Sewer vent covers tell the story of who built San Francisco
, 2022-12-05 06:03:51,
No one really wants to think about how a city sewer system works. But that wastewater we blissfully flush away each day flows out to an intricate network below the streets, which was crafted by the early creators of San Francisco’s urban landscape. While their names are mostly long forgotten, all it takes is looking down to discover one.
You’ve likely trodden upon hundreds of the small, square cast iron vents embedded in San Francisco’s sidewalks. There’s one in front of every home, allowing gasses to escape safely. Many are simply a metal plate, but hundreds are engraved with the names and businesses of tradespeople from as early as the 1890s. But trying to pinpoint whose name ended up on the grates and why will lead you down a wandering path filled with plumbers, contractors, foundries and hardware stores.
Former high school teacher and San Francisco history fanatic John Freeman found that out when he tried to discover the origins of the name “F. Nelson” on the vent cover across the street from his house in the Richmond District. After looking through old city directories, Freeman found out that the name belonged to a contractor, Fernando Nelson, who worked in San Francisco for more than 60 years before he died in 1952. Nelson started his career building homes in the Mission in the 1870s, but eventually expanded into the Richmond District and then the Sunset District.
A sewer vent cover located on…
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