-banks-17896018.php|title=Don't bank on California, especially when banks are involved|first=Joe|last=Mathews|date=April 16, 2023|website=San Francisco Chronicle}}</ref>]]
The California gold rush triggered a wave of entrepreneurial activity as individuals sought to capitalize on the newfound wealth. The discovery of silver deposits, notably the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further fueled rapid population growth and economic expansion.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=31–33}}

San Francisco, as the gateway to the goldfields, experienced a surge in population and commercial activity. However, the influx of fortune seekers also brought challenges. Lawlessness was rampant, and the [[Barbary Coast, San Francisco|Barbary Coast]] district became synonymous with vice, attracting criminals, prostitutes, and illicit activities, including but not limited to prostitution, [[Rum-running|bootlegging]], and gambling.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=237–238}} The rapidly growing population, with its lawlessness, gambling and other vices, and the fact that there were no churches to be found, prompted missionaries like [[William Taylor (missionary)|William Taylor]] to come to San Francisco where he began preaching in the streets, using an upright barrel as his pulpit. Taylor garnered enough generous donations from successful gold miners to build a church.{{sfn|Taylor|1895|p=195}}

One of the most influential figures of this era was [[William Chapman Ralston]]. A shrewd banker and investor, Ralston amassed considerable wealth and influence in San Francisco. He gained control over a significant portion of the [[Comstock Lode]]'s gold and silver mines, establishing a virtual monopoly. Using his incredible clout, Ralston was able to generate millions of dollars for San Francisco during its heady boom years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Ralston - FoundSF |url=https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=William_Ralston |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=www.foundsf.org}}</ref> He founded the [[Bank of California]], the first bank in the Western United States, and built the opulent Palace Hotel, a symbol of San Francisco's newfound prosperity and the largest hotel in the country at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Calic |first=Dan |date=2024-01-05 |title=Blog: How The Mighty Fall. The Story of William C. Ralston |url=http://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/portal-to-our-past/2024/01/05/blog-how-the-mighty-fall-the-story-of-william-c-ralston/ |access-date=2024-08-08 |work=Redwood City Pulse}}</ref> His financial empire, however, collapsed in 1875 as a result of the [[Panic of 1873]], triggering a major economic crisis in San Francisco.

Development of the [[Port of San Francisco]] and the establishment in 1869 of overland access to the eastern U.S. rail system via the newly completed [[First transcontinental railroad|Pacific Railroad]] (the construction of which the city only reluctantly helped support<ref>Construction of the Pacific Railroad was partially (albeit reluctantly) funded by the [[:File:Pacific RR Bond SF 1865.jpeg|City and County of San Francisco Pacific Railroad Bond issue]] under the provisions of ''"An Act to Authorize the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to take and subscribe One Million Dollars to the Capital Stock of the Western Pacific Rail Road Company and the Central Pacific Rail Road Company of California and to provide for the payment of the same and other matters relating thereto."'' approved on April 22, 1863, as amended by §5 of the ''"Compromise Act of 1864"'' approved on April 4, 1864. The bond issue was objected to by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors, however, and they were not delivered to the WPRR and CPRR until 1865 after Writs of Mandamus ordering such were issued by the Supreme Court of the State of California in 1864 (''"The People of the State of California on the relation of the Central Pacific Railroad Company vs. Henry P. Coon, Mayor; Henry M. Hale, Auditor; and Joseph S. Paxson, Treasurer, of the City and County of San Francisco"'' 25 Cal 635) and 1865 (''"The People ex rel The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California vs. The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, and Wilhelm Lowey, Clerk"'' 27 Cal 655)</ref>) helped make the Bay Area a center for trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population, [[Levi Strauss]] opened a [[dry goods]] business and [[Domingo Ghirardelli]] began manufacturing chocolate. Chinese immigrants made the city a polyglot culture, drawn to "Old Gold Mountain", creating the city's [[Chinatown, San Francisco|Chinatown]] quarter. By 1880, Chinese made up 9.3% of the population.<ref>{{Cite web |title=IPUMS USA |url=https://usa.ipums.org/usa/ |access-date=June 18, 2022 |website=usa.ipums.org}}</ref> 
[[File:The City of San Francisco, panorama by Currier & Ives, 1878 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|View of the city in 1878]]
The first [[San Francisco cable car system|cable cars]] carried San Franciscans up [[Clay Street Hill Railroad|Clay Street]] in 1873. The city's sea of [[Victorian house]]s began to take shape, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park, resulting in plans for [[Golden Gate Park]]. San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The [[Presidio of San Francisco|Presidio]] developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast.<ref>{{cite web|title=Under Three Flags |work=Golden Gate National Recreation Area Brochures|publisher=US Department of the Interior|date=November 2004|url=http://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/upload/3flags_7-03.pdf |access-date=June 22, 2011}}</ref> By 1890, San Francisco's population approached 300,000, making it the [[Largest cities in the United States by population by decade#1890|eighth-largest city]] in the United States at the time. Around 1901, San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style, stately hotels, ostentatious mansions on [[Nob Hill, San Francisco|Nob Hill]], and a thriving arts scene.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=44–55}} The first North American plague epidemic was the [[San Francisco plague of 1900–1904]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kalisch |first=Philip A. |title=The Black Death in Chinatown: Plague and Politics in San Francisco 1900–1904 |journal=Arizona and the West |volume=14 |date=Summer 1972 |pages=113–136 |jstor=40168068 |issue=2|pmid=11614219 }}</ref>

=== 1906 earthquake and interwar era ===
[[File:Post-and-Grant-Avenue-Look.jpg|thumb|right|The [[1906 San Francisco earthquake]] was the [[List of disasters in the United States by death toll|deadliest earthquake in U.S. history]].]]
At 5:12&nbsp;am on April 18, 1906, a major [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|earthquake struck San Francisco]] and northern California. As buildings collapsed from the shaking, ruptured [[pipeline transport|gas lines]] ignited fires that spread across the city and burned out of control for several days. With [[water main]]s out of service, the [[Presidio of San Francisco|Presidio]] Artillery Corps attempted to contain the [[conflagration|inferno]] by dynamiting blocks of buildings to create firebreaks.<ref name="Funston">{{cite web|title = 1906 Earthquake: Fire Fighting|work=Golden Gate National Recreation Area|publisher=US Department of the Interior |date = December 24, 2003|url = http://www.nps.gov/prsf/historyculture/1906-earthquake-fire-fighting.htm|access-date =June 13, 2008}}</ref> More than three-quarters of the city lay in ruins, including almost all of the downtown core.<ref name="Montagne">{{cite news|last = Montagne |first = Renée|title = Remembering the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake|work=People & Places |publisher=NPR|date = April 11, 2006|url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5334411|access-date =June 13, 2008}}</ref> Contemporary accounts reported that 498 people died, though modern estimates put the number in the several thousands.<ref>{{cite web|title = Casualties and Damage after the 1906 earthquake|work=Earthquake Hazards Program – Northern California|url = https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/events/1906calif/18april/casualties.php|publisher=US Geological Survey|date = January 25, 2008|access-date =June 13, 2008}}</ref> More than half of the city's population of 400,000 was left homeless.<ref>{{cite web|title = 1906 Earthquake and the Army|work=Golden Gate National Recreation Area|url = http://www.nps.gov/prsf/historyculture/1906-earthquake.htm|publisher=US Department of the Interior |date =August 25, 2004|access-date =June 13, 2008}}</ref> [[Refugee]]s settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, on the beaches, and elsewhere. Many fled permanently to the [[East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)|East Bay]]. [[Jack London]] is remembered for having famously eulogized the earthquake: "Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist5/jlondon.html |title=Jack London Writes of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire |publisher=Sfmuseum.org |date=May 5, 1906 |access-date=June 15, 2013}}</ref>

Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale. Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid, San Franciscans opted for speed.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=56–62}} [[Amadeo Giannini]]'s [[Bank of Italy (United States)|Bank of Italy]], later to become [[Bank of America]], provided loans for many of those whose livelihoods had been devastated. The influential [[San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association]] or SPUR was founded in 1910 to address the quality of housing after the earthquake.<ref>{{cite web|title=SPUR Our Mission and History|url=http://www.spur.org/about/our_mission_and_history|access-date=March 26, 2013}}</ref> The earthquake hastened development of western neighborhoods that survived the fire, including [[Pacific Heights, San Francisco|Pacific Heights]], where many of the city's wealthy rebuilt their homes.<ref>{{cite book|last = O'Brien |first = Tricia
|title = San Francisco's Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights|publisher = Arcadia Publishing |year = 2008 |location = San Francisco |isbn = 978-0-7385-5980-3|page = 7|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J8dEQubtnqYC&pg=PA7}}</ref> In turn, the destroyed mansions of Nob Hill became grand hotels. [[San Francisco City Hall|City Hall]] rose again in the [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux Arts]] style, and the city celebrated its rebirth at the [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition]] in 1915.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=9}}
[[File:Flickr - …trialsanderrors - Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, aeroplane view, 1915.jpg|thumb|left |upright=1.35|The [[Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915)|Panama–Pacific Exposition]], a major [[world's fair]] held in 1915, was seen as a chance to showcase the city's recovery from the earthquake.]]

During this period, San Francisco built some of its most important infrastructure. Civil Engineer [[Michael O'Shaughnessy]] was hired by San Francisco Mayor [[James Rolph]] as chief engineer for the city in September 1912 to supervise the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir, the [[Stockton Street Tunnel]], the [[Twin Peaks Tunnel]], the [[San Francisco Municipal Railway]], the [[San Francisco Fire Department Auxiliary Water Supply System|Auxiliary Water Supply System]], and new sewers. San Francisco's streetcar system was pushed to completion by O'Shaughnessy between 1915 and 1927. It was the [[Hetch Hetchy|O'Shaughnessy Dam]], [[Hetch Hetchy Reservoir]], and [[Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct]] that would have the largest effect on San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web|title=Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco – M.M. O'Shaughnessy Employed as City Engineer|url=http://www.sfmuseum.net/bio/mmo.html|access-date=March 16, 2013}}</ref> An abundant water supply enabled San Francisco to develop into the city it has become today.

[[File:SF-Oakland-Bay-Bridge-Construction.jpg|thumb|The [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge|Bay Bridge]] under construction on [[Yerba Buena Island]] in 1935]]

In ensuing years, the city solidified its standing as a financial capital; in the wake of the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|1929 stock market crash]], not a single San Francisco-based bank failed.<ref>{{cite web|title = San Francisco Gold Rush Banking – 1849|publisher = The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco|date = June 24, 2004|url = http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist9/banking.html|access-date = June 13, 2008|archive-date = May 9, 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509133016/http://www.sfmuseum.net/hist9/banking.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> Indeed, it was at the height of the [[Great Depression]] that San Francisco undertook two great civil engineering projects, simultaneously constructing the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] and the [[Golden Gate Bridge]], completing them in 1936 and 1937, respectively. It was in this period that the island of [[Alcatraz Island|Alcatraz]], a former military stockade, began its service as a federal maximum security prison, housing notorious inmates such as [[Al Capone]], and [[Robert Franklin Stroud]], the Birdman of Alcatraz. San Francisco later celebrated its regained grandeur with a [[World's fair]], the [[Golden Gate International Exposition]] in 1939–40, creating [[Treasure Island, San Francisco|Treasure Island]] in the middle of the bay to house it.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Treasure Island History|url=https://www.treasureislandmuseum.org/island-history|access-date=August 5, 2021|work=timuseum}}</ref>

=== Contemporary era ===
{{see also|San Francisco in the 1970s}}
[[File:Alexander Loudon, de Nederlandse ambassadeur in de Verenigde Staten, ondertekent in aanwezigheid van Charles Olke (II) van der Plas en andere leden van de Nederlandse delegatie het handvast van de Uni, KITLV 403000.tiff|thumb|left|The [[United Nations]] was created in San Francisco in 1945, when the [[United Nations Charter]] was signed at the [[United Nations Conference on International Organization|San Francisco Conference]].]]
During [[World War II]], the city-owned [[Sharp Park Detention Station|Sharp Park]] in [[Pacifica, California|Pacifica]] was used as an [[Japanese American internment|internment camp]] to detain [[Japanese Americans]].<ref name="dark past">{{cite news |last1=Kamiya |first1=Gary |title=The dark past of San Francisco's Sharp Park |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/vault/portalsofthepast/article/san-francisco-sharp-park-17383752.php |website=San Francisco Chronicle |date=August 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819155120/https://www.sfchronicle.com/vault/portalsofthepast/article/san-francisco-sharp-park-17383752.php |access-date=June 9, 2023|archive-date=August 19, 2022 }}</ref> [[San Francisco Naval Shipyard|Hunters Point Naval Shipyard]] became a hub of activity, and [[Fort Mason]] became the primary port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater of Operations]].<ref name="WWII">{{cite web |date=August 28, 2007 |title=Port of Embarkation Essay—World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/embarkation.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624074834/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/embarkation.htm |archive-date=June 24, 2011 |access-date=June 22, 2011 |work=A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary |publisher=US Department of the Interior}}</ref> The explosion of jobs drew many people, especially [[Second Great Migration (African American)|African Americans from the South]], to the area. After the end of the war, many military personnel returning from service abroad and civilians who had originally come to work decided to stay. The [[United Nations Charter]] creating the [[United Nations]] was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945 and, in 1951, the [[Treaty of San Francisco]] re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Powers]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Price |first1=John |title=A Just Peace? The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty in Historical Perspective |url=http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp78.html |website=[[Japan Policy Research Institute]] |access-date=December 8, 2020 |date=June 2001 |archive-date=December 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201207102227/http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp78.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s involved widespread destruction and redevelopment of west-side neighborhoods and the construction of new [[freeway]]s, of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by [[Highway revolts in the United States#San Francisco|citizen-led opposition]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Fang|first=Eric|title=Urban Renewal Revisited: A Design Critique|work=SPUR Newsletter|publisher=San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association|date=February 1999|url=http://www.spur.org/publications/library/article/urbanrenewalrevisited02011999|access-date=August 3, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091011043744/http://www.spur.org/publications/library/article/urbanrenewalrevisited02011999|archive-date=October 11, 2009}}</ref> The onset of [[containerization]] made San Francisco's small piers obsolete, and cargo activity moved to the larger [[Port of Oakland]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last = Rubin|first = Jasper|title = The Decline of the Port – A look at the transformation of the Port of San Francisco|journal=SPUR Newsletter|date=November 1999|url = http://www.spur.org/publications/library/article/declineofport11011999|quote = The final, insurmountable decline in San Francisco's shipping activity was heralded in 1958 by the departure of the first containerized freighter from San Francisco Bay.|access-date = January 5, 2013}}</ref> The city began to lose industrial jobs and turned to tourism as the most important segment of its economy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last = Terplan|first = Egon|title = Organizing for Economic Growth – A new approach to business attraction and retention in San Francisco|journal=SPUR Report|date = June 7, 2010|url = http://www.spur.org/publications/library/report/organizing-economic-growth|quote = During the 1960s and 1970s San Francisco's historic maritime industry relocated to Oakland. ... San Francisco remained a center for business and professional services (such as consulting, law, accounting and finance) and also successfully developed its tourism sector, which became the leading local industry.|access-date = January 5, 2013}}</ref> The suburbs experienced rapid growth, and San Francisco underwent significant demographic change, as large segments of the white population left the city, supplanted by an increasing wave of [[Immigration to the United States|immigration]] from Asia and Latin America.<ref>{{cite web|last = Willis|first=James|author2=Habib, Jerry|author3= Brittan, Jeremy|title = San Francisco Planning Department Census Data Analysis|url = http://bss.sfsu.edu/pamuk/SFDemographics.ppt|publisher=San Francisco State University|date = April 19, 2004|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110718191827/http://bss.sfsu.edu/pamuk/SFDemographics.ppt|archive-date = July 18, 2011|format = PPT |access-date =June 13, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last = Minton |first = Torri|title = Race Through Time|work=San Francisco Chronicle|page = SC-4|date = September 20, 1998|url = http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Race-Through-Time-2990221.php|access-date =September 11, 2013}}</ref> From 1950 to 1980, the city lost over 10 percent of its population.

[[File:KFRC Fantasy Fair Dryden Balin Kantner.png|thumb|right|The [[Summer of Love]] in 1967 was an influential [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] phenomenon with as many as 100,000 people converging in San Francisco's [[Haight-Ashbury]] neighborhood.]]

Over this period, San Francisco became a magnet for America's [[counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture movement]]. [[Beat Generation]] writers fueled the [[San Francisco Renaissance]] and centered on the [[North Beach, San Francisco|North Beach]] neighborhood in the 1950s.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=240–242}} [[Hippie]]s flocked to [[Haight-Ashbury]] in the 1960s, reaching a peak with the 1967 [[Summer of Love]].<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/love/filmmore/fd.html|title = American Experience: Summer of Love: Film Description|access-date = June 17, 2008|date = March 14, 2007|work = Website for American Experience documentary on the Summer of Love|publisher = PBS|archive-date = June 5, 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080605215315/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/love/filmmore/fd.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> In 1974, the [[Zebra murders]] left at least 16 people dead.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911212,00.html |title=Fear in the Streets of San Francisco |date=April 29, 1974 |magazine=Time |access-date=August 28, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203143933/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911212,00.html |archive-date=December 3, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1970s, the city became a center of the [[LGBT social movements|gay rights movement]], with the emergence of [[The Castro, San Francisco|The Castro]] as an urban [[gay village]], the election of [[Harvey Milk]] to the [[San Francisco Board of Supervisors|Board of Supervisors]], and his [[Moscone–Milk assassinations|assassination]], along with that of Mayor [[George Moscone]], in 1978.<ref>{{cite web|title=San Francisco History: The 1970s and 1980s: Gay Rights|url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/sanfrancisco/0029033660.html|work=Destinations: San Francisco|publisher=Frommers.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010718020050/http://www.frommers.com/destinations/sanfrancisco/0029033660.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 18, 2001|access-date=June 17, 2008}}</ref>

[[Bank of America]], now based in [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[North Carolina]], was founded in San Francisco; the bank completed [[555 California Street]] in 1969. The [[Transamerica Pyramid]] was completed in 1972,<ref>{{cite web|title = Pyramid Facts and Figures |work=Company Profile|publisher=Transamerica Insurance and Investment Group|url = http://www.transamerica.com/company_profile/about_the_pyramid/pyramid_facts_and_figures.asp|access-date =June 13, 2008}}</ref> igniting a wave of "[[Manhattanization]]" that lasted until the late 1980s, a period of extensive high-rise development downtown.{{sfn|Wiley|2000|p=95–96}} The 1980s also saw a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people in the city, an issue that remains today, despite many attempts to address it.<ref>{{cite news|url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/04/MNGILKB9KV1.DTL&ao=all|title = S.F.'s Homeless Aging on the Street / Chronic health problems on the rise as median age nears 50|work = San Francisco Chronicle|last1 = Fagan|first1= Kevin|date = August 4, 2006|access-date =March 6, 2012|quote = The findings support what many social workers have long suspected – that there was a "big bang" homeless population explosion as federal housing programs were slashed and the closing of mental hospitals hit home in the mid-1980s and that this core group constitutes the bulk of the street population.}}</ref> 
[[File:SF Transamerica full CA.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Transamerica Pyramid]], built in 1972, characterized the [[Manhattanization]] of the city's skyline in the 1970–80s.]]
The [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake]] caused destruction and loss of life throughout the Bay Area. In San Francisco, the quake severely damaged structures in the [[Marina District, San Francisco|Marina]] and [[South of Market, San Francisco|South of Market]] districts and precipitated the demolition of the damaged [[California State Route 480|Embarcadero Freeway]] and much of the damaged [[Central Freeway]], allowing the city to reclaim [[Embarcadero (San Francisco)|The Embarcadero]] as its historic downtown waterfront and revitalizing the [[Hayes Valley, San Francisco|Hayes Valley]] neighborhood.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association|url=https://hayesvalleysf.org/|access-date=August 5, 2021}}</ref>

The three recent decades have seen booms driven by the internet industry. During the [[Dot-com bubble|dot-com boom]] of the late 1990s, [[startup company|startup companies]] invigorated the San Francisco economy. Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city, followed by marketing, design, and sales professionals, changing the social landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became increasingly [[Gentrification|gentrified]].<ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/us/mission-district-fights-case-of-dot-com-fever.html|title = Mission District Fights Case of Dot-Com Fever|work = The New York Times|date = November 5, 2000|last1 =Nieves|first1=Evelyn|access-date =March 5, 2012}}</ref> Demand for new housing and office space ignited a second wave of high-rise development, this time in the South of Market district.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/High-rises-are-a-sign-of-the-times-in-changing-3233641.php|title = High-rises are a sign of the times in changing San Francisco|work = San Francisco Chronicle|date = January 2, 2008|last1 = Nolte|first1=Carl|access-date = July 9, 2012}}</ref> By 2000, the city's population reached new highs, surpassing the previous record set in 1950. When the bubble burst in 2001, many of these companies folded and their employees were laid off. Yet high technology and entrepreneurship remain mainstays of the San Francisco economy. By the mid-2000s (decade), the [[Web 2.0|social media boom]] had begun, with San Francisco becoming a popular location for tech offices and a common place to live for people employed in [[Silicon Valley]] companies such as [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] and [[Google]].<ref>{{cite web|title = City and County of San Francisco: An Overview of San Francisco's Recent Economic Performance|url = http://www.sfeconomicstrategy.org/site/uploadedfiles/moed/economic_strat/ExecutiveSummary_EconomicPerformanceReview.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090201053456/http://www.sfeconomicstrategy.org/site/uploadedfiles/moed/economic_strat/ExecutiveSummary_EconomicPerformanceReview.pdf|archive-date = February 1, 2009|access-date =June 19, 2008|first1=Ted |last1=Egan|date = April 3, 2006|work=Report prepared for Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development|publisher=ICF Consulting|quote = Another positive trend for the future is San Francisco's highly entrepreneurial, flexible and innovative economy...San Francisco's very high reliance on small business and self-employment is typical of other dynamic, fast-growing, high-technology areas across the country.}}</ref>

The early 2020s saw a reduction of tech companies' presence in Downtown San Francisco in the wake of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], increased popularity of working at home, and struggles with homelessness. Although some observers have raised the possibility that office vacancies and declining tax revenues could cause San Francisco to enter an economic [[urban doom loop|doom loop]],<ref name=SanFranDoomLoop>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/san-francisco-crime-downtown-doom-loop-e5fcd7ba|title=Can San Francisco Save Itself From the Doom Loop?|first1=Jim|last1=Carlton|first2=Katherine|last2=Bindley|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=August 13, 2023|access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref><ref name=SanFranDoomLoopCurbed>{{cite web|url=https://www.curbed.com/2023/05/san-francisco-doom-loop.html|title=Spiraling in San Francisco's Doom Loop|quote=What it's like to live in a city that no longer believes its problems can be fixed.|first1=Elizabeth|last1=Weil|publisher=Curbed|date=May 10, 2023|access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref> other sources have refuted this broad-based characterization of the city as a whole, asserting that the issues of concern are restricted primarily to the urban core of San Francisco.<ref name=DowntownSanFranDying>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/downtown-san-francisco-retail-dying-sam-altman-20307342.php|title=Downtown San Francisco retail is dying. What's replacing it is so much worse.|author=Ariana Bindman|publisher=SFGate|date=May 6, 2025|access-date=May 6, 2025}}</ref><ref name=SanFranDoomLoopRefute>{{cite news|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/breed-election-doom-loop-18430094.php|title=London Breed vs. the 'doom loop': How will S.F.'s mayor solve her biggest political problem?|first1=J.D.|last1=Morris|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 30, 2023|access-date=November 5, 2023}}</ref>

The [[San Francisco Armory]], [[Palace of Fine Arts]], [[Haas–Lilienthal House]], and [[450 Sutter Street]] are among the dozens of historical landmarks in the city [[National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco|listed on the National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=NPGallery Search |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/ |access-date=April 2, 2023 |work=National Park Service}}</ref>