Rediscovering the Peninsula: Portsmouth Square

The meat could not be exported as it spoiled fast so that left the hide as a marketable commodity. Its use as clothes, jackets, hats, etc. was in great demand by the Americans on the East Coast.

The few ships that had sailed into the San Francisco Bay prior to 1822 had used the port that faced the Presidio at the northwest section of the Peninsula. It was inadequate as a port due to the swamp and when the Yankee Schooners began arriving en masse a new port was sought out.

Yerba Buena Port

The best port, although far from perfect, was situated on the east side of the Peninsula. It was called the Yerba Buena Port. A problem immediately arose — the Mission Dolores had been the center of activity for the Spanish and it was a few miles distance for the new port. For years, there had been a trail, called Calle de la Fundacion, that led from the Presidio to the area of Port Yerba Buena.

It was used for travel from the Presidio to an area where a few men grew vegetables such as potatoes. There was a sweat house by Montgomery Street where the natives steam bathed and performed rituals before a big hunting trip.

The lower part of this area had a sandy beach by the Bay then the land began rising in elevation slowly until Kearny Street was reached.

There the Calle de la Fundacion (which was later named Kearny Street) became a border where the terrain became steep and difficult to climb.

In 1835, a pueblo (El Paraje de Yerba Buena) was authorized between Broadway and Pine and Stockton streets and the Bay. There was an area between Kearny, Clay and Washington streets and Brenham Place that was set aside, in traditional Mexican fashion, for the function of the government. Candelario Miramontes, who lived by the Presidio, planted potatoes on the site. Miramontes later was granted a Rancho in the Half Moon Bay area.

Mexican property

In 1834, Capt. Don William Antonio Richardson platted out the area in 100-vera lots (275 square feet each). Richardson had married a Spanish woman, Dona Maria Antonia Martinez, so he was eligible to purchase Mexican property.

He, his wife and three children pitched a tent on June 25, 1835, at the corner of Washington and Grant streets (827 Grant St.). Three months later, he paid $25 for the lot and built a more substantial house and a fence to protect his family from the mountain lions and bears.

In 1844, the Mexican governor, Jose Figueroa, ordered that a Custom House (56 feet long, 22.5 feet wide) be built at the corner of Brenham Place and Washington Street. He had four rooms, two long verandas and a tile roof.

At 6 a.m., July 9, 1846, the men of the USS Portsmouth were ordered to breakfast then they were to dress in clean white frocks, blue pants, black hats and shoes and prepare for muster. Word had come to Capt. John Montgomery that the American flag had been raised in Monterey and Commodore John Slope had ordered Montgomery to raise the flag in Yerba Buena.

Marines under the command of Lt. Watson were to accompany Montgomery and the group. After landing at Clark’s Point (Yerba Buena cove) the group marched to the Customs house accompanied by the tune of Yankee Doodle.

Alta, California

With 30 or 40 people of all nations looking on, Capt. Montgomery declared Alta, California, in control by the American government.

By Jan. 30, 1847, 20 buildings clustered around Portsmouth Square. Four of them were shops, one was a hide warehouse, one a mule-powered gristmill, one a wash house, two doubled as hotels and tap rooms and one was a saloon.

The first public school was built in the Square in 1847, the first one in California. On May 11, 1848, the discovery of gold was announced from the veranda.

American flag

The first Admission Day celebration was held Oct. 29, 1850, when California became the 31st state. The first American flag was raised here in the square that would eventually be named after the USS Portsmouth that anchored in the Bay and took control of Yerba Buena.

The pueblo was renamed San Francisco in 1847 by the alcalde Washington A. Bartlett (as the mayor was called) and the city had 157 buildings surrounding the plaza.

Rediscovering the Peninsula runs every weekend. It is compiled through our archives created by Jim Clifford and the late Darold Fredricks.