Peter Donahue

Peter Donahue, a founder of industrial San Francisco, made his way to gold-rush San Francisco aboard the steamship "Oregon" by way of Peru.Fact|date=December 2007

In 1849, Peter and his brothers (Michael and James) opened a blacksmith's shop at First and Mission Streets. Later, they expanded it into a foundry (which became known as the Union Iron Works) and added a gas works,cite web|url=http://www.baycrossings.com/archives/2000/05_May_June/bay_characters.htm|title=Those Amazing Donahue Boys|first=Richard|last=Dillon|accessdate=2007-12-05] the San Francisco Gas Company, a forerunner of Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

In 1860, Donahue organized the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, and in the 1870's he built a North Bay line from Donahue, California (at coord|38.189362|-122.541926 on Petaluma Creek [gnis|1702904|Donahue] ) to Cazadero, California which eventually became the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Donohoe built the first railroad to serve Santa Rosa, California.cite web|url=http://northbaydigital.sonoma.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/sunday&CISOPTR=486&filename=430.pdf|title=It was a long way to Gettysburg|author=Gaye LeBaron|date=September 30, 1990|publisher=Santa Rosa Press Democrat]

Peter Donahue was a respected industrialist of 1870's San Francisco. The Mechanics Monument in San Francisco, unveiled in 1901, was a tribute to the Donahue brothers' contributions, commissioned by his son James Mervyn Donahue.cite web|url=http://www.sandowmuseum.com/monument.html|title=The Mechanics Monument|date=May 15, 2001|publisher=Sandow Museum|last=Anderson|accessdate=2007-12-05]

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