Wikipedia
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San Francisco - Wikipedia
1 day ago - San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast. In 1890, San Francisco's population approached 300,000, making it the eighth-largest city in the United ...
Wikipedia
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History of San Francisco - Wikipedia
1 week ago - 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. These natural disadvantages forced the town's residents to bring water, fuel and food to the site. The first of many environmental transformations was the city's reliance on filled marshlands for real estate. Much of the present downtown is built over the former Yerba Buena Cove, granted to the city by military governor Stephen Watts Kearny in 1847.
San Francisco
sanfrancisco.net › https://www.sanfrancisco.net › information › history
San Francisco History - Past, Present & Future
An expedition led by Gaspar de ... and putting Franciscan monks in their place, arrived in the bay in 1770 where they founded San Francisco. In 1776 the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza built the San Francisco prison ...
FoundSF
foundsf.org › SETTLEMENT_OF_SAN_FRANCISCO_(1776)
SETTLEMENT OF SAN FRANCISCO (1776) - FoundSF
Lewis, Oscar, San Francisco, Mission to Metropolis, Howell-North Books, Berkeley, 1966. Charles Wollenberg, Perspectives in Bay Area History, UC Berkeley Press, 1984. ... The Spanish colonial model was based primarily on the establishment of missions and presidios. The mission was the basic colonial unit: it settled the lands, carried out the conversion of the natives and maintained law and order. The presidios, built only at strategic locations (there were three in California: at San Diego (1769), Monterey (1770) and San Francisco (1776)) were responsible for the military protection of the lands (chiefly the missions) and ensured the enforcement of laws and the punishment of recalcitrant Indians.
San Francisco Museum
sfmuseum.org › hist6 › founding.html
The Founding of San Francisco - 1776
The Founding of San Francisco, by Edward F. ODay · Founding of the Mission Dolores
Real San Francisco Tours
realsanfranciscotours.com › home › founding of san francisco
Founding of San Francisco | The San Francisco Scoop
July 14, 2022 - Why is San Francisco where it is? How was it settled? What was it like in its early years? We take a look at the founding of San Francisco.
49 Miles
49miles.com › 2022 › a-brief-history-of-san-francisco-everything-you-need-to-know
A Brief History of San Francisco: Everything You Need to Know | 49Miles.com
July 3, 2022 - Established in 1776, San Francisco is one of America's oldest cities, though things didn't really get started until the Gold Rush in 1849. Here's everything you need to know.
FoundSF
foundsf.org › index.php
WHY SAN FRANCISCO??? CITY ORIGINS: 1835-1849 - FoundSF
In 1849 San Francisco had approximately 1,000 inhabitants; by 1856 the population had soared to 50,000. Such meteoric growth had never quite been seen before in the 19th century. Visitors, as well as residents, were often amazed that such a significant city, the largest of the west coast, could ...
California.com
california.com › hidden-history-sf
The Hidden History of S.F.
In the 1920s, San Francisco was quite dapper. Multiple iconic landmarks were built such as the Golden Gate Theatre, Castro Theatre, and Fleishhacker Pool. In 1933, the Bay Bridge was opened, and merely four years later, the Golden Gate Bridge—the ...
CA
ohp.parks.ca.gov
San Francisco
328 LONG WHARF - In the spring of 1848, the old Central or Long Wharf was built 'from the bank in the middle of the block between Sacramento and Clay Streets, where Leidesdorff Street now is, 800 feet into the Bay.'
Famous Daily
famousdaily.com › history › city-of-san-francisco-incorporated.html
The incorporation of the City of San Francisco.
San Francisco is one of the most densely populated cities in America. The city was founded on June 29, 1776 when a fort was built by what would become th
SFO Museum
sfomuseum.org › exhibitions › san-francisco
San Francisco: City of the World | SFO Museum
San Francisco, the ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone people, was founded in 1776 as a presidio and mission during Spanish occupation. By the time of the Mexican–American War in 1846, around one thousand people, mostly sailors, fishermen, whalers, and fur trappers, lived in the city.
Curbed SF
sf.curbed.com › 2020 › 4 › 17 › 21224726 › san-francisco-sf-founding-date-1850-april-15
When is San Francisco’s real birthday? - Curbed SF
April 17, 2020 - June 25, 1835: For decades there wasn’t much else around except for the Presidio and the Mission, and it took until 1835 for someone to create the first independent residential homestead in what would one day become San Francisco.
Fiveable
fiveable.me › all key terms › california history › founding of san francisco
Founding of San Francisco Definition - California History Key Term | Fiveable
The founding of San Francisco took place in 1776 when Spanish colonists established a presidio and a mission at the site, marking the beginning of European settlement in the region. This founding is closely tied to the broader colonization process in California, which involved establishing ...
U.S. History
u-s-history.com › pages › h2437.html
History of San Francisco, California
Father Junipero Serra was assigned to provide a portion of its housing. He was successful in finding a suitable area for a new complex and named it Misión San Francisco de Asís. The area is now called Mission Dolores. Nearly 75 years after the fort was built, the United States seized control of the area in 1846.
Ncesc
ncesc.com › home › geographic faq › when did they start building san francisco?
When did they start building San Francisco? - Geographic FAQ Hub: Answers to Your Global Questions
June 22, 2024 - San Francisco (Spanish for Saint Francis) was founded on June 29, 1776, when settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and the Mission San Francisco de Asís named for St.
Kiddle
kids.kiddle.co › History_of_San_Francisco
Learn History of San Francisco facts for kids
Six years later, in 1792, British explorer George Vancouver also stopped in San Francisco. Russian fur traders also visited the area. The neighborhood Russian Hill is named after Russian traders and sailors whose remains were found there. After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Mexico. In 1835, an Englishman named William A. Richardson built the first important home outside the Mission Dolores area.
HISTORY
history.com › home › articles › san francisco
San Francisco
May 28, 2025 - Perched atop hills and filled-in marshland at the entrance to one of the Pacific’s largest natural harbors, San Francisco has had an outsized influence on the history of California and the United States. Originally a Spanish (later Mexican) mission and pueblo, it was conquered by the United States in 1846 and by an invading army of prospectors following the 1848 discovery of gold in its hinterland.
Local Histories
localhistories.org › home › blog › a history of san francisco
A History of San Francisco - Local Histories
February 4, 2025 - Much later, in 1769 Gaspar de Portola led a Spanish expedition overland and he found the bay. Then in 1776 Juan de Anza led a group of settlers to San Francisco Bay and they built a fort called a presidio.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/bayarea › history buffs: why did san francisco become the pre-emininent bay area city ?
r/bayarea on Reddit: History Buffs: Why did San Francisco become the pre-emininent Bay Area city ?
October 18, 2023 -
Probably a question that reveals more of my ignorance than my knowledge.
Last night in German TV I was watching a travelogue film, San Francisco from above. During the course of the film I got to asking myself, Why did San Francisco become the preeminent Bay Area city ?. And before the competing rivalries start belling, nobody wrote the songs "I left my heart in Alameda", "Are you going to El Cerrito" or "San Lorenzo on my mind".
The great expansion of the Bay Area cities took place as a result of the 1849 gold rush in the north-east of California. The Bay was certainly the nearest available harbor to the gold rush, which explains the development at the time. But looking from the perspective of the goldfields, San Francisco was something like 80 miles further away by road than Oakland. Back in the days, this could be 4 to 6 days travel for a freight wagon.
The sea distance between the two sides of the Bay was insignificant for ships coming from the ocean. But transshipping goods and people to a ferry across the bay can only have added cost and time to all journeys.
I'm a great believer in, when people settle, they vote with their feet to find the optimum place. Why was SF the optimum place?
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The bay is/was shallow in lots of places. Establishing the port of Oakland involved significant dredging and wharf construction.
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Interesting side note on this topic: I'm from Benicia and they drill into our heads as kids how that town was supposed to be "the bay city" that San Francisco became but geography killed it. It's just about the most inland deep water port in the Bay Area, so it was believed that shipping would make it a huge commercial hub. Also the weather is "better" for storage since it isn't as cold wet and foggy as SF. But I guess with improving rail it became a moot point and actually better for ships to just come into the SF bay and drop their cargo there and leave. At the time of Benicia's founding, San Francisco was still called Yerba Buena. So Benicia was planning to call itself "San Francisca" but then Yerba Buena changed its name and beat the smaller town to the punch. When people thought Benicia would take off they briefly made it the state capital. That only lasted a couple years but the capital building is still there and a fun little historical site to see if you're in town. Anyway, an interesting little rivalry that has largely been forgotten since San Francisco so clearly "won."