Timeline of San Francisco

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."
* The City Hotel built by William Leidesdorff.
1848
* Territory ceded from Mexico to the United States per Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
* California Gold Rush begins.
1849
* July 15: Little Chile attacked by The Hounds gang.
* 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.
* 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.
* Grand Conservatory of Music is established by Eugene S. Bonelli
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.
* 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 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 and the Los Angeles Oil Exchange 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.
* 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 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.
* 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 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 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 - September: 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.

Published in the 1800s

The Overland Monthly, January 1870 Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 9–23. San Francisco: A. Roman & Co., Publishers
*

Published in the 1900s

;1900s–1940s
;1950s–1990s
*

Published in the 2000s

Solnit, Rebecca. Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas. 144 pp.