Founding of the San Francisco SPCA
SE corner Leidesdorff and Sacramento St.
18" X 20"
18" X 20"
San Francisco's cobble-stoned streets once bustled with horse-drawn carriages, streetcars and wagons. Because the streets were laid out with a total disregard to the topography of the city it wasn't uncommon for a team of horses to fall on the steep streets. Newspaper accounts of the time frequently describe how a team would fall and have to be destroyed.
On a spring day in 1868, banker James Sloan Hutchinson witnessed two horsemen dragging a squealing boar off to market along the street's rough cobblestones. He quickly stepped in and demanded a stop to the brutality. The incident incited Hutchinson to gather a group of fellow humanitarians to found The San Francisco SPCA.
On April 18, 1868, the SFSPCA received its charter from the State of California. It became the fourth SPCA in the nation and inspired the entire animal humane movement in the West. In 1890 they moved from the busy financial district to property they had bought on the edge of town.
On a spring day in 1868, banker James Sloan Hutchinson witnessed two horsemen dragging a squealing boar off to market along the street's rough cobblestones. He quickly stepped in and demanded a stop to the brutality. The incident incited Hutchinson to gather a group of fellow humanitarians to found The San Francisco SPCA.
On April 18, 1868, the SFSPCA received its charter from the State of California. It became the fourth SPCA in the nation and inspired the entire animal humane movement in the West. In 1890 they moved from the busy financial district to property they had bought on the edge of town.