Montgomery Street

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Montgomery Street
Montgomery Street from Telegraph Hill, San Francisco.jpg
Looking south down Montgomery Street from Telegraph Hill through the Financial District
Montgomery Street
Namesake John B. Montgomery
Length1.0 mi (1.6 km)
Location San Francisco
Coordinates 37°47′43″N122°24′11″W / 37.79528°N 122.40306°W / 37.79528; -122.40306
North end Telegraph Hill
South end Market Street

Montgomery Street is a north-south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, in the United States. It runs about 16 blocks from the residential Telegraph Hill neighborhood south through downtown, terminating at Market Street. South of Columbus Avenue and Washington Street, Montgomery Street runs through the heart of San Francisco's Financial District and contains one of the highest concentrations of financial activity, investment business, and venture capital in the United States and the world. For this reason, it is known as "the Wall Street of the West". [1] [2] The stretch of Montgomery from Washington Street to Market Street consists mainly of high-rise office buildings, the best known being the Transamerica Pyramid, which was the tallest building in San Francisco from 1972 until 2018. South of Market Street, the street continues as New Montgomery Street for two more blocks to terminate at Howard Street in the SOMA district. On Telegraph Hill, the street's main section ends near Julius' Castle, with a separate segment resuming one block to the north, running from Lombard Street to Francisco Street.

Contents

History

Before the California Gold Rush, the land which is now Montgomery Street lay at the edge of San Francisco Bay, running along the anchorage of Yerba Buena Cove. [3] [4] In his book Days of the Dons, Steven Richardson (son of early San Francisco settler William Anthony Richardson) recalled in the late 1830s watching "good-sized" fishes and "bears, wolves, and coyotes quarreling over their prey along what is now Montgomery Street". [5]

Montgomery Street had its beginnings as an unnamed street running along the shoreline in what was then the Mexican pueblo of Yerba Buena. [3] On July 9, 1846, following the Bear Flag Revolt, a detachment from the USS Portsmouth, commanded by Captain John B. Montgomery, landed near what was later the intersection of Montgomery and Clay Streets and raised the American flag at the nearby plaza of Yerba Buena (now Portsmouth Square). [4] [6] [7] When the newly-renamed American city of San Francisco was platted by Benjamin R. Buckelew and Jasper O'Farrell in 1847, [8] the street was given the name Montgomery Street in his honor.

View of San Francisco following the 1846 American conquest of California, showing Montgomery Street as the location of the shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove. Print by Edward Bosqui Company, ca. 1884. View of San Francisco 1846-7.jpg
View of San Francisco following the 1846 American conquest of California, showing Montgomery Street as the location of the shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove. Print by Edward Bosqui Company, ca. 1884.

Intense land speculation during the Gold Rush created a demand for more usable land in the rapidly growing city, and sandy bluffs near the waterfront were leveled and the shallows filled with sand (and the ruins of many ships) to make new building lots. Between 1849 and 1852, the waterfront advanced about four blocks. [9] At present, Montgomery Street is about seven blocks from the water. In 1853 the Montgomery Block, a center of early San Francisco law and literature, was built at 600 Montgomery, on land currently occupied by the Transamerica Pyramid. [10] [11]

Etching of Montgomery Street in 1857 Montgomery Street 1857.jpg
Etching of Montgomery Street in 1857
Commercial St looking west to Montgomery Street, with commemoration of historical San Francisco Bay shoreline. Commercial Street SF.jpg
Commercial St looking west to Montgomery Street, with commemoration of historical San Francisco Bay shoreline.
Transamerica Pyramid from upper Montgomery Street on Telegraph Hill. San Francisco Pyramid 2000-08-19.jpg
Transamerica Pyramid from upper Montgomery Street on Telegraph Hill.
Montgomery Block, 1862. G. R. Fardon (British - (Montgomery Block, Montgomery Street) - Google Art Project.jpg
Montgomery Block, 1862.
Malloch Building, intersection of Montgomery St and Filbert Steps, Telegraph Hill. Malloch Building.jpg
Malloch Building, intersection of Montgomery St and Filbert Steps, Telegraph Hill.
Julius' Castle, Telegraph Hill. California-05836 - Julius' Castle (20015100964).jpg
Julius' Castle, Telegraph Hill.

Offices

Many banks and financial-services companies have had offices in the buildings on or near Montgomery Street, especially between Market Street and Sacramento Street:

Notable buildings

High-rises and other notable buildings along Montgomery Street:

Financial District

A building bearing the name of One Montgomery Tower is located one block away from Montgomery Street at the intersection of Post and Kearny streets, behind the Wells Fargo flagship branch and Crocker Galleria.

Telegraph Hill

Monuments

The Admission Day Monument at the intersection of Montgomery Street and Market Street commemorates California Admission Day (September 9, 1850), the date on which the state became part of the Union, following the Mexican–American War of 1848. [18]

Public transit

Montgomery Street is served by the BART and Muni Metro Montgomery Street Station. [19]

See also

References

  1. "F-Market & Wharves Streetcar Line – Market Street Railway" . Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  2. Prentice, Carol S. (2006). "Walk 3:Montgomery Street to Jackson Square". 1906 San Francisco earthquake centennial field guides. Geological Society of America. p. 17. ISBN   9780813700076 . Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "From the 1820s to the Gold Rush". The Museum of the City of San Francisco. 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2025. Revised from: "Yerba Buena: Site of San Francisco in 1831 / San Francisco christened a year before the Gold Rush". San Francisco News Letter. Vol. 107, no. 10. September 5, 1925. pp. 2–3, 114 via Archive.org.
  4. 1 2 Delja, Beatrice; Delja, Denis (nd). "CHL No. 81: Landing Place of Captain J. B. Montgomery". CaliforniaHistoricalLandmarks.com. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  5. Carlsson, Chris (nd). "From fish-choked mudflat to the Pyramid: Montgomery between Washington and Clay Streets". FoundSF. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
  6. Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner (1912). The Beginnings of San Francisco: From the Expedition of Anza, 1774, to the City Charter of April 15, 1850. Vol. 2. San Francisco: Zoeth S. Eldredge. p. 540.
  7. Pierpaoli, Jr, Paul G (2013). "San Francisco". In Tucker, Spencer C (ed.). The Encyclopedia of the Mexican-American War: A Political, Social, and Military History. Vol. II: M-Z. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. pp. 581–582. ISBN   978-1-85109-853-8.
  8. Bell, Hudson (July 14, 2022). "Benjamin R. Buckelew & the first official map of San Francisco". Fern Hill Walking Tours. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  9. City of San Francisco and its Vicinity California (Map, 1853)
  10. Kamiya, Gary (October 26, 2018). "Iconic SF building was home to Bohemians for decades. Then it was destroyed". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 18, 2025.
  11. LaBounty, Woody (November 13, 2024). "The Monkey Block". San Francisco Story. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  12. "Wide West 8 February 1857 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
  13. "EDGAR Online: Wells Fargo & Co/MN (WFC) – 8-K – 7/27/2010" . Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  14. "555 California St., San Francisco, CA". Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  15. "Transamerica Pyramid". Archived from the original on February 20, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  16. Crovo, Lisa. "When Renovation Meets Litigation -- And the Trash Piles Up". San Francisco Coastnews. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  17. Davis, Lisa (April 12, 2000). "Battle Belli". San Francisco Weekly . Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  18. Kaprielian, Ulla. "Douglas Tilden". Guidelines. San Francisco City Guides. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  19. "BART – Montgomery St" . Retrieved July 31, 2010.
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