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Building Bridges: The History of San Francisco and the Honest Importance of Unity Amidst Diversity

Bypo.smeallie

San Francisco! What comes to mind when you think of this prominent Californian city? Maybe you picture the 49ers or the Giants…or the Painted Ladies from Full House…or the Golden Gate Bridge or Alcatraz. Or maybe you consider the thick fog that cloaks the city or the earthquakes that ruptured its bridges and buildings back in 1906 and 1989. Sadly, the city’s reputation has faltered over the years. Rampant shoplifting, crime, and homelessness have befallen San Francisco. But it is still a beautiful and vivacious city and one worth honoring with a written article.

Old Settlements

The earliest archaeological evidence of human habitation for San Francisco (originally, Ahwaste, meaning “place at the bay” in Ohlone) dates to 3000 B.C.E.1,3. The Yelamu group of Ramaytush people resided in a few small villages on the bay. On November 2, 1769, though, the first documentation of European visitation indicates that an overland Spanish exploration party arrived in the region2.

The Spanish subsequently killed off the Ramaytush people, depriving them of their language in culture in the process4,5,6.  The Spanish Empire then claimed “Yerba Buena” (“Good Herb”) as part of the Las Californias province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain after Don Gaspar de Portolá and Juan Crespí arrived in the Bay area.

The explorers noted the region’s strategic benefits due to its large natural harbor. The Spanish then dispatched Pedro Fages in 1770 to find a more direct route from Monterey to the San Francisco Peninsula; a route later named “El Camino Real.” Juan Bautista de Anza arrived at San Francisco in 1774 and selected various sites for a mission and presidio. On August 5, 1775, Juan Manuel de Ayala- commander of the San Carlos- anchored his ship in San Francisco Bay and marked the first European maritime presence in the region7.

Presidios and Missions

On March 28, 1776, Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco, and, on October 9 of that year, Padre Francisco Palóu founded the Mission San Francisco de Asis (a.k.a. “Mission Dolores”)8. In 1794, the Presidio established the Castillo de San Joaquín. This fortification on the southern side of Golden Gate later became known as “Fort Point.” Settlers created the province of Alta California in 1804 and formally changed the bayside city’s name from “Yerba Buena” to “San Francisco” (“St. Francis”).

In 1821, Mexico ceded California to Spain, and the extensive California mission system gradually lost its influence. Californian settlers privatized agricultural land into “ranchos,” and coastal trade increased. At least a half-dozen barques from various Atlantic ports regularly sailed into California waters.

The Yerba Buena Plaza (now located in the city’s Chinatown and Financial District and referred to as Portsmouth Square) served as a trading post with settlements that cropped up near it. Captain Mariano G. Vallejo commanded the Presidio in 1833; and, that same year, Juana Briones de Miranda built her rancho near El Polín Spring, founding the first civilian household in San Francisco8,9. Various municipal magistrates (“Alcaldes”), including Francisco de Haro and José Joaquín Estudillo, presided in San Francisco. Estudillo approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena to William Richardson, a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth (Richardson arrived in San Francisco by whaling ship in 1822).

Over the years, more and more American settlers arrived at the city. An 1842 census lists 21 residents (11%) born in the U.S. or Europe, as well as one Filipino merchant10. The Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 in Sonoma kicked off the U.S. Conquest of California, and, on July 9 of that year, the forces under the command of John B. Montgomery captured Yerba Buena/San Francisco. Brooklyn settlers alongside Mormons arrived a month later.

The Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush ultimately drew in many treasure-seeking pioneers. The “forty-niners,” who of course later lent their name to the city’s present-day football team, carried their sourdough bread in tow with them as prospectors accumulated in San Francisco11,12. The population skyrocketed by the end of 1849. The promise of wealth was so strong that many crews arriving in the region deserted their ships and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving a “forest of masts” in the city’s harbor13. People later used these abandoned vessels as storeships, hotels, and saloons. Many were left to rot. Some sank to the bottom of the San Francisco Bay. By 1851, citizens extended the harbor out into the bay by erecting wharves and buildings on piles among the ships. A year prior, California officially gained statehood in the U.S.

Entrepreneurs sough to capitalize on the wealth that Gold Rush-era San Francisco generated. Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859 and other silver discoveries further drove the city’s rapid population growth13. Hordes of fortune seekers streamed through the city, as did many lawbreakers. The “Barbary Coast” section of town gained notoriety as a haven for gambling, bootlegging, crime, and prostitution14.

National Prominence

Meanwhile, other winning institutions emerged. The banking industry flourished with the founding of Wells Fargo in 1852 and the Bank of California twelve years later. Citizens developed the Port of San Francisco and established overland access to the eastern U.S. by way of rail system in 1869. Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business, and Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing chocolate. Chinese immigrants were also drawn to the city, and, by 1880, comprised 9.3% of the population15. The first cable cars arrived in 1873, transporting San Franciscans up Clay Street. Meanwhile, Victorian houses popped up everywhere, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park. Plans for “Golden Gate Park” were drawn up. Residents built numerous schools, churches, theaters, and all the other hallmarks of civic life. The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific Coast16.

San Francisco approached a population of 300,000 by 1890, making it the country’s eighth largest city. At the turn of the 20th century, the city gained a reputation for its flamboyant style, ostentatious Nob Hill mansions, stately hotels, and thriving arts scene17. San Francisco was beset by an epidemic in 1900-1904 and a major earthquake on April 18, 1906, which caused buildings to collapse, gas lines to rupture, and fire to spread for several days. Famous author Jack London eulogized the earthquake (which caused many fatalities and widespread homelessness): “Not in history has a modern imperial city been so… destroyed. San Francisco is gone.”18.

People rebuilt the city quickly and did so on a grand scale. Amadeo Giannini’s Bank of Italy (later, Bank of America) provided the loans for many of those whose livelihoods the earthquake had devastated. The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) was founded in 1910 to address housing quality in the city19. The city’s wealthy residents rebuilt their homes in Pacific Heights, and the Nob Hill mansions became grand hotels. The Beaux Arts style City Hall rose again, and the city celebrated its rebirth at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 191519.

Alcatraz, the Golden Gate, the Summer of Love, and Beyond

The first half of the 20th century saw the rise of many of the city’s most visible and important infrastructural achievements, including the Twin Peaks Reservoir, the Stockton Street Tunnel, the Twin Peaks Tunnel, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, and the Auxiliary Water Supply System. Alphabetically speaking, the “J-N” lines of San Francisco’s streetcar system still survive to this day. The O’Shaughnessy Dam (named for chief engineer Michael O’Shaughnessy), Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct had the largest effect on the city, allowing an abundant water supply into San Francisco and enabling it to develop into the city that it is today20.

Despite the infamous 1929 stock market crash, not a single San Francisco-based bank failed21.  Ironically, during the height of the Great Depression, San Francisco undertook two of its greatest civil engineering projects—the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the world-renowned, highly-photographed, orange-vermillion Golden Gate Bridge (completed in 1936 and 1937, respectively).

Notorious gangsters/criminals like Al Capone and “Birdman” Robert Franklin Stroud gazed upon San Francisco’s beautiful skyline from the island of Alcatraz and its federal maximum-security prison (formerly a military stockade). The city celebrated its grandeur with the World’s Fair. They also created “Treasure Island” in the middle of the San Francisco Bay to accommodate the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-4022.

In the latter half of the 20th century, San Francisco became a magnet for the countercultural movement, culminating in the 1967 “Summer of Love.” Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury, and, with the election of Harvy Milk (whom Dan White murdered alongside Mayor George Moscone in 1978), the city also of course became a major center for the gay rights movement. Fisherman’s Wharf, the Palace of Fine Arts, the Coit Tower, the Legion of Honor, the Transamerica Pyramid, and the California Academy of Sciences are all major present-day sites that people visit.

Familial Ties

My father frequently visited San Francisco in the past as part of a yearly rock mechanics symposium. Last year I traveled to San Francisco to see my cousin’s wedding. San Francisco obviously is a very liberal city (which Nancy Pelosi, of course, hails from), and my cousin is very liberal. That is neither an insult nor a compliment. It’s just what it is. My personal and political beliefs are probably more “middle-of-the-road,” but our acceptance of a diversity of political temperaments is one of the great hallmark features of our free American society. Even if I don’t agree with all the political points my cousin may make, he’s my cousin. He’s family. He has a heart of gold and puts that heart of gold to use bettering the city of San Francisco in whatever ways he can.

The saddest phenomenon over the past 8-10 years has been seeing the civil war of ideas (or “cultural war”) that has driven apart Americans in so many ways. I of course don’t want to be pollyanneish about the whole thing. The “kumbaya” approach/solution is far too impractical, and there are certain issues for which rigid division make perfect sense (e.g. abortion and gun control). But do we really want rigid division? Non-rhetorically, is it in our best interest(s)? This is the United States. A diversity of…well, everything is one of our greatest strengths. But there is a thin line between healthy diversity and diversity-driven destruction.

Unity Vs. Division

What happens when our diversity is so severe and differentiated that people no longer share anything of value in common? The founding fathers warned us about this kind of “factionalism” …the phenomenon that occurs when a central ideal no longer exists. “E pluribus” without the “unum.” Hallmarks like free speech and the peaceful transfer of power of course fall into our “unum” category, as do public safety measures. The Covid era’s “to mask or not to mask” dilemma nearly tore us apart. There are just certain concessions, compromises, and generally agreed upon principles that Americans must reach before they can respect the diversity of opinions regarding anything else. The good news though…once we do reach, respect, and honor those “lines in the sand,” all other differences in personality and thought highlight the parts of us that are the strongest and most magnificent.

The city of San Francisco, its infrastructure, its climate, and its people speak to that diversity. Sometimes it’s sunny, while other times it’s so foggy and cool that, to paraphrase Mark Twain, it’s the “coldest winter” in the middle of the summer. San Francisco, like many other major American cities, has its own version of everything. It has its own Chinatown…its own financial district…its own thriving, flamboyant arts scene…its own picturesque landscapes…its own points of pop-cultural significance. George Lucas, Robin Williams, Full House, Mrs. Doubtfire, and The Rock may all immediately come to mind when you think of the city. When I think of the city I think of my immediate and extended family’s connections to it…connections that highlight the honest importance of both familial and national unity!

SOURCES

  1. Stewart, Suzanne B. (November 2003). “Archaeological Research Issues for the Point Reyes National Seashore – Golden Gate National Recreation Area” (PDF). Sonoma State University – Anthropological Studies Center. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
  2. “Visitors: San Francisco Historical Information”. City and County of San Francisco. n.d. Archived from the original on March 1, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
  3. Billiter, Bill (January 1, 1985). “3,000-Year-Old Connection Claimed: Siberia Tie to California Tribes Cited”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  4. “Indigenous Peoples of San Mateo County”. San Mateo County Office of Education. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  5. “The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone”. The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  6. “The Ramaytush Ohlone – Lessons on stewardship from the ancestral stewards of the Peninsula”. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. December 4, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  7. Raup, H. F. “The Delayed Discovery of San Francisco Bay.” California Historical Society Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 4, 1948, p. 293. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3816007. Accessed November 12, 2020.
  8. Kamiya, Gary (August 23, 2013). “Juana Briones – San Francisco’s founding mother”. SFGATE.
  9. “From 1820 to the Gold Rush”, at San Francisco Museum.org, accessed 2022.06.03.
  10. “san_francisco_history:san_francisco_census_1842 [SFgenealogy]”. www.sfgenealogy.org. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  11. Sourdough bread was a staple of western explorers and miners of the 19th century. It became an iconic symbol of San Francisco, and is still a staple of city life today.Tamony, Peter (October 1973). “Sourdough and French Bread”. Western Folklore. 32 (4): 265–270. doi:10.2307/1498306. JSTOR 1498306.
  12. “San Francisco’s First Brick Building”. The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. July 16, 2004. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  13. Harris, Ron (November 14, 2005). “Crews Unearth Shipwreck on San Francisco Condo Project”. Associated Press. Retrieved September 4, 2006.
  14. “The miners came in forty-nine, / The whores in fifty-one, / And when they got together / They produced the native son.” Wiley, Peter Booth (2000). National trust guide- San Francisco: America’s guide for architecture and history travelers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 237–238.
  15. “IPUMS USA”. usa.ipums.org. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
  16. “Under Three Flags” (PDF). Golden Gate National Recreation Area Brochures. US Department of the Interior. November 2004. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  17. Wiley, Peter Booth (2000). National trust guide- San Francisco: America’s guide for architecture and history travelers. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. pp. 44–55
  18. “Jack London Writes of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire”. Sfmuseum.org. May 5, 1906. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  19. “SPUR Our Mission and History”. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  20. “Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco – M.M. O’Shaughnessy Employed as City Engineer”. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
  21. “San Francisco Gold Rush Banking – 1849”. The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. June 24, 2004. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
  22. “Treasure Island History”. timuseum. Retrieved August 5, 2021.

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