In the early morning of April 18, Frederick L. Lipman, who ran daily banking operations as Cashier of Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank, was awakened by the earthquake at his home in Berkeley.

April 18, 1906

My family and I were awakened on the morning of April 18, 1906 at about six minutes past five by an earthquake. It was a pretty healthy affair. The most striking thing about it was its length. We heard our chimney break down and so we got up, dressed and went out in the street to look around at our neighbors’ chimneys... I started to go over to town [San Francisco] at my usual time. I took with me my dress suit for the opera that night. It never occurred to me that anything was happening to interfere with going to the opera...

There would be no opera. Instead he was greeted by a view of the city in flames.

When we got on the boat we could see smoke rising in San Francisco, not in one place but in a number of places. The boat landed [at the Ferry Building foot of Market Street] I got off, carried my suitcase... and we could see that the fire was spreading. I came up California Street and you could see where the fire was burning in places, but there was nothing in the way to keep me from getting through, although there were fires not so very far away...

When it was all over, 200,000 residents were left homeless. 490 city blocks encompassing 2,831 acres and 28,000 buildings were destroyed and damage estimates totaled in excess of $350 million. The official tally of the dead was 674.