index | by subject | by year | biographies | books | SF Activities | shop museum | contact -- Select a Major Online Exhibit -- 1849 California Gold Rush History of the San Francisco Fire Department Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 “Who Perished” List of Dead from the 1906 Earthquake 1906 Earthquake Photographs San Franciscans Survive Titanic Sinking Construction of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges 1989 San Francisco Earthquake San Francisco’s Response to the Oakland Firestorm Chronology of San Francisco World War II Events Chronology of San Francisco Rock 1965-1969

We hope you will enjoy your visit to our Museum. If you do, please help us out with a tax deductable donation. History by Subject Page 1 California – General “Founding of San Francisco,” by Edward F. O’Day – 1776 Founding of the Mission Dolores – 1776 “Missions of the Spanish Era...,” by F. Gordon O’Neill Russians Settle at Fort Ross – 1812 “Ranch and Mission Days of Alta California,” by Guadalupe Vallejo "Life in California Before the Gold Rush," by John Bidwell Mexican War and the Treaty of Guadalupe–Hidalgo – 1846-1848 California Governors, 1849 – Present Gen. Frémont and the Bear Flag Revolt – 1846 The California Bear Flag – 1846 Gold Rush Stories of Women Pioneers William T. Sherman and California Before the Gold Rush – 1847 News of the Donner Party Reaches San Francisco – 1847 California Constitution – 1849 How San Francisco Received Its Name – 1850 Slavery and California Statehood,by Rockwell D. Hunt Early History of California Schools by Will C. Wood Early History of California Laws by Jeremiah Sullivan San Francisco and the Civil War, by Charles B. Turrill – 1861 California and the Civil War Site The New California Constitution – 1879 Henry George Publishes Progress and Poverty – 1879 Wells, Fargo & Company – 1880 Wells, Fargo & Company's Mail Facilities – 1880 Lower California as a Negro Home – 1891 “Californian Literature,” by Arthur Inkersley – 1897 “Fact Finding about the Stanfords in the California State Library,” by Caroline Wenzel A Great Express and Banking Company – 1906 Exit the Night Hawk – 1914 The Cliff Dwellers – 1918 Upton Sinclair and the EPIC Plan Northern California Folk Music from the 1930s San Francisco – African Americans From the Diary of Alvin Coffey, African American 49er – 1849 Biography of William Leidesdorff Biography of Adah Isaacs Menken African American Rights During the Gold Rush Era Slavery and California Statehood by Rockwell D. Hunt – 1850 San Francisco and the Civil War, by Charles B. Turrill – 1861 Lower California as a Negro Home – 1891 Zulu Prince with Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Alcatraz – 1899 “Bishop Arnett on the Negro” – 1900 Refugee Revolt at Lafayette Square – 1906 Black-oriented Barbary Coast Resorts, Cabarets, and Saloons – 1908-1910 Henry Starr, Early Radio Entertainer - 1931 Gladys Bentley at Mona's Club 440 – 1942 “Japanese-Negro Fifth Column” – 1942 Autobiography of Thomas Fleming of the Sun-Reporter San Francisco – Alcatraz Zulu Prince with Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Alcatraz – 1899 San Francisco – Art      NEW ADDITION Go to Section San Francisco – Automotive Early History of the Auto in San Francisco Techau Tavern Gives Away Car – 1912 Duesenberg Automobile Advertisement – 1925 New Ford Town Car Advertisement – 1929 Roster of Motor Car Dealers – 1931 New Hupp Skylark Automobile Arrives at the World’s Fair – 1939 49-Mile Scenic Drive in 1938 49-Mile Scenic Drive in 1958 San Francisco – Barbary Coast Chinatown, Barbary Coast Gambling, Vice and Prostitution – 1871 A Melodeon Artist – 1876 Sailor "Boarding Masters," ETC – 1881 Barbary Coast - An Odd Corner of San Francisco – 1887 Barbary Coast Resorts, Cabarets and Saloons – 1908-1910 Sophie Tucker Visits the Barbary Coast – 1911 The Barbary Coast Must Go! – 1912 Helping Fallen Women of the Barbary Coast – 1917 Out of the Crowd – 1928 Barbary Coast Modernization Drive – 1937 San Francisco – Bridges Charles Alton Ellis Golden Gate Bridge Fiesta Program, 1937 Bridging San Francisco Bay – 1872 Golden Gate Bond Issue Goes to the Voters – 1930 Rioting Stops Construction of Bay Bridge – 1934 Construction of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges – 1935 U.S.S. California Passes Under the Golden Gate Bridge – 1936 Bay Bridge Smashups Cause Traffic Troubles – 1940 Bay Bridge Earthquake Damage Photos – 1989 “Symphonies in Steel: Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate,” by John McGloin, S.J. San Francisco – Broadcasting Radio – 1927 "S.F. Man's Invention to Revolutionize Television"– 1928 Debut of Carlton E. Morse’s “One Man’s Family ” – 1932 Don Lee Television to Soon Come to San Francisco – 1939 New NBC Studios for San Francisco – 1940 “New Zanies on the Radio” (Coyle and Sharpe), by Dwight Newton – 1963 Jim Coyle and Mal Sharpe Skit KGO-AM Radio Tower Collapse – 1989 KFRC-AM – San Francisco KPO-AM – see: Edna Fischer Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees RCA Shortwave Station KER – 1945 Ocean Beach Wireless Station – 1912 San Francisco – Business    NEW ADDITION The Sunday Law and the Saloon-Keepers – 1881 A Great Industry – 1886 Pacific Postal Telegraph Cable Company – 1887 San Francisco Flower Stands – 1927 San Francisco – Cemeteries The Removal of the Cemeteries Map of Yerba Buena Cemetery – 1851 Hurry Up – 1887 Devastation in Cities of Dead – 1906 Laurel Hill Burial Crypt of Samuel T. Woodworth – 1937 BART Sued by Cypress Lawn to Protect California History – 1997 San Francisco – Chinese The Gold Rush and Anti-Chinese Race Hatred – 1849 Photograph: “Chinese Girl with Bound Feet” Chinese Miners in the Gold Fields – 1860 Chinatown Gambling and Vice – 1871 View Inside a Chinese Opium Den Anti-Chinese Sentiments in San Francisco – 1874 Kearneyism in California, by Viscount James Bryce – 1877 Kearneyism, The Chinese, and Labor Unrest – 1877 “You Sabe Him? Kealney Must Go!” – 1877 by Jerome A. Hart – 1877 Remarks by Denis Kearney on Kearneyism in California “The Kearney-Kalloch Epoch,” by Jerome A. Hart – 1879 The New California Constitution – 1879 “Chinatown Declared a Nuisance!”– 1880 Scene in a Chinese Opium Palace – 1880 Chan Pak Kwai – 1881 “China’s Menace to the World,” By Thomas Magee – 1890 Arrest in Chinatown – 1897 Arnold Genthe Photograph of Chinatown – 1898 Tour of Chinatown – 1900 Chinese Telephone Company – 1901 Why Chinatown has Remained Where it is – 1902 Funeral of Tom Kim Yung – 1903 Chinese Orphans Escape the Great Fire – 1906 “Asiatic Coolie Invasion” – 1906 Mayor Schmitz Bars Coolie Labor from Earthquake Reconstruction – 1906 Treatment of Chinese Refugees Following the 1906 Earthquake Plans to Relocate Chinatown – 1906 China’s Empress-Dowager Contributes to Chinese Relief – 1906 National Guard Members Loot Chinatown – 1906v Relief for the Chinese – 1906 Smuggling of Chinese Slave Girls Thwarted – 1912 In Chinatown (Chinese Women Vote) – 1912 Chinatown Tong Wars of the 1920s Chinese Wedding Mid Scenes of Splendor - 1924 Brief History of Chinatown, by Jesse B. Cook – 1931 English-Language Newspaper for Chinatown – 1940 Ronald Reagan at Charlie Low's Forbidden City – 1942 Paper Sons – 1969 “Celebrating Chinese New Year,” by Audrey Wong – 1995 San Francisco – Churches Founding of the Mission Dolores – 1776 Mission Dolores Rancho San Francisco Churches in the 1850s History of the First Baptist Church of San Francisco Bishop Arnett on the Negro - 1900 A Misplaced Love Letter - 1912 New Canon Kip House Opens – 1942 San Francisco – Clubs – Fraternal – Social Turnverein's May Festival – 1856 Schuetzen Verein Club – 1859 Bohemian Club – 1885 Olympic Club Corner-Stone – 1891 New Olympic Club Building to Open – 1912 Sotomayor’s View of the Family Club –1929 San Francisco – Committees of Vigilance First Committee of Vigilance – 1851 Second Committee of Vigilance – 1856 The Hanging of Casey and Cora Committee of Vigilance Proclamation – 1856 Funeral of James King of William – 1856 Judge David S. Terry Stabs a Vigilance Committee Policeman – 1856 Gen. Sherman and the Committee of Vigilance – 1856 Memoirs of an 1856 Committee of Vigilance Member The Vigilantes – 1906 San Francisco – Crime Execution of Jose Forner – 1852 Police Chief Patrick Crowley – 1870s Capture of Black Bart in San Francisco – 1883 Preparedness Day Bombing – 1916 Coroner Leland Urges Gun Control – 1934 San Francisco – Districts Tour of San Francisco – 1856 San Francisco vs. The Sand-Lot – 1880 San Franciscans at the Ocean Beach – 1880 The Men in the Telegraph Hill Job – 1887 The Utilization of Wave Power – 1887 An Important Sale – 1896 Tour of Chinatown – 1900 Suggestions for City Improvement – 1902 The Duboce Tunnel – 1927 Barbary Coast San Francisco – Earthquakes California Earthquakes 1769 – 1994 Earthquakes of 1800 and 1808 Ft. Tejon Quake Felt in San Francisco – 1857 Great Oct. 8th, 1865 San Francisco Earthquake Wreck of Popper’s Building – 1865 Mark Twain’s Description of the 1865 Earthquake Report on Damage to the Custom House – 1865 October 21st, 1868 San Francisco Earthquake Photographs: 1868 Earthquake Damage Photograph: 1868 Damage to Railroad House and Rosenbaum’s Tobacco Warehouse Effect of the 1868 Earthquake on Property Values Earthquake at Inyo County -1872 “The Earthquake,” by John Muir – 1872 No Earthquake Danger in San Francisco – 1872 Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906 United Railroads' Great Work – 1906 Foreign Assistance to San Francisco During the 1906 Earthquake and Fire Photographs: 1906 Earthquake Damage Portals of the Past – 1906 “Early Work for Earthquake Research in California,” by Thomas J. Maher – 1929 Earthquake of March 1957 Earthquake and Fire of 1989 Continue for more History by Subject Page 2 Back to Top of Page There have been visitors to the History Section.