1906 Earthquake & Fire
For all that had been built at the end of the 19th century, the city faced almost complete destruction in 1906 when an earthquake struck, and set off a massive fire among the crumbled infrastructure. To put this disaster in context, Rand Richards claims: “The 1906 fire, which was more destructive than both the great London fire of 1666 and the Chicago fire of 1871, was the greatest natural calamity ever to befall a major American city,” [23]. The earthquake and resulting fire killed over 3,000 people, and left about 250,000 homeless. In terms of infrastructural loss, four-fifths of San Francisco’s property value was destroyed that day [23]. Maps demonstrate that the fire most greatly affected the now-Central Business District area in the northeast, near Market Street. At the time, this area was where the majority of the city’s dense development was.
While the catastrophic event cost the once-booming city hundreds of millions of dollars, San Francisco rebuilt quickly. It was able to regain its national and international prominence by hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915 to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. Much of the city’s early redevelopment (like the Civic Center and City Hall) is a physical legacy of the “City Beautiful” movement, which was popular at the time [23]. Two major bridge projects in the 30s—the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge—further demonstrated that San Francisco was committed to its growth, instead of discouraged by its past. |
|
Below: Panoramic view of San Francisco pre-earthquake in 1873. This angle shows the Palace Hotel, which was destroyed by the 1906 disasters, and Market Street, running down through the center. Click to enlarge pictures. (Source: http://sanfrancisco.cityviews.us/)