Santa Barbara Earthquake Centennial

History

Santa Barbara, California State Street Pre 1925 Earthquake

At dawn on June 29, 1925, the city of Santa Barbara shook with a 6.3 earthquake. The twin towers of Mission Santa Barbara were badly damaged, and 74 buildings downtown were totally destroyed or had to be demolished. The remainder were reparable, often by removing the top floor, or they were fine to use as they were.

A failed dam in the foothills released forty-five million gallons of water, and a gas company engineer became a hero when he shut off the city’s gas supply and prevented fires like those that destroyed San Francisco twenty years earlier following the 1906 earthquake.

It began the morning of June 29, 1925. Early risers noted their pets and livestock seemed agitated. Then at 6:42 am, the primary shock wave ripped through the city for eighteen seconds. Estimated at 6.3 on the Richter scale, the Great Earthquake claimed eleven lives.

Most of the populace spent the summer sleeping outdoors as aftershocks rolled through the city. Exactly one year later on June 29th, 1926, a sharp aftershock claimed one more life when a collapsing chimney killed a small boy. Over the next decade, the city rebuilt and reinvented itself in the process. Out of the rubble would come a new Santa Barbara with the headline, “Spanish Architecture to Rise from Ruins.”

Santa Barbara, California – State Street after the 1925 Earthquake

Radio Transmission Went Outdoors

Outdoor Post Office

Supplies for the Community

Corner of the San Marcos Building destroyed. Granada building at right was unscathed.

NOTICIAS
The Santa Barbara Historical Society Magazine
1925: the Big One?
By Robert Easton