Grant Avenue is a north-only street in Chinatown, and one of the main streets through Chinatown (the others are Kearny and Stockton). What most people do NOT know was that Grant Ave is the oldest street in San Francisco... Being the first-ever street drawn in today's San Francisco, by its surveyor... an Englishman by the name of William Richardson, in 1835.
William Richardson was a pretty unremarkable sailor aboard a British whaling ship. His special skill was the ability to speak Spanish. In 1822, his ship arrived in San Francisco Bay, and he, the Spanish speaker, was "volunteered" to go negotiate with the local Mexican government. This was soon after the Mexican government had won its independence from the Spanish Crown.
What happened after that was a bit unclear, but the generally accepted story was he was invited to a local fiesta, met Maria Antonia Martinez, and fell for each other immediately. Richardson eventually made it back to the ship the next day smelling of booze, and his captain, quite angry at the delay, yelled at him for a bit. Decided he had enough of sea life, Richardson left the ship to live with the local Mexicans. It turns out Maria is the daughter of Ygnacio Martinez, the commandant of the Presidio, the local fort. In a year or two, Richardson got Mexican citizenship, converted to Roman Catholic, and married Maria. However, Ygnacio Martinez has no land to give his son-in-law. So Richardson petitioned the governor for some land. When that was held up, Richardson asked for land in Yerba Buena (lit: good herb), which is the area to the east of the Fort of Presidio instead, in exchange for survey work.
In 1835, Richardson moved out of the Presidio fort and into Yerba Buena, today's San Francisco. He picked a spot, pitched the tent, then drew on a map a long line due north, which he named "Calle de la Fundacion" which means "founding street". He built a house at what's today at roughly today Washington and Grant, and called it "Casa Grande" (lit: Big House), and started a settlement to serve as a trading post for ships in the San Francisco Bay, and his experience as a sailor had the governor appoint him "port captain".
There is a plaque at 823 Grant that few people notice nowadays to commemorate this. However, it's been partially destroyed by someone welding their door frame over it.
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| The plaque at 823 Grant, commemorates Richardson's founding of today's San Francisco and Grant Avenue |
When the Mexican-American War of 1846 started, Captain Montgomery and his ship USS Portsmouth sailed into San Francisco Bay, landed with 17 troops, walked to the town plaza (today's Portsmouth Square), raised the US flag, and declared that California now belongs to the US of A. In 1847, the long street next to the square, "Calle de la Fundacion", was renamed Dupont Street after Admiral Samuel duPont, commander of the naval squadron to which USS Portsmouth belonged. The settlement's name was also formally changed to San Francisco in 1847 after Saint Francis of Assisi.
There was a bit of disagreement on when was the street name changed to Grant since Grant died back in 1886, Some claimed the name change was only after the 1906 Earthquake, others claimed it was as soon as after Grant died. Turns out that both are right... partially. What happened was after 1886, the city council renamed the SOUTHERN PART (south of Bush) of Dupont, to Grant Avenue. Then after the 1906 Earthquake, they renamed the remainder of Dupont Street (Chinatown and North Beach) Grant Avenue as well.
(There were stories told that perhaps the city hall did this to prevent the Chinese from finding their way back to Chinatown, as they did try, quite heavy-handedly, to move Chinatown after the 1906 Earthquake, but that is a different story.)
Even today, Grant Avenue is called 都板街 dou-bang-gai (Dupont Street) in Cantonese. You can still find street signs that proclaimed its Chinese name.
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| Grant Avenue, intersecting Clay St. |
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