April 8, 2007
Over 100,000 people a day travel the Geary Street corridor. But how many glance over and notice the grey statue standing watch at Franklin Street? Only a very few look even further, and notice the low, stone sarcophagus nestled in front of the gothic Unitarian Church. Walk right up to it and you’ll discover that it contains the earthly remains of Thomas Starr King.
Thomas Starr King? Who on earth was that — and what’s he doing here?
Indeed. The storm clouds of the American Civil War were brewing, and California’s loyalty to the Federal government was an open question. Though largely forgotten, Starr King was known in his day as “the Man Who Saved California for the Union”. His impact on California was incalculable, as you’ll begin to discover in this podcast — part one of a two-part story.
For further edification:
» Starr King in California — William Simonds, Project Gutenberg
» Starr King statue — National Hall of Statuary
» California in the Civil War — Wikipedia
» Starr King bio — Starr King School for the Ministry
» First Unitarian Church, 1864 — GoogleMaps
random episode from the archives:
1938 san francisco street map
musical support:
Thanks to Aaron Derington for “Green Forest”, Devin Anderson for “Trifles - A Play in One Act”, George Wood for “Slack Jaw”, and Commander Yo for “420 Improvisation”. This week’s music courtesy of PodSafeAudio.com.
printed bibliography:
“Thomas Starr King” — Robert Monzingo
“Apostle of Liberty” — Arnold Crompton
“SF, You’re History!” — J. Kingston Pierce
“Americans and the California Dream — Kevin Starr
“Starr King in California” — William Day Simonds (online edition — Project Gutenberg)
linking policy: books in print available through your local independent bookstore; out of print books through abebooks.com
9 responses to “#59: starr king and the california civil war (pt. 1)”
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Pingback from Allcaliforniaonline.Info » Kay Lenz (54)
April 15, 2007 at 2:20 am[...] #59: starr king and the california civil war (pt. 1) [...]
April 9, 2007 at 1:41 am
YAY! Another podcast episode! Thank you SSSSSOOOO much! I’ve been dying for another ever since last month’s!
Also, first comment! lol
Royce
PS: Keep up the great work!
April 9, 2007 at 5:49 am
Dear Richard,
I have just finished listening to this episode and I like it very much. Since I found sparkletack, I enjoyed most of the episodes and will enjoy the others as I have time to listen to them. I find the love to San Francisco that shines through each told stroy very intriguing. It tells me that you can understand, how I feel towards my hometown Berlin (Germany) - But with every show a vistit to San Francisco becames more and more one of my dreams.
I greatly like your stories and your way to tell them. And I highly appreciate that you take your time to paint a broader picture. As a german I’m not so familiar with american history, so most of your “sidetrack” information is new and very helpful to me. Therefor I like the idea of two part shows even though I useually don’t like clifhangers. It follows that I will like two part shows even more when the timespan between the parts is mot so long ;-)
Thank you for this wonderful podcast
Skadi
April 9, 2007 at 8:27 am
Richard,
Another excellent podcast on our favorite city, thanks.
On the subject of 1 or 2 part podcast, actually either way is fine with me, but I regularly listen to a single 2 hour podcast, so a loooong single podcast is cool too!!!!
As long as I get my Sparkletack I’m happy…..
Thanks for all your hard work, Richard.
John Stone
April 10, 2007 at 10:03 am
Love the longer more detailed podcast
Keep up the good work
April 13, 2007 at 9:54 am
Thanks for another great episode.
However you package your program is fine with me as long as each show is around 40 minutes. I enjoyed the more detailed show as it allows you to tell all the fun little facts.
I truly appreciate all the time and effort that you put into your podcast. Thank You.
April 14, 2007 at 12:52 am
Hi Richard,
Thanks for another great podcast. 2 part (or more!) podcasts are fine with me. I loved the Birth of San Francisco series. However some topics fit neatly into one part so I say choose the format you think is appropriate to the material.
I’d happily listen to Sparkletack whatever the length of the episode.
Kind Regards
Jae
April 16, 2007 at 7:53 pm
I’m all for two episodes when the topic commands it. The only drawback is having to wait for the second one!
April 19, 2007 at 6:47 pm
Hi Richard!
I am so glad to hear Sparkletack; will listen however you make it, but I’d rather it were more terse and not a 2-parter unless it is especially deep in character, quotations, etc… this one dragged on a little for my listening.
Keep up the great work! I’m so glad to hear my sparkletack!