USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego > City of San Diego and San Diego County : the birthplace of California, Volume I > Part 24
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The beginning of the 15-year period was as bright as the ending has been. The year 1906 saw a great increase in building, the total being more than twice as large as that for 1905. In 1906 John D. Spreckels began the series of buildings which have made Broadway, the city's great downtown thoroughfare, what it is now, and his ex- ample was followed by many others, individuals and organizations. Following the institution of a notable suit between the Spreckels interests and the E. S. Babcock interests, there was a complete sep- aration of the two, and Spreckels went ahead with more vigor than before. The Spreckels interests bought out all the holdings of E. S. Babcock and his son, Graham Babcock, in the Southern California Mountain Water Company, in May, 1906, the sale being followed by an announcement in Mr. Spreckels' newspaper, the Union, to this effect :
"This means that the plans of the present owners of the company will push forward without interruption or delay by suits in court. It means the turning of all the supply of mountain water into the distributing pipes of the city that the city can use." The promise here made was carried out in full, and the assurance that the city
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CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 179
would have a good water supply had a great deal to do with the growth of San Diego in the years that followed.
The list of buildings actually started in 1906 or planned in that year includes the Union Building, at the southwest corner of Third Street and Broadway, the building later being extended to Second Street, so as to take all of the Broadway frontage on that block. It also includes the large Scripps Building, built at Sixth and C streets by Frederick T. Scripps, half-brother of the newspaper publisher, E. W. Scripps. Each is of six stories, and the building of each did much to establish San Diego as a modern city.
Other new buildings actually started or planned in 1906 are given in the following remarkable list :
U. S. Grant Hotel, 200x200 feet, nine stories, Broadway,
Third and Fourth streets. $700,000
San Diego Elks' Hall, Second and D streets. 50,000
U. S. Quarantine station. 250,000
U. S. Navy Coaling station 400,000
U. S. Navy Wireless Telegraph station 75,000
Columbian Realty Company, three stories, 250 feet on Fifth, and 200 on B, and 150 feet on Sixth 100,000
San Diego high school. 110,000
San Diego high school equipment. 20,000
New grammar schools and improvements. 120,000 1 1 1 1
L. J. Wilde Block, five stories, Second and D 65,000 1 I 1 1 1 1
1 I 1 I Germania Hall, Ninth and G streets. 35,000
Masonic Temple, Fifth and A streets 20,000
Agnew Sanitarium, four stories, Fifth and Beech streets 50,000
Dr. Hearne's Sanitarium, three stories, Fourth and Ash 40,000
First Methodist Church, Ninth and C streets. 65,000
Central Christian Church, Ninth and F streets 25,000
New car barns, San Diego Electric Railway Company. 50,000
New gas plant and electric works, S. D. Con. Gas and Electric Company 150,000
Overbaugh Block, three stories, Sixth and H streets 35,000
Benson Lumber Co., sawmills, etc., foot of 22nd Street 45,000
Catholic Church, 24th and G. streets.
20,000
C. M. Gifford, olive factory, Thirteenth and MI streets.
10,000
Realty and Mercantile Company, five story department store. Sixth and H streets 80,000
Mrs. Medora Howard, residence, Seventh and Cedar 16,000
San Diego Brewing Co., warehouse and cold storage plant 20,000
Santa Fe improvements to warehouse and wharf 50,000
Bartlett Estate Co., ten houses, Lincoln Park
45,000
George P. Brown, residence, Third and Upas streets
15,000
Harry A. Stine, residence, 25th and C streets.
10,000
Mr. and Mrs. B. W. Weinrich, eight 5-room flats, Fourth and Hawthorne streets 12,000
Patrick Martin, residence, 25th and E streets
10,000
Horace B. Day, residence, Third and Walnut streets
10,000
Dr. F. R. Burnham, residence
16,000
San Diego County Hall of Records. Front and C streets 105,000
Public buildings to be erected by U. S. Government
150,000
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Early in 1906 the Chamber of Commerce began a campaign to obtain a thousand new members, and its efforts were backed up by William E. Smythe, the historian, who wrote as follows :
"The Chamber of Commerce has done much for San Diego through their valuable influence. Here are some of the things it has worked for :
"A public highway from this port to Yuma, Arizona.
"Increased mail service, overland and by water.
"Adequate buoys for the harbor.
"A valuable government report showing the excellence of the harbor.
"Extension of public land surveys throughout the country, in- cluding the Colorado desert.
"Recognition of San Diego as an important port of entry.
"Government construction of Old Town dike, to protect the harbor.
"The first large appropriations for fortifications.
"Additional surveys and report by the United States Coast Survey.
"Improvement of Santa Fe Service, and stopping of discrimina- tion against Southern California towns in regard to freight rates.
"Establishment of headquarters at Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to advertise San Diego.
"Memorials to state and national legislative bodies which have pro- tected and fostered San Diego interests at every session of those bodies during the past thirty-six years.
"Appropriations for jetty and other harbor improvements, be- sides those already mentioned.
"Exhaustive experiments regarding tobacco culture in this country. "Aggressive support of campaign for isthmian canal.
"Dollar rate on lemons between San Diego and Chicago by Santa Fe route.
"Distribution of millions of copies of printed matter to make San Diego known the four corners of the globe.
"Entertainment of prominent men and representative bodies from abroad.
"Site for naval coaling station.
"Rural free delivery.
"The chamber is fighting for a naval training station and an extension of the Salt Lake railroad to San Diego, and, in addition to all these things, it has given the most loyal support to every rail- road movement which has been organized from 1870 to 1906.
"Look over this list and you will realize that without an organized body like the chamber of commerce it would be impossible for the public spirit of San Diego to find effective expression. Every man who regards himself of any importance in the life of this community should be enrolled in the membership, and give his moral and financial support to an institution without which San Diego could not have been the city it is today, but with which it will surely become the city it desires to be tomorrow."
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 181
San Diego's prosperity for 1906 was voiced to the world in a special edition of the Union appearing on the morning of July 13. It contained the following :
"San Diego's population has nearly doubled in five years.
"The city is riding on the crest of the wave of prosperity, a wave that holds out every promise of landing San Diego in the position to which its numerous advantages gives it every right of title, that of one of the largest ports in the world.
"More than $6,000,000 will be spent in buildings and public im- provements during this year.
"No city could today offer a more attractive inducement to in- vestors than San Diego can boast of, due to the unprecedented busi- ness advantages here.
1
SAN DIEGO'S FINE HIGH SCHOOL
It stands on one of the most beautiful sites in the city, overlooking the great City Park, the mountains at the east and the bay and ocean at the south and west.
"For the business man looking for rest and recreation; for the invalid seeking renewed health and happiness, and for the pleasure- seekers San Diego offers every inducement.
"Records at the U. S. Weather Bureau show that San Diego has the most equitable climate in the world.
tem.
"San Diego may well boast of its magnificent public school sys- The buildings are modern and of the latest type.
"San Diego has a population of 32,000 and is annually visited by 60,000 people : on August 1 it will be receiving an abundant supply of mountain water from a $3,000,000 system: it has 24 churches of all denominations : three daily newspapers besides several weeklies ; eight banks: modern electric street railway systems, with numerous extensions under construction : $1.000,000 U. S. Grant Hotel under construction : 1,400 acre city park ; good fire department ; marine repair docks, electric lighting and gas: two telephone systems; 71 miles of graded streets ; several miles of paved streets ; many miles of oiled boulevards and parks: 80 miles of cement sidewalks: modern sewer system costing more than $400.000: three modern theatres: $80,000
182 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
public library ; steamship lines to all coast points ; port of call on New York and Pacific coast lines ; many manufacturing establishments."
A fine example of San Diego spirit was afforded in April of 1906, when the news was flashed over the wire of San Francisco's earth- quake and fire of the 18th. The battleship Chicago, bearing Admiral Caspar Goodrich, commanding the Pacific Squadron, was on its way from San Diego to northern ports when the news of the disaster was received in San Diego, and a description of what had happened was sent to him by Mayor John L. Sehon, of San Diego, resulting in the dispatch of navy vessels to San Francisco to relieve the situation there. In the days that immediately followed San Diego raised a fund of more than $25,000 to aid the suffering in San Francisco and also sent to that city large quantities of provisions, clothing, beds, tents, camp stoves and other supplies to help the people of her big neighbor in the northern part of the state. In connection with this event it might be mentioned that no earthquake ever did any appreciable damage in San Diego, although the shocks of a few distant "shakes" have been felt in the city to a small degree.
An indication of San Diego's growing importance is seen in the campaign begun by the Chamber of Commerce and real estate men ir: 1906 to have the city authorities place street signs on the corners of all grade crossings, both in the business and residence districts of San Diego. Petitions asking that the common council take action on this line were prepared and sent, and a good beginning was made at that time.
On June 9, 1906, the Rev. A. Gibbons, then pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, spoke at a ceremony to mark the laying of the cornerstone of the Agnew Sanitarium and Hospital, at Fifth and Beech streets. Dr. David Gochenauer presided.
On the very next day the cornerstone of the new home of the Elks was laid, and on July 1 the cornerstone of the new home of the First Methodist Church, at Ninth and C streets, was laid. On July 28 of the same year the cornerstone of the Church of Our Lady of Angels, at 24th and G streets, was laid.
On Aug. 14 at the University Heights reservoir some 500 resi- dents of San Diego gathered to witness the turning on of the water furnished by the Southern California Mountain Water Company to the city. William Clayton, managing director of the Spreckels com- panies, officiated on behalf of the company and Mayor John L. Sehon for the city. The gathering included most of the local officers of the water company, the members of the city board of works, nearly all the members of the city council, heads of the various departments and prominent men of the city. The ceremony was important in that it marked the beginning of delivery to the city by the company of moun- tain water from the Otay reservoirs. Agreement was made that this delivery should extend over a period of ten years and that the price should be four cents for every thousand gallons-a remarkably low price for water in Southern California, or, for that matter, in almost any section.
Work on the U. S. Grant Hotel was begun Jan. 5, 1906. The contract for the excavation was let to M. D. Goodbody, local contrac-
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 183
tor, and the first spadeful of earth was turned by Horace G. Low, capitalist, who had come to San Diego from Cambridge, Mass.
A newspaper item of the period that has more than ordinary in- terest in view of the recent naval development at San Diego was con- cerning the arrival of a steam schooner at the port by night. The fact that this craft was able to come in by the aid of her searchlight was one which caused keen interest at the time, whereas in these days the coming and going of navy craft after dark is of so common oc- currence that hardly anybody pays any attention to it.
U. S. GRANT HOTEL
This photograph; although it was taken about five years ago, makes a striking contrast with that of the Old Horton House, famous old hotel, which stood on the same site as that now occupied by the U. S. Grant Hotel, occupying the center of the picture. Street cars and automobiles had al- most entirely replaced the old horse-drawn vehicles. Modern buildings had arisen in place of the quaint structures of former decades. The City Plaza in the foreground has the appearance of the present day.
Remarkable progress was made by the city in 1907. The total of building permits was far in excess of the $2,000,000 mark; and in Horton's addition, which embraces the business section of San Diego, the building amounted to more than $630,000, more than 100 buildings being included. University Heights came next, while Hillcrest, then a comparatively new sub-division, made a good showing. In the same year John D. Spreckels began the construction of his fine home and the public library at Coronado. Harry L. Titus built another fine home in Coronado. E. Bartlett Webster spent a large sum in devel- oping South Park and in street railway construction. The year also saw the completion of the Union Building and the Scripps Building.
184 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Normal Heights had only one building at the beginning of the year ; at the end it had more than 40, a good beginning toward its present size. There was also considerable building in South San Diego, Chula Vista and National City. The construction of the U. S. Grant Hotel was carried on throughout most of the year. The coaling station at Point Loma also was built at a cost of $350,000.
The closing month of the year saw a sharp increase in the num- ber of permits for dwellings, many of them being of good quality.
Freight shipped out of San Diego in that year through the port showed an increase of 95 per cent. over that of 1906, while imports by water increased 35 per cent. Rail shipments brought to San Diego in 1907 amounted to more than 3,500 carloads, while freight shipped from the city by rail amounted to more than 3,500 carloads. A large increase in trade with Lower California was noticed. The construc- tion of the H ( Market) street line from 16th to 25th street was com- pleted by the San Diego Electric Railway Company in the closing months of 1907 and other improvements in the system and its service were made. The H street line was made a continuation of the Third street line which then ran one to Second and Washington streets, Mission Hills then having no car service beyond that point.
Several notable additions to the public school system were either made or planned in 1907. The foundation of the large Florence school was laid in December of that year.
In view of the comparative scarcity of horses on the city streets in these days, it is interesting to note that in 1907, considerable trouble was made for the police by the fact that many drivers of horse-drawn vehicles in 1907 neglected to obey the city ordinance providing that animals must be hitched. The Union on December 15, 1907, remarked that on the previous afternoon a reporter had counted eighteen viola- tions of this ordinance in five blocks on Fifth street between C and H streets.
On December 5, 1907, there arrived at San Diego what was then described as "the largest fleet of warships ever in the harbor." It consisted of the flagship Charleston, with Rear Admiral Swinburne aboard : the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Albany, Yorktown, Perry and Preble, comprising the principal part of the second division of the Pacific Squadron. It was only a small group of war vessels, all of which long ago became obsolete in design, and would be almost un- noticed in the great array of navy vessels now to be seen in San Diego harbor on almost any day; but the event was one of no small im- portance in those days. It may be added that the arrival of this little squadron was really a beginning of similar naval activity at San Diego San Diego paid much attention to the vessels and their officers and men, and that did much to cement a friendly feeling between the city and navy men-a sentiment which has grown stronger and stronger with the years.
Another notable event of the year 1907 was the coming here of John Nolen, noted landscape architect of Cambridge, Mass., at the in- vitation of the Civic Improvement Committee, of which Julius Wang- enheim, well known banker, was chairman and in which George W. Marston was active. Mr. Nolen was author of the so-called "Nolen Plan" for the development and beautification of San Diego and its
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 185
suburbs, and although this plan has not been carried out in its entirety by any means, it and its supporters have exerted a decided influence on the city.
San Diego has grown up as many another city has, as most American cities have, without much regard for landscape design, for which San Diego was peculiarly and superbly fitted. If a man like Nolen had come with "Father" Horton and had induced Horton and the city builders and eager real estate men of that and later periods to adopt some comprehensive plan by which contours and natural lines might have been followed, San Diego today would be more beall- tiful than it is. But American cities, with a few exceptions, are not built that way. On the other hand, San Diego's waste of opportunity and easily understood mistakes (according to the view of the aesthe- tic city designer) have not been large or by any means criminal. Nolen
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FEDERAL BUILDING, SAN DIEGO
referred to the city plan which he found here as "not thoughtful but, on the contrary, ignorant and wasteful," which, to the average visitor of today probably will seem a too harsh arraignment. Yet he made certain suggestions which have appealed to thoughtful, public-spirited citizens of San Diego and which have borne and will bear fruit. One suggestion which may yet be carried into actuality is that of a group- ing of public buildings at a civic centre. Financial burdens of a grow- ing city, coupled with a degree of indifference to the advisability of such a plan, have prevented this from being built. Playgrounds, which Nolen advocated heartily, have been wisely provided. The city's guar- dianship of the bay front, an unequaled expanse, has been marked by some attention to the plan which he outlined-and it was a plan obvious to him who would keep his eyes open.
Other parts of the Nolen Plan, subject to an elaborate booklet issued in 1908, were for development of streets and boulevards, for
. William Stamcel
186 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
the building of an elaborate (and costly) "paseo" from Balboa Park to the bay between Date and Elm streets, for a beach reservation and the making of a new "plaza" from Broadway to C street between Front and First streets. Nolen was enthusiastic over the "boundless and indescribable resources of this lovable land," and declared that San Diego "appears to stand on the threshold of an almost unbe- lievable future."
The extent to which the city had grown in 1907 and the con- fidence which its citizens felt in its future are shown plainly in the size of various bond issues favored of that year. The total of bonds issued for various improvements, principally for water improvements, in 1907, was slightly more than $712,000. Of this more than half went for water development. The year's total issues were by far larger than those of any other previous year in San Diego's history except 1901, when bonds for $600,000 for water were issued.
Louis J. Wilde, who became prominent in San Diego at about this time and who in this and later years left marks in the city's political and business life for which he will be long remembered, came to San Diego in 1903. He was active and largely instrumental in completing and furnishing the U. S. Grant Hotel, progress on which languished after the financial depression of 1907 ; he built the Pickwick theatre, the Frances apartments on Broadway and a fine residence on Broadway. He was active also in financing the American National Bank Building, which later became the First National Building. Reference to his political activities is made elsewhere in this volume.
Wilde was born in Iowa City, Iowa, in the late '60s. In 1883 he worked as an elevator boy for some time and later worked in other fields, including the insurance business. In 1893 he went to St. Paul, dealing in farm lands, country merchandise and commercial paper and also invested wisely in Texas oil lands, obtaining a large financial re- turn. In 1902 he returned to California, remaining in Los Angeles about a year and then coming to San Diego, where he remained, except for a short time, until 1921, when he went to Los Angeles again.
When the U. S. Grant Hotel project ,began to be referred to as a "white elephant" after the financial storm of 1907, and some pessi- mists declared it was "too large" for San Diego and was a bad in- vestment, Wilde became interested in the hotel, and evolved a plan of issuing bonds for its completion. This plan was approved by many others prominent in financial circles in San Diego, and the hotel was finished, becoming a success almost from the opening day.
Another of Wilde's accomplishments was the organization of the U. S. National Bank. He also established and was first president of the Citizens' Savings Bank and was first president of the First Na- tional of Escondido.
In the course of his stay in San Diego Wilde had a number of opponents and some enemies ; none of these ever accused him of lack of vigor in speech and deed. For a time he maintained a weekly newspaper, in which he voiced with considerable force, and in an epi- grammatic way which is wholly his own, various views which he wished to convey to the public. Later, when this newspaper, the Examiner, was discontinued, he continued to write, finding the daily newspapers usually glad to allow him space.
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 187
One of the most interesting events of the last 20 years in the history of San Diego, and an event not without importance, is the visit paid to this port in 1908 by the fleet under command of Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, the "Fighting Bob" Evans of Spanish war fame and an idol of the navy. The fleet, of course, had come "round the Horn," as the Panama Canal was not yet completed, and its de- parture to the Pacific, which up to that time had not seen so formid- able an array of American navy craft, attracted almost as much attention in Atlantic Coast communities as it did on the Pacific Coast. On the western coast, however, great celebrations were arranged and carried out to mark the arrival of the great battleship fleet, which brought some 16,000 officers and bluejackets. In these celebrations San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco led, and San Diego's program, extending over four days, April 14 to 18, attracted much interest all over the nation-largely, of course, because it was the first, the port being the southernmost of the United States Pacific Coast, but in addition because it was well planned and executed. In this, as in similar programs prepared to show the officers and men of the navy that here was a hospitable port and that here was a true western patriotic hospitality, the citizens of San Diego all worked together unselfishly and loyally.
The celebration was marred by the inability of Admiral Evans, who had become ill on the trip, to come here. He was taken on ahead, indeed, to Paso Robles Hot Springs, far to the north, for treat- ment. Admiral Evans was represented here by Rear Admiral Charles M. Thomas. Other rear admirals with the fleet were Charles S. Sperry and William H. Emery.
The city literally threw open its doors to the navy on this occa- sion, theatres and other places of amusement admitting men in navy uniform as their guests, and the elaborate decorations of the four days bespoke a real hospitality which must have been doubly pleasing to officers and bluejackets after their long cruise.
The vessels of the fleet, with their commanders, were as follows: Virginia, Capt. Seaton Schroeder ; Louisiana, Capt. Richard Wain- wright ; Vermont, Capt. William B. Potter: Maine, Capt. Giles B. Harber : Minnesota, Capt. John Hubbard ; Rhode Island, Capt. Joseph B. Murdock: Connecticut. Capt. Hugo Osterhaus ; Kansas, Capt. Charles E. Vreeland : Missouri, Capt. Greenlief A. Morrison; Ohio, Capt. Charles W. Bartlett : Georgia, Capt. Henry McCrea : New Jer- sey, Capt. William H. H. Sutherland : Kentucky. Capt. Walter C. Cowles : Alabama, Capt. Ten Eyck D. W. Veeder : Kearsarge, Capt. Hamilton Hutchins: Illinois, Capt. John W. Bowyer: Glacier, Com- mander William S. Hogg; Panther, Commander Valentine S. Nelson ; Culgoa, Lient .- Commander John B. Patton : Yankton, Lieutenant Wal- ter R. Gherardi.
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