How San Francisco Was Planned
Because of its geographic location, San Francisco is a cultural mecca, which is reflected in its incredible past. It has been shaped by its inhabitants over the course of millennia, who sought and utilized its valuable resources that drove societal progress. The symbiosis of humanity and land is a precarious balancing act and the needs of the people are always evolving, an act that San Francisco has seemingly mastered. San Francisco and the bay area have been sculpted by factors as diverse as fishing, religion, gold, silver, and now, tech.
Similar to the story of our nation's discovery, San Francisco was "found" by happenstance when Don Gaspar de Portola couldn't find the port of Monterey. Thinking that it was an extension of Drake's Bay (named when Sir Francis Drake famously sailed by it and waved in 1579), Portola didn't know what he was looking at. The bay was named "Bahia de San Francisco" at the time and later became known as San Francisco Bay. Gaspar trekked up to the peninsula around 1769 on a religious crusade from the south of California. Today his conquest is marked by the Portola neighborhood in the southeastern section of San Francisco.
By 1846, more groups had settled in the area, including Samuel Brennan, a Mormon priest. The Mormons established a strong presence in California as it was still an area that was relatively ungoverned. It was around this time that several wooden outposts were built and their arrangement became the earliest iteration of the wharf and street systems that exist today. This was also during the Mexican-American War, with the area under Mexico's ownership. The Bear Flag Rebellion was a part of the American efforts to seize the area, which was successful in 1846, two years before the war’s end.
As chance would have it, one of the members of the rebellion was the unfortunate man who is arguably most responsible for the development of San Francisco and California. That man was James Marshall. After being discharged from the war, he returned to a life of carpentry and sawmilling. It was at Sutter's Mill that he discovered gold dust, leading to the great Gold Rush of 1850. His and Sutter's attempt to keep the discovery a secret was thwarted by coworkers, who loudly announced the find, which led to the mill being forcefully taken by gold-hungry prospectors. Although he left the area due to lack of food, James Marshall is still credited with the booming development of San Francisco and subsequently much of California. While the discovery was made in the inland city of Coloma, the boom in San Francisco was a result of the rivers running to the city and the fact that it was a port settlement. Many streets and avenues mark the path of the 49ers and prospecting hopefuls that migrated to the area. Despite this fantastic find and its dramatic consequences, Marshall died in poverty with barely enough to cover his funeral.
San Francisco shot up fast and urban development was hurriedly beginning to sprawl to the surrounding areas. Development was so desperately needed that some buildings were made from the very ships that new arrivals sailed in on. The urban planning adhered, for the most part, to the traditional grid system used in major cities like New York, London, and Paris. San Francisco was planned to be made up of two grid systems that meet perpendicularly at an angle along Market Street. Not long after the Gold Rush, development began to necessitate public transportation. Taking their inspiration from the Haussmannization of Paris, Californians developed a system of cable cars, a mode of transportation that's almost synonymous with the city and is still in operation today.
The cable car system was built around major avenues that connected developed areas; areas that came to be known for its industrial character. Of the original 23 cable car lines, only three still remain today and all three lines terminate on Market Street. The cable car system was subsequently responsible for shifting around economic classes. Nob Hill and Russian Hill were once the home of the working class as housing was cheap due to the treacherous inclined commute. The cable car system made the trek far simpler and other residents began claiming the inexpensive hill properties for the grand vistas that overlook the bay. At the bottom of these hills, workers began filling the area. This coupled with Asian immigrants relocating from Angel Island lead to the birth of San Francisco's Chinatown.
The Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest in the US. The Bay Area was a major port that was the landing spot for many Asian immigrants crossing the Pacific in search of new opportunities and chasing the Gold Rush wave. The sudden influx resulted in a brief period when newcomers were held on Angel Island for an indefinite amount of time.
But while many had a rough start in San Francisco, there were some who were entrepreneurially savvy and knew that gold miners couldn't work without proper equipment. Some of the first Chinese millionaires in the US were ones who capitalized greatly by selling shovels, picks, and other equipment necessary for prospecting. In fact, stores selling such wares made much more money than the general gold mining population, especially as the Gold Rush began to fade and yields grew slimmer and slimmer. In fact, Levi Strauss got his start this way by selling sturdy work pants and canvas material to prospectors. The Transcontinental Railroad that cut across the country employed several immigrants and many of them remained in the San Francisco area after the line was completed.
Many areas of San Francisco were developed in conjunction with topography. While America sought many civil works projects to make monumental industrial feats, this trend in drastic landscaping came to an end in San Francisco. Huge areas like Twin Peaks and Presidio were developed by the natural contours and hills of the land. But ambitious projects like the Hoover Dam and Panama Canal spurned a desire to command and master the topography of the land. In the 1940s, an actor named John Reber proposed a plan to fill in portions of the bay and channelize it to create a blocked off source of fresh water and a canal for boats. In 1953 the U.S. Army ran some small scale tests to see if such a plan would work, all of which failed. These results coupled with the announcement to develop resulted in the famous Save the Bay campaign in 1960. It was a success and the event marks the beginning of a wave of environmentalism.
San Francisco is brimming with history, a history that changed its architectural direction and cultural output, an evolution that continuities to this day. As automated transportation will likely roll out there sooner than other areas, we will see further advancement of roadways as well as large-scale urban developments within our lifetimes. While the sun sets each day on the bay, San Francisco is forever looking towards tomorrow.
Sources:
San Francisco History[SanFrancisco.com]
Georges-Eugene Haussmann [Wikipedia]
San Francisco Cable Car System [Wikipedia]
Map of San Francisco [Davidrumsy.com]
James Marshall: California's Gold Discoverer [Historynet.com]
California Gold Rush [Wikipedia]
8 Things you May Not Know About the California Gold Rush [History Channel]