American Experience — Season 1, Episode 1: The Great San Francisco Earthquake

Episode synopsis

From Enrico Caruso to the ordinary San Franciscan, this film presents vivid memories of those trapped in the terrifying event of 1906. Four hundred eighty square blocks were reduced to rubble; thousands were killed, tens of thousands left homeless. Then the heroic struggle to rebuild a city from the ashes began.

About American Experience

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

More episodes from Season 1

• E2Radio Bikini
• E3Indians, Outlaws and Angie Debo
• E4Eric Sevareid's Not So Wild A Dream
• E5The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
• E6Do You Mean There Are Still Real Cowboys?
• E7Kennedy vs. Wallace: A Crisis Up Close
• E8Geronimo and the Apache Resistance
• E9Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Revisited
• E10That Rhythm, Those Blues
• E11The Radio Priest
• E12Hearts and Hands
• E13Views of a Vanishing Frontier