RSS
Home
Irish street names in San Francisco
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
driving down the street
The most important immigrants in early San Francisco were the Irish, according to historian Jeffrey Burns. “By 1856, more than 6,000 foreign born Irish -- comprising 12 percent of the city’s population – had arrived in San Francisco, growing to over 30,000 by 1870. By 1880, foreign-born Irish and Americans of Irish descent accounted for 33 percent of the city’s population. Irish filled the ranks of the police and fire departments and provided a significant portion of the city’s civil service employees.”
Many streets in San Francisco were named after Irish people. Here are some lists:
Ahern Way – for Police Chief Frank Ahern
Brannan Street -- for Samuel Brannan, a native of Maine, who came to San Francisco in 1846. By trade he was a printer, and issued the California Star, the first newspaper ever published in San Francisco
Broderick Street – for US Senator David Broderick
Colin P. Kelly Jr. Street – for a member of the famous Kelly-Cohn team that dropped the first bomb to sink a warship in WWII
Donahue Street – for industrialist Peter Donahue
Doyle Drive -- for Frank P. Doyle, a director of the California State Automobile Association
Drumm Street for -- Lieutenant Drumm of the army
Fair Avenue – for James Fair, one of the Comstock Silver Kings
Fallon Place – for Thomas Fallon, pioneer political leader
Flood Avenue – for James Clair Flood, another Comstock silver king
Hays Street – for Tom Hayes, pioneer landowner and businessman
Kearny Street -- for General Stephen W. Kearny. He was a veteran of the war of 1812
Maloney Bridge – the Fourth Street Bridge was named for Peter Maloney, a civic leader
Market Street – was laid out by Jasper O’Farrell, a city engineer
McCoppin Street – for Frank McCoppin, the city’s first Irish mayor
Montgomery Street -- for Commander John B. Montgomery
O’Farrell Street – for Jasper O’Farrell
O’Saughnessy Boulevard – for Michael O’Shaughnessy, San Francisco’s chief engineer
Peter York Way – for the fighting Irish nationalist priest and labor activist
Sansome Street -- for a merchant and a businessman called Sansome
Sheridan Street – for a person by the name of Sheridan
Related Articles:
Comments
