San Francisco Chronicle

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The Chronicle was founded by brothers Charles and M. H. de Young in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle, funded by a borrowed $20 gold piece. Their brother Gustavus was named with Charles on the masthead. Within 10 years, it had the largest circulation of any newspaper west of the Mississippi River. The paper's first office was in a building at the corner of Bush and Kearney Streets. The brothers then commissioned a building from Burnham and Root at 690 Market Street at the corner of Third and Kearney Streets to be their new headquarters, in what became known as Newspaper Row. The new building, San Francisco's first skyscraper, was completed in 1889. It was damaged in the 1906 earthquake, but it was rebuilt under the direction of William Polk, Burnham's associate in San Francisco. That building, known as the 'Old Chronicle Building' or the 'DeYoung Building', still stands and was restored in 2007. In 1924, the Chronicle commissioned a new headquarters at 901 Mission Street on the corner of 5th Street in what is now the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco. It was designed by Charles Peter Weeks and William Peyton Day in the Gothic Revival architecture style, but most of the Gothic Revival detailing was removed in 1968 when the building was re-clad with stucco. This building remains the Chronicle's headquarters in 2017. Between World War II and 1971, new editor Scott Newhall took a bold and somewhat provocative approach to news presentation. Newhall's Chronicle included investigative reporting by such journalists as Pierre Salinger, who later played a prominent role in national politics, and Paul Avery, the staffer who pursued the trail of the self-named 'Zodiac Killer', who sent a cryptogram in three sections in letters to the Chronicle and two other papers during his murder spree in the late 1960s. It also featured such colorful columnists as Pauline Phillips, who wrote under the name 'Dear Abby', 'Count Marco' (Marc Spinelli), Stanton Delaplane, Terence O'Flaherty, Lucius Beebe, Art Hoppe, Charles McCabe, and Herb Caen. The newspaper grew in circulation to become the city's largest, overtaking the rival San Francisco Examiner. The competition between the Chronicle and Examiner took a financial toll on both papers until the summer of 1965, when a merger of sorts created a Joint Operating Agreement under which the Chronicle became the city's sole morning daily while the Examiner changed to afternoon publication. The de Young family controlled the paper, via the Chronicle Publishing Company, until July 27, 2000, when it was sold to Hearst Communications, Inc. for $660 million, considerably above analysts' $500 million valuation of the paper.

Reader's Guide

The San Francisco Chronicle holds significance as the dominant newspaper in Northern California for over a century, achieving the largest circulation on the West Coast by 1880. Its early adoption of digital media was historic: in 1994, it launched SFGate, the first large market newspaper website in the world, co-founded by Allen Weiner and John Coate. The site later won a Pulitzer Prize for Mark Fiore's political cartoons. The Chronicle's legacy includes its role in covering major events such as the 1906 earthquake and the Zodiac Killer case, and its colorful columnists shaped San Francisco's cultural identity. The paper's Joint Operating Agreement with the Examiner from 1965 to 2000 was a unique arrangement that stabilized both papers but ultimately led to the Examiner's decline. After Hearst's purchase, the Chronicle became the only major daily broadsheet in San Francisco. Its push into suburban coverage in the 1990s and later separation of SFGate and SFChronicle.com brands reflect its adaptation to changing media landscapes. The Chronicle remains a key source of news for the Bay Area, though it faced circulation declines in the early 21st century, ranking 18th nationally by circulation in the first quarter of 2021.

Did You Know?

• The Chronicle was founded with a borrowed $20 gold piece.
• It launched SFGate on November 3, 1994, the first large market newspaper website in the world.
• The Chronicle's building at 690 Market Street, completed in 1889, was San Francisco's first skyscraper.
• The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for Mark Fiore's political cartoons.
• The Chronicle was sold to Hearst Communications in 2000 for $660 million, well above analysts' $500 million valuation.