Society of California Pioneers

The Society of California Pioneers began in a San Francisco saloon in August eighteen fifty. A group of men gathered at Delmonico's Saloon on Montgomery Street and heard the news of President Zachary Taylor's death. They decided that they should attend the city-wide funeral procession as a unified group of early settlers. This spontaneous decision led them to formalize their organization, calling upon anyone who had resided in California for at least three years to join them.