1874 Panoramic View of San Francisco

This is Frederick Hess' scarce, separately-published 1874 view of San Francisco, capturing the thriving city and displaying an array of its architectural highlights. Hess, a German immigrant, newspaperman, and a booster of his adopted city, appears to have produced this steel engraving both as a celebration of his city and an enticement for others of his native countrymen to emigrate and join the German community of which Hess was a vigorous and essential member.

The Engraving

Central to the plate is a panoramic view of San Francisco seen from Nob Hill, oriented to the north with the mast-forested waterfront in the deep background. The foreground shows the luxuriant, wooded top of the hill with fashionably-dressed families perambulating and enjoying the view. Surrounding the main view are twenty-two vignettes highlighting important buildings, lively street scenes, and a scene from one of the city's wharves capturing the roustabout hustle of the waterfront. The city here is presented as a sophisticated and settled city, suitable for respectable families, an urban center on a par with cities on the east coast, or even Europe. Not only San Francisco's municipal buildings, but also large and ornate hotels, churches and banks are represented. The streets feature pedestrians, horse carts, but also horse-drawn trolleys. The day-to-day features highlighted here show the city from the viewpoint of an actual denizen dedicated to the success of his new home. Thus it is not surprising that the view should have been sold both in San Francisco and, the following year, in Germany: Hess' intent seems to have been to show off the city to potential immigrants, particularly for his own community.

Publication History and Census

This plate was engraved for publication in 1874, probably from Hess' own press in San Francisco. It was not included in any book, but was a separate issue intended for decoration. Consequently, few have survived. A second, 1875 state of the map has survived, with its date changed and an added Darmstadt copyright. Both states are rare on the market and in institutional collections. This 1874 state appears in the Library of Congress and the Massachusetts Historical Society Library; the 1875 second state was catalogued by the American Antiquarian Society. An imprecisely-dated example appears in OCLC, catalogued by Yale University.