San Francisco (US-CA)

From Stamps of the World
San Francisco (US-CA) 1851.jpg
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural center and a leading financial hub of the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. The only consolidated city-county in California, San Francisco encompasses a land area of about 46.9 square miles (121 km2) on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, giving it a density of about 17,867 people per square mile (6,898 people per km2). It is the most densely settled large city (population greater than 200,000) in the state of California and the second-most densely populated major city in the United States after New York City. San Francisco is the fourth-most populous city in California, after Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose, and the 14th-most populous city in the United States—with a Census-estimated 2013 population of 837,442. The city is also the financial and cultural hub of the larger San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland combined statistical area, with a population of 8.5 million. San Francisco (Spanish for "Saint Francis") was founded on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established a fort at the Golden Gate and a mission named for St. Francis of Assisi a few miles away. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. Due to the growth of its population, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. During World War II, San Francisco was the port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.

San Francisco Post Office, San Francisco County (1849-Date)

Section Base Sta. Post Office, San Francisco, San Francisco County (1941-1942)

Postmark Examples

SAN FRANCISCO in about 1952.
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SAN FRANCISCO Happy Holidays in 2019.
2020 SAN FRANCISCO -ENERGY AWARENESS MONTH
SAN FRANCISCO in 2021.
SAN FRANCISCO in 2021.
2021 SAN FRANCISCO - THINKING of YOU
2021 SAN FRANCISCO -ENERGY ACTION MONTH

Slogan cancels

1924 SAN FRANCISCO CALIF. 4 Slogan Cancel "AIR-MAIL SAVES TIME"

Meter cancels

Meter cancel 1937
Meter cancel 1939
Meter cancel 1941
Meter cancel 1941
Meter cancel 1943
Meter cancel 1949?
Meter cancel 1951
Meter cancel 1957
Meter cancel 1962
Meter cancel 1963

Cards and Covers

1904 San Francisco Station D cover
Slogan Cancel "World Panama Pacific Exhibition 1915" San Francisco 1913. Postage stamps 2 times Scott 397, Vasco Nunez de Balboa (c.1913)
4 'BUY DEFENSE SAVING BONDS AND STAMPS' San Francisco 1941
San FRancisco 1941
San Francisco 1947

Precancels

SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA Precancel on Scott 399, 5c Panama Pacific Exposition Issue. c.1913.
SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA Precancel on Scott 400A, 10cPanama Pacific Exposition Issue. c.1913.
Precancel on Scott 558, Garfield. c.1922.
Precancel on Scott 1049, R.Lee. c.1955.

19th century

Circle SAN FRANCISCO on a 1851 issue. Sold 240 SF in 2001.