San Francisco - Union Square / July 10, 2009

Union Square is a 2.6 acres plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Street in San Francisco. It also refers to the central shopping, hotel, and theater district that surrounds the plaza for several blocks. The name "Union Square" stems from the fact that the area was once used for rallies and support for the Union Army during the Civil War. Today, this one-block plaza and nearby area is one of the largest collection of department stores, upscale boutiques, tourist trinket shops, art galleries, and salons in the Western United States, which continue to make Union Square a major tourist draw, a vital, cosmopolitan place in downtown San Francisco, and one of the world's premier shopping districts. Grand hotels and small inns, as well as repertory, off-Broadway and single-act theaters also contribute to the area's dynamic, 24-hour character.

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Union Square

Union Square was built and dedicated by San Francisco's first American mayor John Geary in 1850 and is so named for the pro-Union rallies that happened there before and during the United States Civil War.

Since then, the plaza underwent many notable changes with the most significant first happening in 1903 with the dedication of a 97-foot-tall (30 m) monument to Admiral George Dewey's victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish American War. It also commemorates U.S. President William McKinley, who had been recently assassinated.

The second major significant change happened between 1939-1941 when a large underground parking garage was built under the square that relocated the plaza's lawns, shrubs and the Dewey monument to the garage "roof." It was the world's first underground parking garage and was designed by Timothy Pflueger.

california san francisco union square