Site of Old St. Mary's

Under the tower clock the church carries its own warning, Son, observe the time and fly from evil, a verse from Ecclesiasticus, and Barbary Coast walking histories say it was aimed at the men visiting the brothels along Dupont Street in the 1850s. The building came through the 1906 earthquake and was gutted by the fire a day later, which burned hot enough to melt its bells and its marble altar. Only the brick walls and the tower were left standing, and the church was rebuilt inside them by 1909.

What the plaque says

Site of Old St. Mary's Cornerstone 1853 Dedicated 1854 The first building erected as a cathedral in California, Old St. Mary's served the archdiocese of San Francisco in that capacity from 1854 to 1891. Once the city's most prominent building, much of its stone work was quarried and cut in China and its brick brought "around the Horn" in sailing ships. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 810 Plaque placed by the California State Park Commission in cooperation with the Paulist Fathers and the Grand Parlor, Native Sons of the Golden West, May 7, 1966.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Beach Overlook — 11 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.
• Muir Woods National Monument — 11 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Earthquake Trail — 27 mi
  A short loop along the San Andreas, where a broken fence shows how far Point Reyes moved in under a minute in 1906.
• Kule Loklo — 28 mi
  A Coast Miwok village built in the 1970s to honour a people its builders were told had died out. They had not.

More markers nearby

• California Theatre — steps away
• First Public School — steps away
• Eastern Terminus of Clay Street Hill Railroad — steps away
• Site of Parrott Granite Block — steps away