Site of the Bank of Lucas, Turner & Co. (Sherman's Bank)

Sherman said late in life that he could handle a hundred thousand men in battle but was afraid to manage a lot in the swamp of San Francisco. He came to run this branch in 1853, survived two shipwrecks getting here, and blamed the town's business for his asthma. The bank rode out the runs of 1855 and closed its doors here in May 1857. The building went up with three stories; after 1906 only the granite front of its ground floor was left standing, and it was rebuilt with two.

What the plaque says

Site of the Bank of Lucas, Turner & Co. (Sherman's Bank) William Tecumseh Sherman established the branch bank of Lucas, Turner & Co. in San Francisco in 1853. He settled the firm in their own building on the northeast corner of Jackson and Montgomery Streets in the spring of 1854. Sherman successfully carried the bank through the financial crisis of 1855, and remained until they discontinued business in 1857. State Registered Landmark No. 453 Tablet placed by California Centennials Commission with the cooperation of the Society of California Pioneers Dedicated January 17, 1950

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

• First Jewish Religious Services — steps away
• Site of the First Meeting of Freemasons Held in California — steps away
• The Montgomery Block — steps away
• Western Headquarters of Russell, Majors, and Waddell — steps away