The Castro Star is no longer in publication under that name. The Castro Star merged with the Wester Addition monthly creating a new publication the San Francisco Observer. Earthquake refugees and their belongings gather in Mission-Dolores Park. N ot long after Mission Park was dedicated in 1905, it was called upon to serve a purpose that no one could have foreseen. Gas mains exploded.
Water mains burst.
Row after row of the city's tightly packed wooden houses went up in flames. Emergency vehicles could not maneuver through the rubble-filled streets. The Valencia Street Hotel, between 18th and 19th streets, collapsed upon itself, sinking three stories into the site of an old lagoon. The earthquake, measuring 8.25 on the Richter scale, was bad enough. The fire that followed was worse.