Howard Street (San Francisco)

Howard Street is a street in San Francisco's South of Market District (SoMa). It begins after branching off from Van Ness Avenue near the Mission District, and then runs parallel and just to the south of Mission Street towards The Embarcadero. Howard Street has the Moscone Center, Rincon Plaza, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and The University of San Francisco along its corridor.

History

It was named after William D. M. Howard Leading Merchant of Yerba Buena, A native of Boston, who came to California in 1839 as a cabin boy on the sailing ship California. For several years he was supercargo on Boston ships trading up and down the Pacific coast, and as such agent in charge of the collection of hides and tallow. In 1845 he and Henry Mellus formed the firm of Mellus & Howard. This firm had the most active commercial business in San Francisco in the years when the settlement was known as Yerba Buena, and in 1846 bought the property of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Howard was one of the town’s most public spirited and prosperous men and was known as the first citizen of San Francisco in the years just before the gold rush.^[2]

References

Coordinates: 37°48′29″N 122°25′36″W / 37.80802°N 122.42659°W / 37.80802; -122.42659

Streets in San Francisco
Numbered streets	Third Street 16th Street 19th Avenue 22nd Street 24th Street 49-Mile Scenic Drive
North–south streets	Castro Street Clay Street Fillmore Street Grant Avenue Great Highway Junipero Serra Boulevard Kearny Street Mission Street Montgomery Street Octavia Boulevard Polk Street Skyline Boulevard Stockton Street Stanyan Street Van Ness Avenue Vermont Street
East–west streets	Broadway California Street Filbert Street Geary Boulevard Haight Street Lincoln Way Lombard Street Union Street
Diagonal streets	Alemany Boulevard Don Chee Way The Embarcadero Market Street Columbus Avenue New Montgomery Street
Alleyways	Balmy Alley Belden Place Clarion Alley Jack Kerouac Alley Macondray Lane Maiden Lane
San Francisco place names etymologies