The Wigwam Theatre

SE corner of Stockton and Geary  | map |

Opening: The theatre was a brick and "sheet iron" building on the SE corner of Stockton and Geary. The building had been constructed in 1884 as a campaign headquarters for the Blaine and Logan presidential campaign. Grover Cleveland ended up winning the election. 

Peter M. Field, author of the 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time," notes that the illustration appeared on page 16 of the San Francisco Call issue of April 8, 1896. At that point the building was scheduled to be demolished. The caption was "The Wigwam Theater That Is To Be Removed to Make Room for the Spring Valley Building." The text of the article about the new building is reproduced lower on the page.

Early history of the site: In the 1860s the southeast corner of Geary and Stockton was the location of the City College of San Francisco, a boys school not connected with the current college of that name. 

Thanks to Peter Field for locating this ad for the college that appeared on page xc of the 1865 city directory. He comments:

"This was a privately owned strictly WASP institution—the majority of its Board seats were reserved for members of the local Protestant Church hierarchy. The building at Geary and Stockton was constructed in 1861 by the Calvary Protestant Church when the school (begun in 1859) outgrew its home in the basement of the church on Bush St. It was a very toney school. 

 

"In those days, this former St. Ann’s Valley and not-yet-named Tenderloin area was a very respectable middle and upper-class residential neighborhood filled with the new or nearly new single family houses of the prosperous merchant and professional classes, as well as being dotted with a number of mansions of the era’s rich and famous. The school graduated a number of people into the upper echelons of business, the professions, and the arts. In 1875 this Protestant boys school and the building got moved to Haight and Buchanan streets." 

The Geary and Stockton campus in 1873. It had been renamed University College in 1863. Thanks to Peter Field for finding the illustration. It appeared on page 70 of the May 1, 1873 issue of Pacific Rural Press. Peter comments: 

"The little dog in the illustration might be a sly reference to an incident two years earlier. A large number of disreputable men and boys appeared in front of the building, each of them carrying a different variety of dog and offering it for sale in response to an advertisement. The men, impatient when no one came out to admit them, finally crowded into the building, disrupting the class that was in progress. The principal denied anyone wanted a dog until one of the men produced a copy of the newspaper with the advertisement. The principal explained it must have been a prank, and the disappointed men, boys, and dogs dispersed. Days later it was found that the prankster was one of the students, who was caught when he tried to pull the same stunt a second time. The story was related in 'Who Vants A Dorg?,' a page 3 story in the March 11, 1971 Chronicle."

Entertainment on the vacant lot: After the building was moved in 1875 the site had other uses. Peter notes that the empty lot was then used for fairs, tent revival shows and circuses. One of the circus proprietors using the site was Walter Morosco, born Walter Bishop. Evidently his circus morphed into a variety show. 

A November 19, 1928 Chronicle article by E.G. Fitzhamon is reproduced at the bottom of the page. Fitzhamon had this to say about the Morosco circus: 

"John I. Peterson of 268 Market  street tells me that Morosco (the original Morosco, whose real name was Walter Bishop) and whose son was Henry Bishop, well known theater manager on both sides of the bay, had a circus for some little time on that same site at Stockton and Geary. 'I remember it for three reasons,' he writes. 'Foremost because he has a professor Baldwin, who was acronaut, acrobat and tightrope walker. Every night he made a tightrope walk above Geary to the opposite side of the street, besides making a walk inside the curcus tent.' 

"A second reason, Peterson says, was there was the 'Slide for Life,' made at every evening performance from the top of the circus tent to the arena by Leslie Morosco, one of the boys trained by Morosco and endowed with his stage name. Leslie later on became an actor. The third reason was Morosco himself, of course. Nobody would forget him. He was a natural showman, quite a character and a clever performer in sawdust ring or on the stage."

The Wigwam gets built: In 1884 the Dirigo Club, an adjunct of the local Republican party, built the Wigwam as a campaign headquarters. 

 

 

Work began. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this item in the August 6, 1884 issue of the San Francisco Examiner.

 

Peter Field notes that the neighborhood was solidly Republican until the middle of the Great Depression. He discusses the construction project:

"Theodore Reichert, campaign head for numerous San Francisco Republican presidential campaigns headed the building campaign. It was the second Republican Wigwam to be built in that neighborhood, replacing an earlier one on Mason between Geary and Post that burned down after becoming a slipper factory. The Board of Supervisors put the kibosh on the original plans for a wood frame structure and so the Republicans spent $5,000 building a brick and iron structure with a tar-covered corrugated iron roof that made the place roast in the spring and fall and freeze in the winter. 

 

"During hot weather, the tar dripped off the edges of the roof onto the pavement. It must have made a hell of a racket when it rained during rallies and performances. To raise the money, they hit up the town’s Republican political appointees, who complained bitterly that they were in no position to refuse if they wanted to keep their positions." 

 

The August 31, 1884 issue of the San Francisco Examiner noted that the grand opening of the building was scheduled for September 1. 

 

An article about the Wigwam's September 1 grand opening. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this in the September 2, 1884 issue of the Examiner.

Early uses of the building: After the losing presidential election of 1884 the Republicans rented the building to a number of users. 

Art Siegel notes that the Examiner's issue of November 10 advised that there would be a boxing match on November 17. Other fights and events followed. In June 1885 there was a theatrical presentation titled "Lost At Sea." 

"After the presidential campaign of 1884, the Wigwam successively was converted into a banquet hall, bazaar, poultry showroom,  prizefight arena and circus ground. A company playing under the direction of Edward Barrett briefly contributed a proper theatrical atmosphere to 'the great barn-like structure' in 1885; then came Walter Morosco's Royal Russian Circus, and Fryer's Circus, with its spectacular and highly successful menagerie shows."

It's quote on page 113-114 of George Hanlin and Alan Harrison's "Famous Playhouses of San Francisco," in chapter 8: "The Wigwam." It's a 1942 publication from the Writers' Program of the WPA that was sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on Internet Archive. The chapter goes on to describe the the building and the problems with making it safe enough to satisfy the city.

Morosco went on to take over Union Hall on Howard St. in 1886, a venue he called Morosco's Amphitheatre, later renamed Morosco's Theatre. In 1894 he took over the Grand Opera House on Mission St.  

Gustav Walter leases the Wigwam: The building was leased in the summer of 1885 to Gustav Walter, who had come to San Francisco in 1871 and had operated The Fountain beginning around 1880 and the Vienna Garden beginning in 1881. He also operated the Telegraph Hill Observatory and Concert Hall, opened in 1884. He remodeled the Wigwam's auditorium, built a new stage and installed a bar. Peter Field discusses the Wigwam operation:

"He called it the Wigwam Garden, a sort of bier halle much like his nearby Vienna Garden that made its money from beer and food sales and offered free entertainment. By 1886 this morphed into the Wigwam Garden Theatre which changed its format to variety and vaudeville and charged admission. It ran under Walter and a couple of later proprietors and became famous as a ten cent joint for the humbler classes."

The venue opened under Walter's management in August, 1885. In an August 20 ad in the Daily Evening Post he boasted:

"The largest, and best appointed, and most perfectly ventilated Concert Hall in America. The hall is remodeled, redecorated and frescoed in the latest style. Entirely new stage, new scenery, etc."

A later ad announced: 

"GRAND OPENING  Saturday Evening, August 22nd. Extraordinary Attractions! Everything New! 4 Grand opening Performances 4 - Saturday, Sunday, Sunday Afternoon and Monday - August 22nd, 23rd, 24th. ADMISSION FREE!"

 

A September 7, 1885 ad for the Wigwam Garden that appeared in the Chronicle. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it. 

Despite Walter's lease, he closed the theatre from September 20 until November 6, 1886 as the Dirigo Club wished to use the building for campaign events. Walter headed to Europe to scout for new attractions. He returned with "Extraordinary novelties brought here at enormous expense. Acts never witnessed here." See "The Wigwam," chapter 8 of George Hanlin and Alan Harrison's "Famous Playhouses of San Francisco," for details of many of the shows Walter produced. 

 

 

 

An August 17, 1887 ad in the Chronicle that was located by Art Siegel. This was the last ad he located with Walter still listed as the proprietor. 

Walter had opened the Orpheum Theatre on O'Farrell St. on June 30, 1887. It was the first house in what would become a major vaudeville circuit. James Madison mentions Walter's career in "San Francisco Theatrical Memories," his 1925 article that appears on on a Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco page: 

 

"The Orpheum Circuit of today is an evolution of the managerial acumen of Gustav Walter, who came to San Francisco in the seventies and successfully conducted the Fountain at Sutter and Kearny, the Vienna Gardens at Sutter and Stockton and the Wigwam, where the City of Paris now stands. At this latter house he made enough money to build the O’Farrell Street Orpheum, which opened in 1887 with Rosner’s Hungarian Orchestra and a big Variety bill."

 

A portrait of Walter that appeared with his obituary in the May 15, 1898 Los Angeles Herald. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it via the California Digital Newspaper Collection. The text accompanying the image: 

"GUSTAV WALTER, president of the Walter Orpheum company and controlling spirit of the Orpheum circuit of vaudeville theaters in this country, died of appendicitis at San Francisco on the 9th instant. Mr. Walter began his career as manager and owner of vaudeville shows and theaters in 1880. His great success dates from the establishment of the Orpheum on O'Farrell street, San Francisco, in 1887. Only a few months ago he sold a half interest In the theater to Sam Meyerfeld for $60,000. In addition to the Orpheum interests it is stated that Mr. Walter leaves as part of his estate $100,000 in United States bonds. His first theatrical venture was the old Fountain theater, in the basement of the Thurlow block, at Sutter and Kearny streets, San Francisco. He then opened the Vienna Gardens, at Sutter and Stockton streets, and later on the Wigwam, at Geary and Stockton. From the Wigwam he moved to the Orpheum. He built up a reputation for the latter by engaging the leading vaudeville talent from all over the world. 

 

"In 1894 he branched out by opening a theater in this city [Los Angeles], and later others in Sacramento, St. Louis and Kansas City. Just what disposition will be made of his theatrical properties is not yet known Mr. Walter had a varied career before coming to San Francisco to make his permanent home. He was 50 years of age, having been born In 1848 at Osterade, in Germany. He was the youngest of seventeen children. His ancestors were prominent leather manufacturers in Osterade for many years. As a boy he became a clerk in a Bremen store. In 1865 he came to the United States and was employed in a flour and provision house in New York for several years. He first went to San Francisco in 1871, and for six years was head bookkeeper for William Ehrenpfort, the carpet dealer. He left this position in 1880 to engage in the theatrical business. His death is a distinct loss, not only to theatrical people, but to the amusement-loving public."

The Wigwam was mentioned in a July 2, 1901 article in the S.F. Call. that was about Walter Morosco's sale of the company that operated the Grand Opera House. But they seem to have confused Morosco's 1885 circus exploits in the building with Gustav Walter's later operation:

"In 1885 he [Morosco] opened the Wigwam, located on the present site of the Spring Valley Waterworks Building, as an amusement house. It had previously been used for political meetings. He first installed a circus in it and it developed into variety and then into vaudeville, the Orpheum being the final outcome."

  

 

The Wigwam appears in the 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. That's Stockton St. across the top and Geary on the right side. This detail is from Volume 1, image 25 on the Library of Congress website. Thanks to Art Siegel for spotting it.  

 

Walter ran both the Orpheum and the Wigwam for a brief period. 

 

Charles Meyer takes over: By 1888 the Wigwam was being managed by Charles Meyer. The story is that initially he was managing the house on behalf of various creditors and in 1889 assumed total control of the operation.

 

 

 

Meyer at some point picked up a partner, a Mr. Samm. This ad appearing in the July 11, 1888 issue of the Chronicle noted that the duo had just taken over the Fountain, another venue formerly operated by Gustav Walter. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the ad. 

Actor David Warfield once appeared at the Wigwam. He mentions the occasion in "Dave Warfield Says He Finds Acting Easy," an article located by Art Siegel via the California Digital Newspaper Collection website that appeared in the January 10, 1903 L.A. Herald: 

"... Mr. Warfield made his first theatrical appearance in what he terms a successful failure in the Wigwam in San Francisco, a variety theater. 'The house rose as one man and said "enough."' and Mr. Warfield's eyes twinkled merrily as he recalled the scene. 'But I had not had enough, so here I am.' Mr. Warfield is here to stay."

 

Charles Meyer appears to have jettisoned Mr. Samm and added a brother to the management team by the time of this broadside for a March 11, 1889 show. Thanks to Sam Singer for spotting this in a 2024 auction from the site Live Auctioneers. Also see the reverse side, printed with M.J. Kavanagh's lyric for the 1885 song "As I Sat On My Dear Old Mother's Knee," music by Joseph P. Skelly.

 

A drawing of the Wigwam located by Peter Field that had appeared on page 31 of the December 29, 1889 issue of the Chronicle. The accompanying article: 

 

 

A mention of debts but not Gustav Walter. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the text of the article. 

 

An early photo of the theatre from a book or newspaper page that's in the collection of the Museum of Performance + Design. Thanks to Peter Field for locating it. 

 

A November 1890 ad for a wrestling bout located by Ken McIntyre for a Facebook thread including various Wigwam items on Ken's Movie Page. 

Spring Valley Water Company owned the property the Wigwam was on. Charles Meyer executed a new lease with them on September 1, 1892 and did an extension in May 1893. 

An illustration promoting a boxing kangaroo act that appeared at the Wigwam. It appeared on page 16 of the San Francisco Morning Call issue of August 16, 1893. Thanks to Peter Field for finding it.

Charles Meyer died on Christmas Day 1893 and management of the Wigwam was taken over by his widow Mary and Albert Meyer, a son Mary had before her marriage to Charles.

 

 

The obituary for Charles Meyer that appeared in the December 26, 1893 issue of the Chronicle. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it. 

The family fights soon made the papers. A February 28, 1894 San Francisco Call story that Art located was titled "Wigwam Troubles." You can read it all on the site of the California Digital Newspaper Collection. They noted:

"The even tenor of the Meyer family...does not run as smoothly now as it did a week ago, and from the outlook what is at present only a smoldering fire may break out in a bitter family war before the week ends."

The Call's sub-head said "Frank Meyer Will Not Leave the Band." Well he had left. That should have read "Lead." Frank, who had been the orchestra director for the previous five years, was earlier having an affair with a "soubrette" at the theatre, a Miss Neilson. And there were disputes about the firing of an orchestra member who happened to be the brother of Frank's girlfriend. But it was really all about the division of the estate and who should run the theatre: Frank (a son of Charles) or Albert (a stepson). Frank walked out and the widow, Mary Meyer, wanted him back but only as orchestra leader, not as a theatre manager.

Want the whole sandal? Charles Meyer had three wives. The strange history was explored in "Too Many Wives," a long article located by Art Siegel in the March 21, 1894 San Francisco Call. It's on the site of the California Digital Newspaper Collection. 

 

The first marriage had produced a son, Frank A. Meyer, and a daughter, by then called Mrs. Bertha Tischbein. That marriage ended with the death of his wife. His second wife, Mary, had two sons before she married Charles: Albert, helping manage the theatre, and Louis, a player in the orchestra. Mary and Charles also had a son together, Edward, who was a drummer in the orchestra. Without divorcing Mary, Charles had entered into a "contract marriage" with a third wife, Adelaide Brandon Meyer, who died in September 1893.

 

Frank thought he was going to manage the theatre. Both he and his sister Bertha had evidently lent money to Charles to keep the Wigwam afloat. In the March 1894 Call article Frank said: 

" 'When I returned after the funeral to the Wigwam I was told by Albert Meyer, my stepbrother, the son of my father's widow, but not his son, that I need not stay around the Wigwam any more, as they were going to manage that, now that the old man was gone... it had always been understood that I was to manage the theater. My father did not want his stepson, Albert, at the theater. Only three days before his death he had taken the keys away from him and he had told me just before his death to take the keys and take charge of everything..' ... Albert Meyer, who represents his mother at the Wigwam, had little to say. A compromise had been effected, he said..." 

Frank and his sister Bertha both contested the estate of their father Charles. 

"Sights at the Fair," a April 1, 1894 San Jose Daily Mercury article that Art Siegel located via the California Digital Newspaper Collection, reported on the Midwinter Fair but also news of other happenings in San Francisco. They veered into politics and commented on the declining popularity of Grover Cleveland and how that was reflected in audience response to a "skirt dance" at the Wigwam: 

"As an indication of the decline of Cleveland’s popularity in this city, we will relate a significant incident. At the Wigwam Theater recently, a cheap but popular place of public resort in this city, the management presented a specialty of a somewhat singular character. It consisted of what is known as the skirt dance. A limber-limbed female, with a superabundance of skirts, whirls her vast adornment of gauzy material around her form in a very fantastic way. A magic lantern, with various slides representing prominent public men, is directed upon her while she whirls and gyrates, her body and skirts forming the background for the magic pictures. 

"First the picture of Blaine was presented with rapturous applause. Then followed Harrison and other notables, which were favorably received. Then the lantern revealed the ample bust of Cleveland, the stuffed prophet. The immense audience at once set up a howl of disgust, hissing and hooting, with all manner of disparaging comments. It was simply fearful, but it showed the popular disgust for the Chief Executive of the Nation..."

 

 

 

Business supposedly went downhill after the passing of Charles. This June 1894 ad noted that Albert was managing at that time. Thanks to Peter Field for finding the ad in the collection of the Museum of Performance + Design.

 

A June 17, 1894 San Francisco Call article noted they had several engagements booked before closing for a summer break. The reopening would be August 16 with John Drew, playing various plays in repertory. They noted:

 

"The young manager of the Wigwam theater, Albert Meyer, is not only following closely in the footsteps of his father, as regards the interests of this house but in many particulars, as times demand, is increasing the pace..."

 

 

The operation was back in the hands of Gustav Walter in 1895. This item was in the January 18, 1895 San Francisco Call. He retained Albert Meyer as manager.

 

 

Cooking the books? That's what Charles' daughter Bertha was alleging in this item from the May 2, 1895 San Francisco Call. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this via the California Digital Newspaper Collection. 

 

"Theatrical Dullness.." Fraud had been alleged in order to give the appearance that the theatre was a money-losing proposition after the death of Charles Meyer. This article located by Art Siegel appeared in the May 3, 1895 San Francisco Call. It's on the site of the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

An 1895 drawing of the theatre building located by Peter Field. It's from "The 1895 Illustrated Directory" as reprinted in on page 154 of "Victorian San Francisco" (Windgate Press, 1996). No, it hadn't been turned into a cigar store. Peter comments: 

 

"'The Illustrated Directory' left out the names of businesses that didn’t subscribe to its solicitations to pay to be included. Thus, there are many examples in the Directory of storefronts and other locations that are unlabeled with either business names or addresses. The Wigwam Theatre seems to be one of these."

Closing: Walter had been in control of the operation (again) beginning in January 1895. He and Meyer, as manager, made the decision to close the venue in April. An article in the Post on April 23 noted that the two came to the conclusion that:

"... it would be folly to keep it open longer. The burlesques given by the local artists at the Wigwam did not appeal to the purses of theatre-goers in San Francisco... Gustav Walter of the Orpheum had this to say: 'The fact of the matter is, San Francisco will not patronize home talent. I don't blame the people much, for many of the people we have had working at the Wigwam have been unsteady in their hours and upon their pins. The Orpheum and the Wigwam have been working in the same circuit, but we found it did not pay us to transfer from the Orpheum to the other theatre the higher-priced artists we brought from the East. There was but one thing to do from a business standpoint and that was to close the Wigwam's doors..."

The lease on the property and the building itself were advertised for a sheriff's sale in the May 8, 1895 San Francisco Call. Evidently M.C. Maunder was one of Mary Meyer's creditors. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this via the website of the California Digital Newspaper Collection.  

A February 7, 1896 San Francisco Call article detailed the mayhem at the Wigwam as the Call was distributing 600 free tickets to a performance by the singer and actress Corinne. Apparently the Call newsboys had a mad infatuation for this performer. But they were only using the Wigwam as a distribution point. The performance was to be at the California Theatre. 

An April 8, 1896 San Francisco Call article about the new building to be erected on the site commented on the status of the Wigwam: 

"The present lessee keeps it closed now, so that patronage may not be diverted from the Orpheum, another place of amusement which he controls."

Demolition: The end of the Wigwam Theatre came in mid-1896 when the site was cleared for construction of a new building for the Spring Valley Water Company.

Later construction on the site: The article below appeared with the drawing that's at the top of the page from the April 8, 1896 San Francisco Call. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this via the California Digital Newspaper Collection.

"SPRING VALLEY'S NEW BUILDING. 

On the Wigwam Premises, Corner of Geary and Stockton. 

 

A MODERN STRUCTURE 

Historic Associations Connected With the Republican Wigwam. 

 

MEMORABLE POLITICAL EVENTS

Where the San Francisco Legions of Garfield, Harrison and Blaine Rallied.

"The old Republican Wigwam at the southeast corner of Geary and Stockton streets, known during late years as the Wigwam Theater, will shortly be demolished or moved to make room for a magnificent modern building seven stories high. The Wigwam can hardly be classed as an old landmark, but it possesses a history closely identified with many exciting political campaigns. From its spacious auditorium marched the legions of the Garfield Invincibles in that memorable campaign in which General Hancock carried California by the smallest majority ever recorded in a Presidential election in this State. The Morey forged letter did the work and cheated the Republicans of the State electoral vote for their candidates.

"In the Wigwam rallied the followers of Blaine and Harrison, and there the San Francisco Republicans shouted for Estee when he ran against Stoneman, and applauded Swift when he campaigned against Bartlett. Many orators of State and National renown have addressed audiences in the historic building. Ratification meetings, nominating conventions and informal audiences meeting to hear and cheer election returns have assembled at the Wigwam. Often Republicans, elated with the news of victory, formed in line and marched triumphantly along the principal streets. On other occasions they waited until the last hope of success had vanished and went home gloomy and dispirited. The building was used as Republican headquarters from the Garfield election of 1880 until the Markham campaign. When Markham was nominated the leaders of the party erected the Wigwam, now known as the Auditorium, at the corner of Eddy and Jones streets. Since then the old Wigwam has been leased for all sorts and varieties of public entertainment. The present lessee keeps it closed now, so that patronage may not be diverted from the Orpheum, another place of amusement which he controls.

"The 50-vara lot, on which stands the old Wigwam, belongs to the Spring Valley Water Company. It was purchased from James Keene, the noted stockbroker, in 1876, and is regarded as one of the choicest pieces of real estate in San Francisco. For years the directors of the Spring Valley Water Works have discussed from time to time the proposition to erect on the big lot a building commensurate with the expansion of the City and the wealth of the water corporation. Conservative directors at first glance opposed the plan, fearing that the building enterprise would impose additional burdens on ratepayers, but finally their objections were overcome when facts and figures were submitted showing beyond reasonable doubt that the income from a modern edifice six or seven stories high would justify the outlay and return a handsome profit on the investment.

"In due time the well-known architect, Clinton Day, was requested to prepare plans in accordance with the suggestions of the directors and submit the same to the board. The plans were accordingly drawn and have been accepted, subject to some slight modifications. The new building will afford ample office accommodations for the president, engineers, cashier, collectors and superintendents of the company. As the building will cover a fifty-vara lot there will be many apartments for rent, and in this location it will not be a hard task to secure desirable tenants. The offices facing north and west will command a fine view of Union square."

A drawing of the new building for the site that appeared on page 16 of the Chronicle's issue of April 10, 1896. Thanks to Peter Field for locating it. He notes: "The Spring Valley Water Company building was erected there in 1896 and 1897, with the main tenant being the City of Paris and the SVWC occupying the top two floors."

An article in the November 19, 1928 Chronicle (also reproduced at the bottom of the page) asserted that the SVWC/City of Paris building was built not only on the lot where the Wigwam stood but the sites of a church and graveyard to the east. Peter disputes that and comments: 

"According to the 1886 Sanborn insurance maps, the Wigwam occupied the entire corner 50-vara lot that earlier contained the College and, later, the Spring Valley Water Company / City of Paris building. The Wigwam was built in 1884, but according to newspaper reports between 1884 and 1887, the Starr King Church (the First Unitarian Church) wasn’t moved from its spot next door to the Wigwam until late 1887. The 1899 and later Sanborns show the Spring Valley building as occupying just the 50-vara lot on the corner. 

 

"Therefore, the Spring Valley building and the earlier Wigwam must have been next door to the Starr King Church lot and its one person graveyard honoring the remains of Starr King, and never a part of it. This is confirmed by the 1913 and 1951 Sanborns, which show that the Starr King lot was occupied by the Starr King Building (later called the Filoli Building) an office building constructed on the site after the 1906 earthquake and fire on its own 50-vara lot next door to the Spring Valley building."

The almost completed building. Thanks to Peter Field for finding the illustration in the San Francisco Public Library collection.

The ruins after the fire and earthquake of 1906. Thanks to Peter Field for the photo from an unknown archive. He notes that the shell was saved and a new interior constructed for the City of Paris department store. 

Status: The SVWC/City of Paris Building has been demolished. The dome that had been inside the building's entrance at the center of the Geary St. facade is the only thing that was saved. The current Neiman Marcus building dates from 1982. The dome was repositioned at the entrance of the new building at the corner of Geary and Stockton. Thanks to William David French Jr. for the data.

Republicans build a new hall: In 1890 the Republicans built a new hall at at Eddy and Jones, a building known at different times as the Republican Wigwam, the National Theatre and the Auditorium. In 1898 it was replaced by the Alhambra Theatre. See that page for a history of the site, now the location of Boeddeker Park. 

In 1896 the Republicans reorganized as the "McKinley Invincibles" and were again using the Auditorium as their campaign headquarters. This picture of  their leader Theodore Reichert and a discussion of his accomplishments appeared on page 11 of the August 14, 1896 issue of the Chronicle. Thanks to Peter Field for locating the item. It mentions that the Wigwam at Geary and Stockton had been constructed under his leadership.

Later use of the Wigwam name:  Evidently there were several tent theatres using the Wigwam name in Golden Gate Park and/or the Mission district that Joe Bauer and two partners operated following the 1906 earthquake. They opened a wood-frame Wigwam Theatre in the Mission in 1907. That was succeeded in 1913 by a more permanent structure, also called the Wigwam. See the Crown Theatre page for information on that one. It was also known as the New Rialto and the Cine Latino.

More Information: Peter M. Field's 2018 Arcadia Publishing book "The Tenderloin District of San Francisco Through Time" is available from your neighborhood bookstore or through Amazon. He comments: "In the 1890s the Tenderloin stretched from around Grant or Stockton west to Taylor or Jones Street, not as far west as it is now, which is why I include what is now Union Square in my research."  

See "The Wigwam," chapter 8 of George Hanlin and Alan Harrison's "Famous Playhouses of San Francisco." It's a 1942 publication from the Writers' Program of the WPA that was sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it on Internet Archive. This publication formed the the basis of Edmond M. Gagey's "The San Francisco Stage," Columbia University Press, 1950.  

The Wigwam and the adventures of Walter Morosco were discussed in this page six article about Stockton St. in the November 19, 1928 Chronicle. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating it.

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