Eugene Schmitz
Books
- Three Days of Fire Earthquake, Fire, and the Forging of Modern San Francisco · Liszt Think
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, San Francisco shattered. The true catastrophe began moments later when Fire Chief Dennis Sullivan died in the rubble and water mains ruptured, leaving the city defenseless against…
- The Engineer’s Premonition…required optimism. Optimism, in the calculus of the city’s business elite, was incompatible with certain forms of public discussion. Mayor Eugene Schmitz understood this calculus precisely. A former violinist and musical-comedy performer who had entered politics through the theatrical union a…
- The City Feeds Itself by Water…ated under a system of protection that reached from the beat officer to the chief of police and, by reliable report, to the mayor’s office. Eugene Schmitz, in his second term as mayor, had been elected in 1901 with the organized support of the Union Labor Party and the tacit approval of the bu…
- Recorded by the Seismograph…source of explosives for the firebreak operations. The civilian institutions of order responded with the resources available to them. Mayor Eugene Schmitz, residing at 2816 Fillmore Street in the relatively undamaged Pacific Heights district, was woken by the earthquake and proceeded by carria…