# Timeline of San Francisco

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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of San Francisco, California, United States.

## Prior to the 1800s

* 1776 – Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asís established by colonists from Spain.
* 1791 – Mission San Francisco de Asís building dedicated.

## 1800s

* 1833
** Mexican Secularization Act of 1833: Mission Dolores begins process of shutting down, San Francisco opened up to civilian settlement.
* 1834
** The pueblo of Yerba Buena founded, Francisco de Haro becomes first alcalde.
* 1847
** Yerba Buena renamed "San Francisco."
** City hotel built.
* 1848
** Territory ceded from Mexico to the United States per Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
** California Gold Rush begins.
* 1849
** St. Francis hotel built.
** Boudin Bakery, Olympic Amphitheatre, and Union Iron Works in business.
** West Indian Benevolent Association established.
* 1850
** April 15: City of San Francisco incorporated.
** May 1: John W. Geary becomes mayor.
** October 29: San Francisco becomes part of the new U.S. State of California.
** Chamber of Commerce Society of California Pioneers, and Jenny Lind Theatre established.
** Population: 34,000.
* 1851
** May 3–4: Fire.
** San Francisco Committee of Vigilance organized.
** Pioneer Race Course opens.
* 1852
** Ghirardelli in business.
** Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco, Sons of the Emerald Isle, and San Francisco Turn Verein established.
** The Golden Era newspaper begins publication.
* 1853 – California Academy of Sciences, YMCA, and Russ garden established.
* 1854
** San Francisco Mechanics' Institute established.
** Lone Mountain Cemetery established
* 1855 – Hebrew Young Men's Literary Assoc. active.
* 1856 – Mirror of the Times and Daily Morning Call newspapers begin publication.
* 1857 – California State Convention of Colored Citizens, a colored convention, held in city.
* 1858 – Italian Benevolent Society organized.
* 1859 – San Francisco Schuetzen-Verein founded.
* 1860
** March 27: Japanese embassy arrives.
** Olympic Club founded.
** Population: 56,802.
* 1861
** Overland Telegraph Company begins operating (New York-San Francisco).
** Fraternitas Rosae Crucis lodge established.
* 1862
** Heald's Business College and Franchise League established.
** The San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange was founded.
* 1863
** San Francisco and San Jose Railroad begins operating soon.
** St. Andrew's Society founded.
** Cliff House rebuilt.
** Charlotte L. Brown sues a racially segregated San Francisco streetcar company and wins.
* 1864 –
** Concordia-Argonaut Club founded.
** Hugh Toland found the Toland Medical College, which would later become the University of California, San Francisco
* 1865 – Daily Examiner and Daily Dramatic Chronicle newspapers begin publication.
* 1866 – Merchants' Exchange Association, Caledonian Club, and Woodward's Gardens established.
* 1867
** Street begging ban effected.
** San Francisco City and County Almshouse opens.
* 1868 – San Francisco County Medical Society and Women's Co-operative Printing Office established.
* 1869
** California Theatre opens.
** San Francisco Yacht Club founded.
** Grand hotel built.
** Central Pacific Railroad line to Oakland completed.
* 1870
** Golden Gate Park and San Francisco Microscopical Society established.
** Population: 149,473.
* 1871 – San Francisco Art Association and St. Luke's Hospital established.
* 1872 – Bohemian Club and Bar Association of San Francisco founded.
* 1873
** Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating.
** Polish Society of California organized.
* 1874 – California School of Design, and Territorial Pioneers of California established.
* 1875
** Palace Hotel in business.
** Fire patrol established.
* 1876
** Pioneer Park, Pacific Homeopathic Dispensary Association, and Ligue Nationale Francaise established.
** Railway connexion to Los Angeles.
* 1877
** Board of Trade, Spanish Mutual Benevolent Society, and Workingmen's Party of California established.
** Anti-Chinese sentiment leads to riots against Chinatown residents and businesses.
** Baldwin hotel built.
* 1878 – San Francisco Public Library, Pacific Yacht Club, and Young Women's Christian Association founded.
* 1879 – Golden Gate Kindergarten Association organized.
* 1880 – California State Convention of Colored Citizens, a colored convention, held in city.
* 1881 – Geographical Society of the Pacific organized.
* 1883 – Pacific Coast Amateur Photographic Association headquartered in city.
* 1887 – Cogswell Polytechnical College established.
* 1888 – Associated Charities and San Francisco Business College established.
* 1889 – Pacific-Union Club formed.
* 1890
** California Camera Club and University Club of San Francisco established.
** Population: 298,997.
* 1891 – Gregg Shorthand school established.
* 1892
** Hibernia Bank built.
** Trocadero Hotel opens.
* 1893 – Mark Hopkins Institute of Art established.
* 1894
** Wilmerding School of Industrial Arts established.
** California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 held; Japanese Tea Garden built.
* 1895
** California School of Mechanical Arts established.
** M. H. de Young Memorial Museum opens as Golden Gate Park Museum.
* 1896 – Sutro Baths open.
* 1898
** San Francisco Ferry Building opens.
** City rechartered.
** League of California Municipalities headquartered in city.
** Buddhist temple founded.
* 1899
** San Francisco State Normal School established.
** City Hall built.
* 1900 – Population: 342,782.

## 1900s
### 1900s–1940s

* 1901
** Labor strike of restaurant workers.
** San Francisco Architectural Club organized.
* 1902 – Eugene Schmitz becomes mayor.
* 1905 – 1908: San Francisco graft trials
* 1906 – April 18: Earthquake and fires.
* 1907
** July: Mayor Eugene Schmitz imprisoned.
** International Hotel built.
** A. Mutt comic strip begins publication in the San Francisco Chronicle.
* 1908 – South San Francisco incorporated near city.
* 1910
** San Francisco Housing Association organized.
** Population: 416,912.
* 1911
** Cort Theatre opens on September 2, 1911.
** San Francisco Symphony founded. Plays first concert at Cort Theatre on December 8, 1911.
* 1912
** Lux School for Industrial Training for Girls opens.
** Book Club of California established.
** James Rolph becomes mayor.
** Tadich Grill in business.
* 1914 – San Francisco National Guard Armory and Arsenal built.
* 1915
** January 25: First transcontinental telephone call occurs (San Francisco-New York).
** February 20: Panama–Pacific International Exposition opens; Tower of Jewels built.
** San Francisco Labor Temple built.
** San Francisco City Hall rebuilt.
** Veterans Auditorium opens.
* 1916
** Preparedness Day Bombing.
** Legal Aid Society established.
** Buena Vista Cafe in business.
* 1917 – Strand Theater built.
* 1922 – Golden Gate Theatre, and Castro Theatre built.
* 1923
** January: Mae Nolan becomes U.S. representative for California's 5th congressional district.
** August 2: US President Harding dies in the Palace Hotel.
* 1924
** California Palace of the Legion of Honor opens.
** April 24, opening of the Metropolitan Theatre in Cow Hollow
* 1925
** Fleishhacker Pool built.
** Florence Prag Kahn becomes U.S. representative for California's 4th congressional district.
* 1926 – Playland at the Beach in business.
* 1927 – San Francisco Municipal Airport dedicated.
* 1928 – Amazon Theater opens.
* 1929
** Fleishhacker Zoo established.
** Topsy's Roost (restaurant) in business.
* 1930 – Pacific Stock Exchange Lunch Club formed.
* 1931
** Stern Grove opens as city park.
** El Rey Theatre opens
* 1932
** War Memorial Opera House opens.
** Photographers' Group f/64 founded.
* 1933
** San Francisco Opera Ballet founded.
** Coit Tower built.
* 1934
** May 9: General Strike begins.
** U.S. Penitentiary established on Alcatraz Island.
** Golden Grain Macaroni Company in business.
* 1935 – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art opens as San Francisco Museum of Art in Veterans Memorial Building.
* 1936 – Bay Bridge opens.
* 1937 – May 27: Golden Gate Bridge opens.
* 1940 – Holly Courts housing project built.
* 1944 – Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples established.
* 1945
** Tonga Room in business.
** April 25: United Nations Conference on International Organization begins.
** June 26: United Nations Charter signed.
* 1946 – National Urban League branch and Marines' Memorial Club established.
* 1949 – Presidio Theatre built.

### 1950s–1990s

* 1952 – The Purple Onion nightclub in business.
* 1953 – City Lights Bookstore in business.
* 1955 – City Lights Pocket Poets Series begins publication.
** Allen Ginsberg reads his poem Howl for the first time at the Six Gallery
* 1957
** San Francisco International Film Festival founded.
** Caffe Trieste in business.
** Sister city relationship established with Osaka, Japan.
** The San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange (formed in 1882) and the Los Angeles Oil Exchange (formed in 1899) merge to create the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.
* 1959 – Embarcadero Freeway opens.
* 1960 – Mandarin restaurant in business.
* 1963– The Reverend Cecil Williams becomes pastor at Glide Memorial Church, shifting the church's politics to the left.
* 1964 – City's "San Francisco History Center" established.
* 1965 – Intersection for the Arts incorporated.
** The musical group the Jefferson Airplane is created.
* 1966– The Compton's Cafeteria riot breaks out when transgender patrons become angry over police harassment.
* 1967 – Summer of Love.
** January: The Human Be-In takes place in Golden Gate park, a prelude to the Summer of Love.
** The anarchist group The Diggers is founded, and begins distributing free food.
* 1968 – Sister city relationship established with Sydney, Australia.
** The Church of John Coltrane is established, and continues religious services until 2016.
* 1969
** 555 California Street built.
** Sister city relationships established with Assisi, Italy; and Taipei, Taiwan.
** The San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner receive their first letters from The Zodiac Killer.
* 1970 – Regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission established.
* 1971 – Peoples Temple in San Francisco and Church of the Tree of Life established.
* 1972
** San Francisco Pride begins.
** Golden Gate National Recreation Area established.
** Transamerica Pyramid built.
* 1973
** October: Zebra murders begin.
** Church of the Gentle Brothers and Sisters incorporated.
** Sister city relationship established with Haifa, Israel.
* 1974
** People's Food System active (approximate date).
** Southern Exposure (art space) and San Francisco Cable Car Museum established.
** April 15: Hibernia Bank robbery by the Symbionese Liberation Army.
* 1975
** Rainbow Grocery Cooperative opens.
** Sister city relationship established with Seoul, South Korea.
** September 22: Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in front of the St. Francis Hotel by firing two gunshots at Ford; both shots missed.
* 1976 – Bay Area Video Coalition founded.
* 1977
** Theatre Rhinoceros and Suicide Club founded.
** Golden Dragon massacre
** San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association active.
* 1978
** June 25: Rainbow flag (LGBT movement) introduced.
** November 18: Jonestown mass murder-suicide at the People's Temple Guyana compound.
** November 27: Moscone–Milk assassinations.
** December 4: Dianne Feinstein becomes mayor.
* 1979
** The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence make their first appearance on Castro Street.
** May 21: White Night riots.
** Sister city relationship established with Shanghai, China.
* 1980 – Davies Symphony Hall opens.
* 1981
** San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and Hansberry Theatre established.
** Sister city relationship established with Manila, Philippines.
* 1982 – City/county handgun ban approved; later struck down by state court.
* 1983
** San Francisco General Hospital AIDS clinic established.
** The first San Francisco Historic Trolley Festival takes place.
* 1984 – Sister city relationship established with Cork, Ireland.
* 1986
** Cacophony Society formed.
** A bonfire of a wooden man is held on Baker Beach which evolves into the Burning Man event.
** Sister city relationship established with Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
* 1987 – Luggage Store (arts organization) established.
* 1988 – San Francisco Museum and Historical Society founded.
* 1989
** October 17: Loma Prieta earthquake.
** San Francisco becomes a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants.
* 1990
** Population: 723,959.
** Sister city relationship established with Thessaloniki, Greece.
* 1991 – Museum of the City of San Francisco opens.
* 1992
** Critical Mass (bicycle event) began.
** Clarion Alley Mural Project organized.
** Latino Coalition for a Healthy California headquartered in city.
* 1993
** Yerba Buena Center for the Arts opens.
** 101 California Street shooting occurs.
* 1994 – Santarchy begins.
* 1995
** Craigslist founded.
** Sister city relationship established with Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
* 1996
** City website online (approximate date).
** Willie Brown becomes mayor.
** Internet Archive headquartered in city.
** Long Now Foundation established.
* 1997
** Sister city relationship established with Paris, France.
** Pinecrest Diner, a popular all-night diner-style restaurant in San Francisco, becomes notorious for a murder over an order of eggs.
* 1998 – Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts founded.
* 2000 – Population: 776,733.

## 2000s

* 2001 - Fatal dog mauling of Diane Whipple.
* 2003
** Bernal Heights Preservation established.
** U.S. National Security Agency/AT&T Room 641A in operation.
** Sister city relationship established with Zürich, Switzerland.
* 2004 – Gavin Newsom becomes mayor.
* 2005 – November: Gun control ordinance San Francisco Proposition H (2005) passes; later struck down.
* 2006 – the Metro Theatre in Cow Hollow closes
* 2007
** Twitter Inc. in business.
** Noisebridge founded.
* 2008
** Edible Schoolyard established at San Francisco Boys and Girls Club.
** One Rincon Hill (apartment building) constructed.
** Airbnb in business.
* 2009
** The Millennium Tower opens, later sinking and tilting.
** Uber begins operating.
** FailCon begins.
** San Francisco Appeal begins publication.
** Sister city relationships established with Bangalore, India; and Kraków, Poland.
* 2010
** The Bay Citizen and Ocean Beach Bulletin begin publication.
** Population: 805,235; metro 4,335,391.
** Sister city relationships established with Amman, Jordan; and Barcelona, Spain.
* 2011
** January 11: Ed Lee becomes mayor.
** November 8: San Francisco mayoral election, 2011.
** TechCrunch Disrupt conference begins.
* 2013
** San Francisco tech bus protests begin.
** Civic Industries in business.
* 2014 – San Francisco Giants baseball team win World Series contest.
* 2015 – Shooting of Kathryn Steinle occurs; a 32-year old woman is killed by a stray bullet fired by an illegal immigrant who was previously deported. The gunman found a gun laying around negligently, and claimed to have fired towards sea lions from a deck, thus hitting a bystander.
* 2020 – Orange Skies Day makes international headlines
* 2023 - Significantly high levels of crime, open-air drug use, homelessness, and closed storefronts have become more prominent features of Union Square.
* 2023 - March: Bob Lee was killed in a stabbing.
** November: San Francisco hosts the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit.
* 2024 - July: Corazon Dandan is fatally shoved onto a Daly City-bound oncoming BART train, allegedly by a homeless mentally ill individual.
* 2024 - Shooting and wounding of Ricky Pearsall occurs in Union Square, over a robbery involving his Rolex watch allegedly done by a teenage male from Tracy, California.