Earthquake/Fire: Refugees
The 1906 earthquake and fire left about 250,000 homeless, roughly half of San Francisco's population.
The postcards on this page show earthquake refugee images.
Most are poor quality b+w cards printed locally very soon after the quake.
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Unknown publisher, postmarked 5/07/1906, looking east toward Market/Laguna from Mint Hill; see Mint Hill 1906.
Haphazard tent encampments sprang up immediately after the fire,
eventually replaced by more orderly goverment tent camps.
- Photo Co. of America, postmarked 7/02/1906; "cooking the evening meal" on tiny stoves in the street.
- Oakland, "supply camp Jefferson Square".
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Rieder, Jefferson Square looking north from Turk/Octavia;
the large house at center is at Eddy/Octavia (SE corner).
- Behrendt 209, camps at North Beach.
- Hearst, postmarked 8/02/1906; the very poor-quality image shows a very orderly government tent camp.
These cards all show bread lines.
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Unknown publisher, dated 5/xx/1906,
looks east toward Nob Hill and the Fairmont
from Saint Mary's (Van Ness/O'Farrell, NW corner).
The message says the writer waited in this line.
American News shows the same image, with much better printing.
Earthquake/Fire: Eyewitnesses shows many cards written soon after the quake by eyewitnesses.
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Rieder-Cardinell 213, postmarked 4/06/1907, looks NW at the same location.
The later Behrendt 204 shows the same image in color.
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Spaulding 16 shows a bread line in Jefferson Square,
looking east toward St. Paulus German Lutheran Church at Gough/Eddy (SE corner);
see Weidner 673.
- Scheff 75 shows a bread line in Pacific Heights (Jackson/Laguna).
These cards show daily refugee food preparation tasks.
- Rieder-Cardinell 2: keeping house among the tombstones.
- Rieder 31: preparing coffee.
- Zimmerman, postmarked 7/30/1908: dispensing food at Ft. Mason.
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Behrendt 213: cooking on the street.
Indoor fires were not permitted after the earthquake/fire,
so improvised street kitchens sprang up in undamaged neighborhoods.
- Amer. Journal Examiner, Jefferson Square; distributed as part of an uncut sheet in Hearst's American Journal Examiner.
- Amer. Journal Examiner, another Hearst card; the print quality of these cards is terrible, and this example is unevenly trimmed.
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A.H., postmarked Toronto 8/30/1906. The caption is incorrect; it looks east across Union Square,
so it does not show the rear of the St. Francis.
The printing of the back is misaligned.
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Weidner 248 shows Jefferson Square yet again, looking north from Turk/Octavia;
the stairs at right are at the NE corner of the park (Gough/Eddy).
The park is filled with people and trunks but not yet with tents,
so the image must date from just after the earthquake.
This is a much higher quality color card, printed in Germany.
Color cards became widely available several months after the quake, largely replacing local b+w cards.
Steve's SF postcard pages: