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 (New York-San Francisco). 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.Elaine Elinson, San Francisco's own Rosa Parks, San Francisco Chronicle, January 16, 2012 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.Selig Perlman, "The Anti-Chinese Agitation in California," in John R. Commons, et al., History of Labour in the United States. New York: Macmillan, 1918; vol. 2, pg. 253 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 (San Francisco-New York). 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 (restaurant) 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 (formed in 1882) and the Los Angeles Oil Exchange (formed in 1899) 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.'Grogan, Emmett.'Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps.' 1st Ed. New York: Little Brown, 1972.' 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 (approximate date). 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.