Sherman's Bank in Jackson Square

Historical Essay

by Dr. Weirde

Building at 804 Montgomery Street, on site that housed Bank of Lucas, Turner and Co. in the 1850s

Photo: Shaping San Francisco

The Bank that General Sherman Built

Bank of Lucas, Turner & Company, 800-804 Montgomery Street. The construction of this bank, completed in 1853, was supervised by William Tecumseh Sherman, who later, in his career as a Civil War general, made history by laying waste to much of the state of Georgia. As the most destructive general in what was then the bloodiest war in human history — the first war in which mechanical means of mass slaughter were effectively employed—Sherman's name is still reviled in the South. Southerners visiting San Francisco may gaze upon this bank and bemoan Sherman's abandoning the business of construction for that of destruction.

Montgomery Street as seen in this 1850 postcard shot, with Telegraph Hill sloping up in the background.

Photo: Wikimedia commons'

Montgomery Street closer to California Street as the stately buildings begin to line the street in the mid-1850s.

Photo: Robert N. Dennis stereoscopic view, Wikimedia commons

Montgomery and Gold Streets, 1870.

Photo: courtesy Katherine Petrin

Jackson Street, 1898.

Photo: courtesy Katherine Petrin

Jackson Street looking east in 1964.

Photo: courtesy Katherine Petrin

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