{"id":3130,"date":"2016-04-06T08:46:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T12:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?p=3130"},"modified":"2024-06-28T12:23:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T16:23:41","slug":"san-francisco-flag-quake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/","title":{"rendered":"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked"},"content":{"rendered":"

Five score and ten years ago, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake that sparked fires, felled buildings and killed thousands of people. But flags kept hopes alive, including the city flag.<\/p>\n

Some people think that the Golden Gate city\u2019s municipal flag was created after the famous quake because the banner contains the image of a phoenix rising from a fire. Surely, people reasoned, that was emblematic of their town coming back to life after the 1906 destruction ruined 500 blocks and killed 3,000 residents.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/a>
San Francisco’s city flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the municipal flag \u2013 with its Spanish motto, \u201cOro en Paz, Fierro en Guerra,\u201d which means \u201cgold in peace, iron in war\u201d \u2013 was adopted in 1900. And unlike many flags that are the creations of committees, the City by the Bay\u2019s banner was the work of one man.<\/p>\n

John H. Gamble designed the San Francisco city flag<\/a> and entered it in a contest that brought more than a dozen other entries. City officials chose his as the best.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A 1900 newspaper illustration of the SF flag and its creator. (San Francisco Chronicle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a commentary on Gamble\u2019s work in its April 15, 1900 issue, the San Francisco Chronicle credited the flag for \u201cits simplicity of detail and boldness of color, the two combining to make an emblem that can readily be distinguished at a considerable distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a white background, the phoenix ascends from yellow flames and black ashes. Gold letters spell out the motto on a black ribbon.<\/p>\n

Gamble explained that he chose the phoenix to \u201cemblemize the city in times past rising into the greater strength and beauty from its own ashes\u2026.It seems to me the most fitting device to go with the motto of the city.\u201d He added that he selected black to represent iron and yellow to symbolize gold, thus repeating the motto in hues.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A flag became a makeshift tent after the San Francisco earthquake. (California Historical Society)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost precisely six years later \u2013 on April 18, 1906 \u2013 San Francisco was rocked by one of the most wicked quakes in history. Hundreds died and more were injured in the event.<\/p>\n

As with many moments of crisis, flags were a focus of attention:<\/p>\n

*A Riverside, California, newspaper reported that a \u201cschool flag<\/a> has been hanging at half-mast since the disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San<\/a>
San Francisco’s city flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

*In San Diego, a reporter wrote about a man who turned his car into an ambulance by mounting a Red Cross flag<\/a> on it.<\/p>\n

*The daily paper in San Jose disclosed that the City Hall flagpole in San Francisco \u201cwas broken clear in two\u201d by the quake, and \u201cthe upper portion in falling turned completely over and pierced the roof,\u201d where it remained \u201cfirmly embedded.\u201d<\/p>\n

On May 5, the Chronicle said that, at a high school, \u201cthe American flag<\/a> was hoisted\u2026as a signal that the fire was practically under control.\u201d The emblem raised spirits throughout the devastated city in the same way that another American flag, lifted by firemen, buoyed New Yorkers 95 years later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five score and ten years ago, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake that sparked fires, felled buildings and killed thousands of people. But flags kept hopes alive, including the city flag. Some people think that the Golden Gate city\u2019s municipal flag was created after the famous quake because the banner contains the image of… continue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[285,345],"class_list":["post-3130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flag-information","tag-municipal-flag","tag-san-francisco"],"yoast_head":"\nFlags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Five score and ten years ago, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake that sparked fires, felled buildings and killed thousands of people. But flags kept hopes alive, including the city flag. Some people think that the Golden Gate city\u2019s municipal flag was created after the famous quake because the banner contains the image of... continue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-06T12:46:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-28T16:23:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Breig\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Breig\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/\",\"name\":\"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-06T12:46:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-28T16:23:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":467,\"caption\":\"San Francisco's city flag\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a\",\"name\":\"James Breig\",\"description\":\"James Breig is a veteran author who specializes in history. His most recent book is \u201cStar-Spangled Baseball: True Tales of Flags and Fields\u201d about the links between the sport and flags. He is also the author of a nonfiction book about WWII, \\\"Searching for Sgt. Bailey: Saluting an Ordinary Soldier of World War II\\\" and co-author of \\\"The Mystery of the Multiple Mothers,\\\" a novel. All three are available at www.amazon.com. His articles have appeared in newspapers and national magazines, including the Colonial Williamsburg Journal (search for them at www.history.org\/journal) and History Magazine. He has won many national awards for his opinion writing, media columns and feature articles.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/author\/james\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","og_description":"Five score and ten years ago, San Francisco was devastated by an earthquake that sparked fires, felled buildings and killed thousands of people. But flags kept hopes alive, including the city flag. Some people think that the Golden Gate city\u2019s municipal flag was created after the famous quake because the banner contains the image of... continue","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/","og_site_name":"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","article_published_time":"2016-04-06T12:46:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-28T16:23:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":467,"url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James Breig","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Breig","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/","name":"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked - Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-06T12:46:26+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-28T16:23:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/San-Franciscos-city-flag.jpg","width":500,"height":467,"caption":"San Francisco's city flag"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/san-francisco-flag-quake\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Flags fell \u2013 and flew \u2013 as San Francisco quaked"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/","name":"Gettysburg Flag Works Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/048662cff3dee1c17360c4683b5fe03a","name":"James Breig","description":"James Breig is a veteran author who specializes in history. His most recent book is \u201cStar-Spangled Baseball: True Tales of Flags and Fields\u201d about the links between the sport and flags. He is also the author of a nonfiction book about WWII, \"Searching for Sgt. Bailey: Saluting an Ordinary Soldier of World War II\" and co-author of \"The Mystery of the Multiple Mothers,\" a novel. All three are available at www.amazon.com. His articles have appeared in newspapers and national magazines, including the Colonial Williamsburg Journal (search for them at www.history.org\/journal) and History Magazine. He has won many national awards for his opinion writing, media columns and feature articles.","url":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/author\/james\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3130"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5304,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions\/5304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gettysburgflag.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}