Teacher Gifford on San Francisco History
Everyone knows that Teacher Gifford is Mr. San Francisco. He knows about everything ranging from the best hike trails to Student Housing in San Francisco. Just ask him anything about this amazing city and he will give you a great answer! San Francisco is a city that is constantly redefining itself, which has been a continuous theme since the city’s birth. So being aware of the city then and now becomes crucial for even the most basic understanding of what the city of San Francisco is– and how it has gotten here. In 1846 it was still called Yerba Buena, its name from the Spanish period, when the population doubled with the arrival of a boatload of 240 settlers. It was still a village of 469 inhabitants in 1847 when the American alcalde (mayor) Lt. Barlett changed the name to San Francisco, making the name consistent with the Mission and Presidio named in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi by the first Spanish to arrive in 1776. The discovery of gold on January 24, 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma transformed everything (Coloma is 130 miles/200 km from San Francisco). The village of San Francisco transformed into an “instant city” as 49ers chased the Gold Rush, using its deep-water port as the main entry point to the gold country. By January 1869 the population reached 35,000 and continued to climb, as San Francisco became the not only the sole major city on the U.S. west coast, but grew into one of the richest cities in the world. But true to its tradition of transforming and reinventing itself, it also burned down to the ground six times in the first eighteen months after the discovery of gold. San Francisco has gone through several cycles of devastation and rebirth. … Read more
