San Francisco Real Estate - History of San Francisco
This is an excerpt from The Virtual Museum of San Francisco website:
There were about a dozen houses and fifty residents in Yerba Buena (the original name of San Francisco) by 1844. But in 1846 the Hudson Bay Company sold its holdings and left; a move that largely cut down the number of settlers. For some reason, however, the new town proved a magnet for nomads and sailors deserting vessel, and towards the close of 1846 there were some ninety buildings, shanties, adobes and frame houses, and about 200 inhabitants.
Up to January 1847, the little village of shacks and occasional buildings between Sacramento and Washington streets, and from Stockton Street to the bay shore, which then came up to the present Montgomery Street, was known as Yerba Buena.
There was a lively contest between two rival factions on the bay shores to capture the name of St. Francis for their respective towns, Yerba Buena and Benicia. The latter town was then being backed by a number of strong capitalists, led by Mariano Vallejo and Thomas O. Larkin. They were determined to make Benicia the capital of the territory. Washington Bartlett, the first American alcalde, made a successful flank movement and succeeded in capturing the name San Francisco and issued the first official announcement of the change of name.
During 1847, six trading vessels entered the bay. The population of San Francisco was then 459 souls. The exports for that year were valued at $49, 597 and the imports $53,589. January of 1847 brought the first printing press to San Francisco, and on January 7 Sam Brannan published the first newspaper, "The California Star," a weekly of four pages.
- San Francisco Virtual Museum
posted by SFResidence.com @ 7:59 AM
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