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Photograph of South San Francisco Hillside Sign
Photograph by BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

South San Francisco Hillside Sign

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. 22 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1892.

From the record

“The South San Francisco Hillside Sign is a historic sign on a hillside overlooking the city of South San Francisco in San Mateo County, California. It was created in the 1920s and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.”

Wikipedia article South San Francisco hillside sign, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 63 National Register listings published here for San Mateo County · listed in 1996 · category: Object.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. Sign Hill Park, N of Park Way, South San Francisco, 94080
  • When was it listed? July 1996
  • Category. object
  • Census division. South San Francisco
  • National Register reference number. 96000761 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1892 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering South San Francisco Hillside Sign, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet covering South San Francisco Hillside Sign, surveyed 1892

Fires near this property

408 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 408 fires within 5 miles of South San Francisco Hillside Sign between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,551 acres in total. None started naturally. 36 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined251
Smoking50
Arson/incendiarism36
Misuse of fire by a minor26
Equipment and vehicle use24
Debris and open burning11
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Recreation and ceremony4
Fireworks1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2009Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2008Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined12 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionBRUNO
7 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined15 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
7 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined41 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitCHESTNUT 2

Every fire recorded in San Mateo County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 34 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 34 workings within 5 miles of South San Francisco Hillside Sign: 19 past producers, 15 producers. 15 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Silver, Lead, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Black MountainGoldPast Producer
Black Mtn.GoldPast ProducerGold
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydriteProducerSedimentary
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydritePast Producer
Brisbane QuarryStoneProducer
Marine Magnes Div.MagnesiteProducer
Marine Magnes Div.MagnesitePast Producer
Marine Magnesium Co. Seawater PlantMagnesiteProducer
QuarryStoneProducer
QuarryStonePast Producer

Every working recorded in San Mateo County

Storms near this property

1 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South San Francisco, the town this property stands in, in 1 storm report in 2005: 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2005Tornado (F1)South San Francisco$800,000An F1 tornado touched down in South San Francisco damaging approximately 60 structures.

Every storm recorded in San Mateo County

Maps showing this location

22 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Martin Building0.8 miles1997
Golden Gate National Cemetery2.1 miles2016
Southern Pacific Railroad Bayshore Roundhouse2.7 miles2010
San Francisco Bay Discovery Site4.7 miles1968
Southern Pacific Depot4.9 miles1978
William A. Whifler House5.7 miles2016

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 96000761 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
San Mateo CountyAll 63 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.