San Francisco Ferry Building for kids
The Giant Clock by the Bay. The true story of the San Francisco Ferry Building, near San Francisco, CA, told for kids.
Read along
Look up! Do you see a very tall tower with a clock on it? That is the Ferry Building. Tick tock!
It has four clocks, one on each side, and each one is twenty-two feet across. That is wider than a school bus is long, nearly! Imagine a clock so big that the minute hand could give a giraffe a high five. Long ago, people rode ferry boats here to cross the bay, and the clock told them when to hurry.
Today you can still take a ferry, and you can even eat yummy food inside. Now it's your turn. Look up and find the clock tower. How many clock faces can you see from the car?
Quiz the back seat
How many clock faces are on the Ferry Building tower?
Show the answer
Four. Four! One for each side, so people can tell the time from almost anywhere.
3 fun facts
- The clock tower is 245 feet tall.
- It has four clock dials, each 22 feet across.
- The building was completed in 1898.
For grown-ups
Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Ferry_Building
- emperornortontrust.org/blog/2023/7/20/the-ferry-building-clock-tower-from-emperor-nortons-street
- foundsf.org/Ferry_Building_Clock_Springs_Forward
- sfgate.com/local/article/ferry-building-clock-tower-inside-tour-14801561.php
- encirclephotos.com/image/ferry-building-clock-tower-in-san-francisco-california
- ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/about
- sfbayferry.com/our-history
- goldengate.org/ferry/schedules-maps
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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).