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Overview

The one-story, wood-frame Public Institute was the Pueblo of San Francisco's second school and one of its most important multi-use buildings. It was located on Portsmouth Square, in what is now Chinatown, bounded by Kearny Street on the east, Lum Place (west), Washington Street (north), and Clay Street (south).

Building History

Begun in 09/1847 and completed in 12/1847, the Public Institute was the second school building erected in the Alta California town of San Francisco (whose name was changed from Yerba Buena, in 01/1847). The first school, opened by J. D. Marston on DuPont Street in 04/1847, lasted only a few months before folding during the Gold Rush. The Public Institute would become a cultural center for the rapidly growing city during the earliest months of the Gold Rush. According to Eldredge's The Beginnings of San Francisco: From the Expedition of Anza, 1774, to the City Charter of April 15, 1850: with Biographical and Other Notes: "At a meeting of the council, September 24th, W. A. Leidesdorff, William Glover, and W. S. Clark were appointed a committee to attend to the building of a school house. The building was erected on the western side of the plaza, and on April 3, 1848, the school was opened under Thomas Douglas, a graduate of Yale college, with Dr. Victor J. Fourgeaud, C. L. Ross, Dr. John Townsend, John Sirrine, and William Heath Davis as trustees. The school prospered until the gold excitement carried teacher and trustees to the mines. From the date of its completion in December 1847, the school house served the purpose of town hall, court house, people's court for trial of culprits by the first vigilance committee, school, church, and finally, jail. Owing to the range and variety of its uses, the building was dignified by the name of Public Institute. In April 1849, school was resumed under the management of the Rev. Albert Williams, a Presbyterian clergyman who arrived on the Oregon April 1st...." (See Zoeth S. Eldredge, The Beginnings of San Francisco: From the Expedition of Anza, 1774, to the City Charter of April 15, 1850: with Biographical and Other Notes, [San Francisco : Z.S. Eldredge, 1912], volume 2, p. 588-589.) The building was completed in 12/1847 while classes did not begin until 04/1848. According to a web site on the history of the San Francisco Police Department, "In mid-1849 it served as a justice court and Police office." (See the San Francisco Police Department, "150 Years of History," accessed 01/06/2017.) The Public Institute served as a multi-purpose space for various vital civic activities, much in the way that the Yesler Cook House served the early hamlet of Seattle in the 1850s.

PCAD id: 20846