The community was settled in 1776, when the Spanish officer Juan Bautista de Anza (1735-88) founded a fort (presidio) here to guard the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Later that year Father Junípero Serra established the Misión San Francisco de Asís (now called Mission Dolores) nearby. Little happened in either location, and in the 1830s a third settlement began at Yerba Buena Cove, near the present site of Portsmouth Square in the NE part of the city. The U.S. took Yerba Buena from Mexico in 1846, renaming it San Francisco in 1847. In 1848 gold was discovered in the interior of California, near Sacramento, and the ensuing gold rush rapidly transformed San Francisco into a booming community. The city developed as a port and supply point and became an early governmental and cultural center. It was noted for its cosmopolitan population and for the lawlessness of some sections, particularly the so-called Barbary Coast area. In 1869 the transcontinental railroad reached the Bay Area. By 1900 San Francisco had more than 340,000 inhabitants. On April 18, 1906, an earthquake shook the city and caused a fire that raged for three days, destroying almost all of San Francisco's downtown and much of the residential area. The city was rebuilt quickly and in 1915 played host to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. During World War II, San Francisco was a major shipbuilding center, and in 1945 the city was the site of an international conference that drafted the UN Charter. In the 1960s and '70s many large, modern buildings were constructed here, and a number of residential areas were revitalized. Parts of the city were badly damaged by an earthquake in 1989, but the city has since recovered significantly.

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