San Francisco

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Prior to European settlement, San Francisco was inhabited by the Yelamu Ohlone. On June 29, 1776, settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate, and the Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi. The California gold rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama–Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, it was a major port of embarkation for naval service members shipping out to the Pacific theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, the rise of the beatnik and hippie countercultures, the sexual revolution, opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism.

In Their Own Story

The cable car clanged its bell as it moved up the steep incline. Inside, passengers gripped the brass pole while watching the fog roll in over the city's varied neighborhoods. An elderly observer remembered when this hill was just a patch of dunes before the gold rush or the earthquake. Down near the water, the Ferry Building chimed, marking another day where history and modern life met on the edge of the continent.

Reader's Guide

The San Francisco Bay Area is among the most economically productive large urban areas in the United States and the world, with a GDP of $1.332 trillion in 2024, higher than all but 17 countries. In 2024, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $268 billion and a GDP per capita of $324,000. This productivity is spurred by its leading universities, high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors. The city is home to numerous companies—many in the technology sector—including Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, Levi's, Gap, OpenAI, Chime, Genentech, Anthropic, Databricks, Dropbox, and Lyft. In 2022, San Francisco had more than 1.7 million international visitors and approximately 20 million domestic visitors. It is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods; its Chinatown and Mission districts; mild climate; and landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Alcatraz. The city is home to educational and cultural institutions such as the University of California, San Francisco, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Legion of Honor, the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, the SFJAZZ Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Two major league sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, play their home games within San Francisco. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is one of the world's busiest airports, while a light rail and bus network, in tandem with the BART and Caltrain systems, connects nearly every part of San Francisco with the wider region.

Did You Know?

• San Francisco is named after Mission San Francisco de Asís, which was named for Saint Francis of Assisi.
• The city was originally called Yerba Buena before being renamed San Francisco in 1847.
• The California gold rush of 1849 made San Francisco the largest city on the West Coast at the time.
• San Francisco proper had a GDP per capita of $324,000 in 2024.