1915 Chevalier Map of San Francisco and its Street Car Lines

This is August Chevalier’s updated 1915 map of San Francisco. Produced in pocket-map format for the use of visitors to both the city and the then-active Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the map details the city's neighborhoods, parks, and other features needful to the visitor. Buildings of particular importance - the newly built city hall, the mint, the post office, railroad depots, Sutro Baths, Cliff House, and others - are shown pictorially. The city's distinctive topography is shown with a combination of hachure and contour lines, including elevations. The map provides lists, keyed to coordinates on the map, of Theaters, railway depots, post offices, and 'Places of Interest.'

The map also features excellent transportation information, including railroads, bridges, tunnels, and steamer piers - including prospective ones. Most distinctive to San Francisco are the “car lines” in red: the now-dwindling cable car and electric street car routes that once spanned virtually the entire city.

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco between February 20 and December 4, 1915. Ostensibly, the fair was intended to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was also an opportunity for San Francisco to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake. The fair was constructed on a 635-acre site (shown here in detail) along the northern shore now known as the Marina District. Of course, at this time The Golden Gate and Oakland Bay Bridges have yet to be built.

Publication History and Census

This map was separately published in 1915 in San Francisco in a single edition. OCLC lists copies in only the California Historical Society and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. We are aware of only one other example to appear on the market.