- Montgomery Street
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This article is about the street in San Francisco. For other uses, see Montgomery Street (disambiguation).
Montgomery Street is a north-south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, in the United States.
It runs about 16 blocks from the Telegraph Hill neighborhood south through downtown, terminating at Market Street. South of Columbus Avenue, Montgomery Street runs through the heart of San Francisco's Financial District. For this reason, it is sometimes called "the Wall Street of the West".[1][2] South of Market Street, the street continues as New Montgomery Street for two more blocks to terminate at Howard Street in the SOMA district.
Contents
History
In the 1830s, the land which is now Montgomery Street lay at the edge of San Francisco Bay.[3][4] Intense land speculation during the Gold Rush created a demand for more usable land in the rapidly growing city, and sandy bluffs near the waterfront were leveled and the shallows filled with sand (and the ruins of many ships) to make new building lots. Between 1849 and 1852, the waterfront advanced about four blocks.[citation needed] At present, Montgomery Street is about seven blocks from the water.
The corner of Montgomery and Clay is where John B. Montgomery landed when he came to hoist the U.S. flag after the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846. In 1853 the Montgomery Block, a center of early San Francisco law and literature, was built at 600 Montgomery, on land currently occupied by the Transamerica Pyramid.[4]
Financial offices
Many banks and financial-services companies have had offices in the buildings on or near Montgomery Street, especially between Market Street and Sacramento Street:
- The world headquarters of Wells Fargo are at 420 Montgomery.[5]
- 555 California Street, between Kearny and Montgomery, served as Bank of America's world headquarters prior to its merger with NationsBank and was (from 1969 to 2005) officially called the Bank of America Building.[6]
- The Transamerica Pyramid (600 Montgomery, at Columbus Avenue) was the headquarters of Transamerica Corporation and still appears in the company's logo.[7]
Public transit
Montgomery Street is served by the BART and Muni Metro Montgomery Street Station.[8]
References
- ^ "F-Market & Wharves Streetcar Line - Market Street Railway". http://www.streetcar.org/f-line.html. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ Prentice, Carol S. (2006). "Walk 3:Montgomery Street to Jackson Square". 1906 San Francisco earthquake centennial field guides. Geological Society of America. p. 17. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CwchZE54dWYC&lpg=PA17&ots=5-QLS8FuZY&dq=montgomery%20street%20%22wall%20street%20of%20the%20west%22&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q=montgomery%20street%20%22wall%20street%20of%20the%20west%22&f=false. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ "San Francisco - Before the Gold Rush - 1847". http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/early.html. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ a b "Office of Historic Preservation: San Francisco". http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21482. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ "EDGAR Online: Wells Fargo & Co/MN (WFC) - 8-K - 7/27/2010". http://yahoo.brand.edgar-online.com/displayfilinginfo.aspx?FilingID=7376060-1063-6229&type=sect&dcn=0001193125-10-167482. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ "555 California St., San Francisco, CA". http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=118721. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ "Transamerica Pyramid". http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=118715. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
- ^ "BART - Montgomery St.". http://www.bart.gov/stations/mont/index.aspx. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
Streets in San Francisco Numbered streets North-south streets Castro Street · Fillmore Street · Grant Avenue · Great Highway · Junipero Serra Boulevard · Kearny Street · Mission Street · Montgomery Street · Octavia Boulevard · Polk Street · Skyline Boulevard · Stockton Street · Van Ness Avenue · Vermont Street
East-west streets Diagonal streets The Embarcadero · Market Street · Columbus Avenue
Alleyways Belden Place · Jack Kerouac Alley · Macondray Lane · Maiden Lane · Balmy Alley
see also: San Francisco street toponymy Coordinates: 37°47′43″N 122°24′11″W / 37.79528°N 122.40306°W
Categories:- Financial districts
- Streets in San Francisco, California
- Economy of San Francisco, California
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