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May 29, 2020

55 Amazing Photos Capture Street Scenes of San Francisco in the 19th Century

In 1847, San Francisco only had a population of about 800. However in 1848 a man named James Marshall discovered gold. News of the find reached New York in December 1848. As a result people went to San Francisco in their thousands and the population boomed. In 1849, the population of San Francisco reached 25,000.

On 4 May 1851, San Francisco was devastated by a fire. It was soon rebuilt. San Francisco waterworks began in 1857.

After the gold boom was ending in 1953, Henry Comstock discovered silver in 1959. Unlike gold, the silver required expensive equipment to extract so a number of ‘silver barons’ were the main beneficiaries. Meanwhile businessmen dreamed of a trans-continental railroad. It was completed in 1869.

During the late 19th century, San Francisco continued to develop. The first cable car service began in Clay Street in 1873. Meanwhile in 1870, San Francisco had a population of almost 150,000. And by 1900, its population was over 300,000.

Take a look at these amazing photos from dougsf to see what San Francisco looked like in the 19th century.

Market Street at Third, looking east, Palace Hotel on the right

Cable cars and car barn of the California Street Railroad, looking west from the corner of Larkin Street

California Street form Sansome Street, looking up to Nob Hill

California Street from Montgomery Street, looking west

Chinatown street scenes

Early horse drawn street car at South Park

Flood Building, Market and Fourth Street

Grant Street at Post Street

Hall of Records, old City Hall

Intersection of Montgomery Street and Montgomery Avenue (now Columbus Avenue)

Leland Stanford and Mark Hopkins mansions at California and Powell Streets, Nob Hill

Looking down Market Street towards the Ferry Building, with the Chronicle Building in the background

Looking up California Street towards Nob Hill

Looking up First Street towards Rincon Hill

Looking up Powell Street, North from Union Square

Market Street at about Turk and Market

Market Street from Montgomery to the Bay

Market Street looking east from the intersection of Guerrero, right, Laguna and Hermann Streets, left

Market Street showing Chronicle Building, Crocker Building and the Palace Hotel

Market Street with Castro Street cable car

Market Street

Market, Geary and Kearny Streets

Misson Dolores

Newspaper Row in San Francisco with the Chronicle Building on the left, the Hearst Building in the middle and the Call Building to the right

Northwest corner of Montgomery and Washington Streets

Odd Fellows Hall, Seventh and Market Streets

Pacific Bank of San Francisco, located at the corner of Pine and Sansome Streets

Panorama of the city taken from the old City Hall, looking towards Nob Hill

Powell Street and Sacramento Street from Nob Hill

San Francisco Bay with Goat Island (Yerba Buena Island) in the background

San Francisco City Hall with the Pioneer Monument

San Francisco street scenes, possibly California Street

San Francisco taken on Nob Hill at Powell and Mason Street. On the left is the Trinity Church, center is the Baldwin Hotel and to the right is the First Congregational Church

Second Street and Bryant

The Emporium Department Store on Market Street

The Fairmont Hotel, Nob Hill

The House of Records at the old City Hall

The Lick House at Montgomery and Sutter Streets

The Masonic temple at Post and Montgomery

The new Ferry Building shortly after its completion

The old Customs House on Battery and Washington Streets

The old Ferry Building

The old Masonic Temple at Post and Montgomery

The old Palace Hotel

The old St. Mary's Chruch on California Street at Dupont (Grant) Street

The old St. Mary's church at Dupont (Grant) and California Street

The San Francisco Stock Exchange and the Real Estate Associates' Building, corner of Montgomery and Pine

Trinity Church at Powell and Post Streets

Trolley cars at the Ferry Building

Unidentified Street in San Francisco, possibly South of Market

View of San Francisco from Nob Hill

Waverly Place (originally Pike Street) in Chinatown

William Crocker residence on corner of California and Jones Streets

World Mutual Life Building

Yerba Buena Cove looking north from the intersection of First and Howard Streets

4 comments:

  1. People should check out the amazing show, Warrior, to see the great job they did recreating 19th C San Francisco. Such a good show too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The most amazing thing of all is that there is more shit in the streets of San Francisco today than there was when everyone travelled by horse.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "After the gold boom was ending in 1953, Henry Comstock discovered silver in 1959. Unlike gold, the silver required expensive equipment to extract so a number of ‘silver barons’ were the main beneficiaries. Meanwhile businessmen dreamed of a trans-continental railroad. It was completed in 1869."

    There are 2 glaring errors in this paragraph.

    1953 should be 1853 and 1959 should be 1859....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Look closely at that photo of the Fairmont hotel from what looks like Feb 1856. Thousands of tons of perfectly cut and placed stone and concrete piled high and majestically above the top of California street, and alongside it is a horse and wagon. Imagine the undertaking of heavy equipment it would take today to re-build that hotel, yet they did it back then with horses and wagons on dirt roads.

    ReplyDelete




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