Our exhibit on the history of the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire prepared by the Bethlehem Shipyard Museum (BSM) in partnership with the Museum of the City of San Francisco is on display at the Port of San Francisco from April 14th to May 4, 2017. The exhibit will be located in the lobby of the Port’s Pier 1 Office and accessible 8 to 5 pm Monday through Friday. The exhibit consists of historic photographs and documents as well video images of the Great Earthquake and Fire, as well as the recovery efforts.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI. Severe shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, an agricultural region to the south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Devastating fires soon broke out in the city and lasted for several days. As a result, about 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed. The events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a natural disaster in California’s history and high in the lists of American urban disasters.