Insurance Famine

I posted this on my new blog, SameDamnStory.com and realized it is NorCal history and folks that follow or find this blog might also find it interesting.

On April 18 1906, an early morning earthquake leveled much of San Francisco and started fires that lasted for days, destroying an estimated 500 city blocks and thousands of buildings. Insurance companies responded immediately and by December of 1906, the city’s insurance commissioner estimated $180,000,000 had been paid out to help San Francisco businesses and residents get back on their feet. It was said that very few companies went out of business because of the tragedy.

But… (isn’t there always)

By the summer of 1906, insurance companies were pulling out of San Francisco. According to the July 16, 1906 issue of the San Francisco Call

“Fillmore street and Van Ness avenue are facing an insurance famine. The Insurance companies will not take large risks on the new store buildings nor on stocks of goods on account of the wooden buildings. They have canceled hundreds of policies because of the increased risk along these two streets. Many other adjoining streets are also suffering from scarcity of insurance. On Fillmore street the property values have increased many times…Yet Fillmore Street is not carrying as much insurance today as it was before the fire. The number of new restaurants, the building up of former vacant lots and the hurriedly erected wooden structures have frightened the insurance companies. They have Increased the cost of insurance…. Even at this high rate they will not write the risks.“

You can click HERE for the rest of the newspaper story, but you get the idea.

San Francisco addressed this crisis by bolstering their fire department, encouraging the erection of brick/fire proof structures and more.

And if you want to read how this relates to today, click my new blog SameDamnStory.com …

About the photo- Source: Calisphere (find other striking photos HERE)