FoundSF

Unfinished History

View northwest from Telegraph Hill of Meiggs' Wharf, Marin headlands, Mt. Tamalpais, and Fort Alcatraz, 1856.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp37.02199

Meiggs Wharf, seen in this photo from the slopes of Telegraph Hill extending northward into the bay sometime between 1865-1875, started from the corner of today's Powell and Francisco Streets, now many blocks from the shoreline.

Photo: J.J. Reilly, courtesy Getty collection

View east from end of Meiggs' Wharf, July 11, 1864, Telegraph Hill in distance.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp27.3796

Meiggs' Wharf at left, extending from present Francisco Street between Mason and Powell to approximately today's Embarcadero. At the Francisco Street beginning of the wharft stood Abe Warner's Cobweb Palace saloon.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp37.00681-L

A view in 1870 from Russian Hill showing Meiggs Wharf off the shores of North Beach.

Photo: John P. Soule, courtesy Getty collection

Circa 1882 view from Telegraph Hill shows the remains of Meiggs' Wharf at left. Seawall and warehouses along future Embarcadero. The visible lagoon would soon be filled in.

Photo: OpenSFHistory.org wnp37.00158

By the 1880s, Meiggs Wharf has enclosed and filled in a substantial portion of the bay waters and become an important lumber receiving dock in the burgeoning redwood trade of the late 19th century.

Photo: R.J. Waters, courtesy Getty collection