Notables
Andrew Jackson Pope (1820-1878)
George A. Pope, Sr. (1864-1942)
George A. Pope, Jr. (1901-1979)
Andrew Pope built a thriving lumber business during the Gold Rush and, with a later partner, expanded the company into the Pope & Talbot lumber and shipping combine. His son, George Pope, and grandson, George Pope, Jr., successfully continued the family business. George Pope, Jr., was a horseman whose prize Colt, Decidedly, won the Kentucky Derby.
 Andrew Smith Hallidie (1836-1900)
Invented the mechanism to operate San Francisco's cable cars. Hallidie bought the franchise and plans for the first cable cars and then perfected the mechanism that would put it into operation. Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver were among twenty-eight cities that eventually used Hallidie's technology. San Francisco's cable cars carry ten million passengers a year. The system became the only National Historical Landmark that moves.
 Arthur Brown, Jr. (1874-1957)
Noted architect principally responsible for Coit Tower. Most of his best-known San Francisco works were collaborations: City Hall, the Pacific Gas and Electric building at Market and Beale; the Opera House and War Memorial Veterans Building; and the Transbay Transit Terminal.
 Calvin Simmons (1950-1982)
After working as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, Simmons became musical director of the Oakland Symphony. He was the first African-American to be named conductor of a major U.S. symphony orchestra. He died in a canoeing accident at thirty-two.
 Charles de Young (1845-1880)
Newspaper publisher. Charles published a theater guide/advertiser, the Daily Dramatic Chronicle, which he and his brother Michael developed into the Chronicle newspaper. Charles was shot and killed in his Chronicle office by a political rival. Michael was shot but not killed by Adolph Spreckels for publishing unflattering articles. Michael collected art and established San Francisco's de Young Museum. Spreckels cofounded the Legion of Honor Museum (with his wife). In 1972 the two museums were merged to become the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
 Claus Spreckels (1828-1908)
Sugar was the foundation of his fortune. He established California's sugar beet industry, controlled San Francisco's refineries, and became immensely powerful in Hawaii. In order to take his produce to market economically, he built a steamship line and was principal investor of the railroad that would become the main line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe through California's Central Valley. He also organized independent power companies.
 Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin (1828-1909)
Baldwin instructed his broker to sell his silver-mine stock but sailed for India and Japan without giving him the key to the safe. Thus, the broker could not get to the shares until Baldwin returned, by which time their value had increased a hundred fold.
His silver fortune was estimated at $20 million. Later, because of a debt owed him, he accepted the deed to ostensibly worthless land, which became Baldwin Park, near Los Angeles. Part of the Baldwin Park land eventually became Santa Anita racetrack.
 Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul (1897-1969)
Baseball player. O'Doul starred as a batter for the Phillies, Dodgers, and Giants. He won two National League batting titles, with a lifetime average of .349. As a manager, he led both the San Francisco Seals and San Diego Padres to a pennant. He had a hand in grooming Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Willie McCovey, and was a prominent figure in developing the sport of baseball in Japan.
 George Hearst (1820-1891)
Walked with his wife from Missouri to California and eventually made a fortune in gold, silver, and copper mining (see Tevis). Politically ambitious, he was appointed to a U.S. Senate seat made vacant by the death of the incumbent. Hearst had purchased the San Francisco Examiner to promote his political aims. When it was no longer of use, he turned the ailing paper over to his son, William Randolph Hearst.
 Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton (1857-1948)
Eloped with the son of Faxon Atherton, a wealthy merchant and namesake of the town. Stifled by motherhood and ranch life, she embarked on a successful writing career after her husband's death. Among her best received works were the novels The Californians, A Daughter of the Vine, The Conqueror, and The Splendid, Idle Forties. Several novels were thinly disguised accounts of local society.
 Hiram Warren Johnson (1866-1945)
Johnson won the governorship in 1910 and set out to reform California politics as a Progressive. Among other changes, he fought for referendum, recall, and public, rather than legislative, election of U.S. senators. He was Teddy Roosevelt's running mate in a third-party presidential bid on the "Bull Moose" (Progressive) ticket. Their candidacy shattered Republican support and enabled Woodrow Wilson to win.
 Hubert Howe Bancroft (1832-1918)
A bookseller, publisher, and collector, Bancroft compiled a thirty-nine-volume history of the West and established the first Library of Western Americana. Bought by the University of California at Berkeley and now known as the Bancroft Library, the collection remains a valuable and irreplaceable historical resource.
 James C. Flood (1826-1889)
Made a fortune in silver-mining stocks. Flood invested on the basis of advice from the clientele of the saloon he co-owned, which was located near the Mining Exchange. By the early 18 70s, Flood had a monthly income of a half million dollars. His mine struck one of the world's richest veins of silver. A founder of the Nevada Bank (a predecessor of today's Wells Fargo Bank), his Nob Hill mansion now houses the Pacific-Union Club.
 James de la Montanya (1819--1909)
Became wealthy selling hardware in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. He branched out into the Pacific export trade. Enthralled by fast horses, he built a house and stables at what is now Geary Street and Fifteenth Avenue. At the time, this part of Geary was the Point Lobos Toll Road, and this spot was a roadway with two speed tracks where horse owners held races.
 John Dolbeer (1827-1902)
Inventor who revolutionized the lumber industry with two devices. One measured the footage of timber cut by a sawmill; more importantly, his steam donkey engine replaced oxen as a means of moving felled trees.
 John McLaren (1846-1943)
As superintendent of parks, continuing the work of the previous park superintendent, McLaren patiently nurtured San Francisco's sand dunes into Golden Gate Park, one of America's great urban parks. During fifty-three years on the job, he built playgrounds and parks in San Francisco, sent around the world for plants, and was responsible for planting more than two million trees.
 Joseph Lincoln Steffens (1866-1936)
Investigative reporter, Steffens first and most noted book, The Shame of the Cities, dealt with political decay in America. He scored a journalistic coup with the only lengthy interview ever granted by publisher William Randolph Hearst. His honestly self-appraising Autobiography about his odyssey as a journalist, is considered a classic.
 Lillie Hitchcock Coit (1843-1929)
"Firebelle Lillie" was mascot of the San Francisco Fire Department from the age of ten, when she was rescued by members of the Knickerbocker Engine Company No. 5 during a fire on Telegraph Hill. She bequeathed $100 thousand to build the Washington Square monument honoring volunteer firemen, and Coit Tower.
 Lloyd Tevis (1824-1899)
Tevis, with his brother-in-law Tames Ben Ali Haggin and George Hearst (see Hearst), shared partnership interests in Montana's rich Anaconda copper mine, South Dakota's famous Homestake gold mine, and other western mining ventures. For about twenty years, Tevis headed and greatly expanded the Wells, Fargo & Co., Banking and Express. He owned the second largest cattle and sheep holdings in California (exceeded only by Miller and Lux). A third of a million acres of the San Joaquin Valley belonged to the Kern County Land Company, which he owned with Haggin.
 Melvin F. "Turk" Murphy (1915-1987)
Jazz trombonist. Murphy was among those who revived traditional New Orleans jazz, contributing a San Francisco flavor and his own compositions. He founded the Turk Murphy Jazz Band, carried the sound to Carnegie Hall, and played annual concerts at Grace Cathedral. His club, Earthquake McGoon's, was a longtime fixture in San Francisco.
 Paul Kalmanovitz (1905-1987)
The man who built General Brewing Company of San Francisco. He owned all or part of several national breweries and their products, including Falstaff and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Known for spontaneous generosity, on one famous San Francisco spending spree he bought Rolls Royces and Bentleys for favored employees.
 Scott Newhall (1914-1992)
Executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle from 1952 to 1971. He provided the leadership and creative spark that enlivened and strengthened the paper, attracted thousands of new readers, and gained for the Chronicle its dominance as the largest circulation daily in Northern California.
 Thomas Oliver Larkin (1802-1858)
Larkin was appointed the first and only U.S. Consul to California, 1844-1846, near the end of the era of Mexican control. His wife was the first woman from the U.S. in California, and theirs was the first U.S. child born there. He was a strong proponent of California's peaceful acquisition and then played a key role in its transition to statehood. He was a delegate to the 1849 constitutional convention that helped pave the way for California's admission to the Union a year later.
 Timothy Guy Phelps (1824-1899)
Assemblyman, U.S. congressman, and state senator, who claimed close friendship with Abraham Lincoln. He was mortally injured when struck by a bicycle-built-for-two.
 William H. Crocker (1861-1937)
Founded and later became president of Crocker National Bank. He donated the family's Nob Hill block for Grace Cathedral, chaired the Panama-Pacific Exposition Committee and SE Community Chest, and was a key member of the committee that built the Opera House and Veterans Building. When much of San Francisco was destroyed by the quake and fire of 1906, Crocker and his bank were major forces in financing reconstruction. Crocker was a University of California regent for nearly thirty years and funded the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory's second cyclotron. His father, Charles Crocker (1822-1888), had been a builder of the Central Pacific railroad.
 William Randolph Hearst (1863 -1951)
Founded the Hearst newspaper syndicate. His wealthy father gave him the San Francisco Examiner, and he enthusiastically learned the newspaper business. He built a powerful and successful network of newspapers, magazines, and broadcast outlets. His opulent San Simeon estate-just a small portion of his 240-thousand-acre ranch on the California coast -- is now a state park.
 William Ingraham Kip (1811-1893)
Became California's first Episcopal bishop. As "Missionary Bishop of California," he toured the Mother Lode district and Southern California founding parishes. He served as rector of Grace Church on the southeast corner of California and Stockton Streets in San Francisco, and its congregation became the nucleus of the congregation for Grace Cathedral.
 William Matson (1849-1917)
Established a steamship line. Matson worked aboard a Spreckels family yacht, the Lurline. From the Spreckels, he bought his first ship. He gradually acquired a large fleet of vessels. Matson's daughter, Lurline, established "Why Worry Stables" in Woodside. Her husband, William Phillip Roth, took over the shipping interests and bought the Oceanic Steamship Company from the Spreckels family. Lurline deeded a large estate, Filoli, to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
 William Sharon (1821-1885)
As Nevada agent for the Bank of California, Sharon profited greatly from maneuvers that gave him control over operations connected to Comstock Lode mining. He controlled mills to refine silver ore, timber to support mine shafts, and railroads to transport ore. Through loans, he compelled mines to use the services he had secured. Nevada elected him U.S. senator. Sharon picked up many of William Ralston's properties after his death, including the Palace Hotel. After Sharon died, the woman who claimed to be his widow married David Terry, but Terry was then killed in a dispute over her claims to Sharon's fortune.
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