A San Francisco Archive Has Added Hundreds Of Amazing Photos. See The Best Ones Here.

Source: SFGate, Katie Dowd
Photo: The new San Francisco Chronicle building at the corner of Market and Kearny St. in 1895. (OpenSFHistory)

For San Francisco history lovers, there are few places more amazing on the internet than OpenSFHistory.

The image archive, kick-started by an anonymous private collector, houses over 45,000 historic images of the city, from pre-Gold Rush to the 1990s. It’s a trove of street views, everyday life and famous local events.

As photos are donated, scanned and uploaded, OpenSFHistory occasionally adds a big set of new images. They’ve done that recently, and we went through and found some of the most interesting gems in the gallery above.

Some of the most fascinating are from an 1886 “National Encampment” of the Grand Army of the Republic. The GAR was one of America’s first integrated fraternal organizations, a way for former Union soldiers to commemorate their Civil War service and help each other after the war. Each year, they hosted a convention where veterans could gather, catch up and be feted by the host city.

In 1886, San Franciscans were thrilled to be selected as hosts — and they went all-out.

“The city never appeared in more festive adornment in its history than in the beautiful clear air of Sunday, and the immense crowds of people – citizens, those from the interior and Eastern folks – that thronged the principle streets, blocked up the vicinities of the most prominent displays, and made pedestrianism difficult to those bent on business,” the San Francisco Call wrote in the lead-up to the event.

Practically every business and home in the downtown area was brightly decorated with flags and bunting. The Chronicle ran the descriptions of hundreds of decorations, from the modest (“Engleberg’s bakery and restaurant … is nicely dressed in colors”) to the opulent (“The Chronicle building is elaborately decorated in honor of the Grand Army guests”).

The centerpiece was a massive arch on Market Street, pictured in the gallery above. The 77-foot high structure near Market and Grant was covered in canvas, painted to look like stone, and decked out in badges of the various army corps. It cost the city $3,000, the equivalent of about $85,000 today.

“The arch is one of the most magnificent ever constructed in the city,” The Chronicle boasted. “Looking up Market Street from the ferries, the scene is gay and beautiful, with lines of flags and banners stretched across the street and elaborate decoration of the buildings on either side of the great thoroughfare.”

Visitors poured in from around the nation. Over 1,500 guests were booked in at the Palace Hotel alone. Late-comers were out of luck; every hotel in town was full. Festivities all over town were packed. A welcome concert at the Golden Gate Park pavilion drew a crowd of 25,000. In fashionable circles, elegant dinners were held. Several former Civil War generals were thrown an encampment gala. Served at dinner were “pigeon a la Potomac” and “poulet saute a la Gettysburg.” Descriptions of what those dishes entailed were, sadly, not included in the newspaper coverage.

The apex of the week was a huge parade down Market Street. The city compressed for the day, as every local packed into the downtown to witness the splendid parade. At the time, the Grand Army of the Republic had some 400,000 members nationwide.

“The present week will be long remembered by San Franciscans as one of the most eventful in the recent history of their city,” The Chronicle wrote.

https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/OpenSFHistory-historic-sf-photos-gar-parade