Emperor Norton’s name may yet span the bay S.F. board endorses plan to rename Bay Bridge after 19th century eccentricAccording to the Emperor Norton Bridge Committee — whose membership counts a number of historians — the naming of the bridge is unrelated to the controversy surrounding the cost and design of the seismic retrofit of the bridge’s eastern span.
Joshua Abraham Norton — who, according to his Chronicle obituary, hailed from Scotland — was a businessman who came to San Francisco by way of South Africa in 1849 to try his luck in the Gold Rush. It is said that he lost his fortune — and his mental stability — after making a bum investment in the rice market a few years later.
In 1859, he proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States and, shortly thereafter, the Protector of Mexico. For the next 20 years, he issued proclamations defending minorities and championing civil rights, which were reproduced in local newspapers. Meanwhile, a number of merchants honored Norton’s own specially printed paper money.
In 1872, Norton ordered “a bridge be built from Oakland Point to Goat (Yerba Buena) Island and thence to Telegraph Hill.” Though his proclamation received little notice at the time, such a bridge would open in 1936, described by President Herbert Hoover as “the greatest bridge ever erected by the human race.”
I know one
Mr. Matt Bolish would be at the renaming ceremony of this. I have to say, this is pretty awesome. Goddamn San Franciscan loons.
justinª