San Francisco's name before the gold rush

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What name did San Francisco go by before the gold-rush era?

-- Ana Klengenshern (kategreen15@yaho.com), January 10, 2002

Answers

The city was known as Yerba Buena until 1847 (the year before gold was discovered) when it changed its name to "San Francisco".

At that time there were only about 400-500 residents in Yerba Buena, and they hoped that by assuming the name San Francisco the town would become more closely associated with San Francisco Bay and thus become the preeminent port on the bay.

-- John Martini (jamartini@earthlink.net), January 11, 2002.


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