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Timeline
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While the focus
of this website is the short-lived victorian cliff house (1896-1907), this
timeline includes events both before and after that period for historical
perspective...
For a
chronological
photographic timeline, click
here.
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1863
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First Cliff House built by C.C. Butler & John
P. Buckley
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Jun 25,
1864
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Mark Twain
(Samuel Clemens) pays a visit
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Sep 24-27, 1865
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James
Cooke walked a tightrope from the Cliff House to Seal Rocks
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Jun 17, 1866 |
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Mlle. Rosa Celeste attempts tightrope walk |
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1868
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Captain Foster triples size of building by
adding two wings
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Dec, 1874 |
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King Kalakaua
Visits Cliff House |
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Sep 29, 1879 |
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General Grant
visits |
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Sep 20, 1880
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President
Rutherford B. Hayes visits Cliff House for lunch
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1881
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Adolph Sutro purchases
1st Cliff House & surrounding lands
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Apr 6 1884 |
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Suspension
bridge to Flag Rock collapses |
_small.jpg) |
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c 1885 |
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Construction of Ocean
Beach Pavilion |
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Dec 17, 1886 |
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Wreck of
the Atlantic |
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1887
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Thomas Scott Baldwin makes
first parachute jump
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Jan 17, 1887
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Schooner Parallel explodes,
destroying the north wing
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Apr 8, 1887
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Sutro hints of new structure
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1888
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Sutro starts building a railroad
around Lands End to bring tourists to CH, but sells to a private company
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Apr 12,
1890 |
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Baldwin's
Grand Balloon Ascension |
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Apr 27, 1891
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President & Mrs. Harrison
visit
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Dec 6,
1891 |
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John L
Sullivan visits |
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Nov
6, 1894 |
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Adolph Sutro
elected mayor of SF |
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Dec 25, 1894
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First Cliff House burns
to the ground
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1895
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Adolph hires architects
Lemme & Colley to build a new Cliff House
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Jan 14 1896
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The new Cliff House opens
for business
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1896
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Adolph
Sutro gets into feud with railroad, and opens a competing
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Oct 31, 1897
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High Dive from Cliff House
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Aug 8, 1898
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Adolph Sutro dies after a
long illness
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Aug 23, 1899
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First ship to shore wireless transmission was received at Cliff House
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Mar 3, 1900
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Meeting at Cliff House founds CSAA (Calif
State Auto Association)
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Feb 2, 1901 |
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Cliff House
Railroad - Train Wreck |
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May 15,
1901
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President McKinley visits
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Mar 13, 1902
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Schooner "Reporter" is shipwrecked
off Ocean Beach
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Sept 7-14,
1902 |
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Buffalo Bill
visits |
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Dec 13, 1902 |
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Laying of the
Pacific Cable |
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May 13, 1903
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President Roosevelt
visits
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Nov 21, 1903 |
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Sheriff briefly
takes control over debt |
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Aug 26, 1905 |
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Cliff House
Grill Opens |
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1905 |
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The
steam train around Lands End is converted to electric streetcar
operation |
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Sept 2,
1905 |
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Francis
McCarty demonstrates voice transmission using radio from Cliff House |
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Apr 18, 1906
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San Francisco earthquake - Cliff
House sustains only minor damage
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Apr 23, 1907 |
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Cliff House to be remodeled |
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Sept 7, 1907
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Cliff House burns to the ground
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1908
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Adolph daughter Emma starts construction of a
new Cliff House
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July 1, 1909
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New Cliff
House opens for business
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Oct 14, 1911
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President Taft lunches at
the Cliff House
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1916 |
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Mrs Douglas Crane becomes
manager |
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July 18, 1918 |
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Army order forces closure
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Dec 8 1920 |
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Reopens
with Richard (Shorty) Roberts, proprietor |
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1922 |
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DPW Pt Lobos
Construction |
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1925
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Landslides destroy the streetcar line
around Lands End
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1925 |
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Closed for
business |
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Apr 26, 1936 |
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Owner Charles
W. Sutro dies |
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Oct 7, 1936 |
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Wreck of the
Ohioan |
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1937 |
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Sutro family sells Cliff House to George
Whitney |
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1946 |
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Floyd Jennings
builds Camera Obscura on terrace |
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1949
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Streetcar service ceases to Sutro and
Cliff House area
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1949 |
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Cliff House
remodeled |
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May 1955 |
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Whitney's Sky Tram begins service |
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1973 |
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Blue Cliff House |
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June 21, 1973 |
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Dan & Mary Hountalas become proprietors
of the Cliff House |
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1977 |
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Acquired by GGNRA for $3.79 million |
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2003 |
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Reconstruction |
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Other dignitaries are
believed
to have visited the Cliff House, but I have not yet tracked down any dates.
Any help is MUCH appreciated...
 If you have evidence of other
dignitary visits, please email me...
gary@cliffhouseproject.com.
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Human Interest:
WAS A WILD NIGHT AT THE CLIFF HOUSE
(Jan 3, 1901)
HEAVY WIND AND ANGRY BREAKERS CAUSE DAMAGE ON OCEAN BEACH (Feb 24
1902)
The Ladies
Smoked in Public (Col 6; Apr 16, 1910)
Gambling
Chef,
1906
Johnnie the Birdman, Obituary (Mar 23, 1909)
Suicides:
SUICIDE AT THE CLIFF HOUSE (Col 3, bottom - Feb 15, 1895)
KILLS HIMSELF AT CLIFF HOUSE (Apr 9, 1901)
WOMAN JUMPS
INTO SWIRLING WATERS (Dec 27, 1903)
TOTS SEE MOTHER END
LIFE (Sept 23, 1924)
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J.M. Wilkins tells story of origin of the Cliff House
San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 6 1918
(click above image for full story)
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Finally just for fun, here's a
rendition of the victorian Cliff House if it had survived to the present...
John Hall
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*** Special thanks to John Martini for his
invaluable help constructing this timeline. ***
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