The shock arrived in the early hours of April 18th, 1906. An earthquake along the San Andreas Fault jolted the residents of San Francisco awake. Registering at a 7.9 magnitude, the quake wrought massive destruction. There were collapsed buildings and falling bricks.
Gas mains were ruptured leading to a series of deadly fires that raced across the city. The intense heat melted glass. With water mains burst, firefighters were at a loss to stop the flames. In desperation, they began to dynamite buildings in hopes of creating a fire break.
At the time, San Francisco was the largest city on the West Coast and the ninth largest city in the U.S. It was a busy trade and financial center. The quake and ensuing fires destroyed more than eighty percent of the city and left more than half the population homeless.
Read newspapers of the era to learn more about the San Francisco earthquake in the William M. Fitzhugh papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.