USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego > City of San Diego and San Diego County : the birthplace of California, Volume I > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 275
of biology; Miss Florence Derby, teacher of music; Miss Sallie Stark Crocker, teacher of drawing."
It is officially recorded that the school began with ninety-one stu- dents enrolled and that, in the words of President Black, "no other normal had had so auspicious an opening."
The cornerstone of the new building, an imposing structure, was laid December 10, 1898. The central part was completed and dedi- cated May 1, 1899. The east wing was started in the same year and in 1903 the west wing was added. The training school, which has been an important part of the plant, was finished in 1910; this was at first connected with the city school department, but in 1915 became part of the normal's control.
The enrollment has increased from the original ninety-one in 1898 to about 600 in 1921. The teaching staff in 1921 had grown to about thirty.
Since the beginning the following have acted as trustees of the school :
W. R. Guy.
M. L. Ward.
'Victor E. Shaw.
George W. Marston.
J. L. Dryden.
Charles O. Chapman.
Thomas Toland.
Dr. John W. Stearns.
John G. North.
John S. Akerman.
John C. Fisher.
Philip Morse.
Charles T. Hinde.
Dr. Fred Baker.
Dr. R. W. Powers.
C. N. Andrews.
Isidore B. Dockweiler.
William T. Randall.
S. T. Black.
Willard B. Thorpe.
Z. B. West.
Ernest E. White.
George Fuller.
W. H. Porterfield.
The members of the board in 1921 were M. L. Ward, William T. Randall, Willard B. Thorpe, Ernest E. White and W. H. Por- terfield.
On September 1, 1910, the resignation of President Black, in accordance with his determination to retire from active school work, was accepted, and Edward L. Hardy, who had been principal of the San Diego high school, was selected in his place.
Recent reports show that expenditures on the plant for buildings, equipment and similar purposes had amounted to more than $300,000. In the first twenty years the sum of $729,912 was appropriated for salaries, support, library and apparatus and printing. It was then computed that the cost of maintenance for each student enrolled had been $168 and that the cost for each student graduated had averaged $540.
Under both President Black and President Hardy the school has made steady and pleasing progress-a fact recognized not only by the people of the city, who naturally have been in fairly close touch with the work of the school, but among educators at large. The summer schools in recent years, under the direction of President Hardy, well known for his ability on educational and administrative lines, have attracted many students and accomplished much good.
The junior college, started in connection with the city high school, was transferred to the state normal school in 1921.
276 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
The reasons prompting this transfer were that the quarters of the high school had become badly crowded by 1921, that it seemed better anyway to conduct the work of the junior college as a plant entirely separate from the high school and the city at the time was unable financially to build and maintain such a plant. The normal school, then about to be changed to a teachers' college, was obliged to maintain collegiate courses of the liberal arts type, and if the junior college had not come under its wing there would have been in the city two collegiate institutions overlapping and duplicating in courses and purpose. The high school board, controlling the junior college, agreed to pay to the normal school in the fiscal year 1921-22 for the tuition of junior college students the sum of $12,750.
7
STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, SAN DIEGO
The last commencement of the school as a state normal school was held June 18, 1921, decision having been reached by the state authorities that it should be called, and assume the status of, a State Teachers' College. under the jurisdiction of a state superin- tendent of public instruction. The board of trustees was abolished in accordance with the new plan.
The 1921-22 administrative officers of the Teachers' College, which combines the San Diego Junior College with the State Normal School, are :
Edward L. Hardy, president: W. F. Bliss, vice-president and professor of history and political science (died September 4, 1921) ; Mrs. Ada Hughes Coldwell, dean of women and head of the depart- ment of vocational home economics; Arthur G. Peterson, dean of the junior college; Mrs. Florence Bryant Delano, registrar ; Mrs.
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 277
Charlotte J. Robinson, librarian ; Mrs. Edna Hartman Gillespie, fac- ulty secretary ; Mrs. Thekla K. Rice, business secretary.
The Teachers' College faculty is made up of the following :
Gertrude Laws, director of education: Caroline I. Townsend, assistant director of education ; Mrs. Gertrude Sumption Bell, assist- ant director of education ; William L. Nida, principal of the training school ; Mary Benton, head of the department of fine arts; Mary M. Bower, assistant physical education; Vinnie B. Clark, geography ; Katherine Cox, domestic science and art ; Beulah Marker, assistant, fine arts; Charles R. Scudder, industrial arts; W. T. Skilling, agri- culture and nature study ; Florence L. Smith, English ; Charles E. Peterson, director of physical education for men ; Jessie Rand Tan- ner, head of the department of physical education.
The faculty of the Junior College is made up as follows :
Arthur G. Peterson, dean and professor of social economics ; Mrs. Gertrude Sumption Bell, psychology: Mary Benton, fine arts ; W. F. Bliss, history and political science ; Vinnie B. Clark, geography ; Katherine Cox, domestic science ; Myrtle E. Johnson, biology ; George R. Livingston, mathematics; C. E. Peterson, athletics; G. P. Sentes, chemistry ; Lesley B. Simpson, William T. Skilling, astronomy ; Flor- ence L. Smith, English ; Jessie Rand Tanner, physical education for women ; William H. Wright, commerce.
The training school faculty includes these :
Catherine E. Corbett, class supervisor ; Marie Louise Field, class supervisor ; Winifred S. Hughes, industrial arts ; Chesley Mills, train- ing orchestra; Mabel M. Richards, class supervisor and supervisor of mathematics; Winifred F. Woods, librarian, and Edith C. Ham- mack, class supervisor.
San Diego County's schools-that is, those outside the city of San Diego-have kept pace with those of the city. Their growth in recent years has been remarkable. For the school year 1920-21 the total number of teachers outside the city of San Diego was 281, di- vided as follows : elementary, 201 ; high, 72, and kindergarten, 8. The enrollment of pupils in the same territory for that period was 7,973, divided as follows : elementary, 6,125: high, 1,571 ; kindergarten, 277.
The report of the county school superintendent for the whole county for 1920-21 gave the number of common or elementary school districts as 110, the number of union elementary schools as 7 and the numbers of districts in those unions as 23, the number of high school districts as 9 and the number of kindergarten districts as 6. The high school districts of the county outside the city, with the dates of their organization are as follows :
Coronado high, 1913: Coronado evening high ;
Escondido union high, 1894 :
Fallbrook union high, 1893;
Grossmont union high, 1920;
Julian union high, 1891 :
Oceanside-Carlsbad union high, 1892 :
Ramona union high, 1894;
Sweetwater union high, 1920. (Formerly the National high school, organized 1895.)
278 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Miss Ada York, the incumbent, is the first woman who ever served as county superintendent of schools in San Diego County. She was appointed by the county supervisors to the place on August 6, 1921, to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Frederick F. Martin, who went to the Pasadena schools to be business manager of the schools of that city. The list of county superintendents for the last forty years is as follows :
1880-2. G. N. Hitchcock. 1914-9. John Franklin West.
1883-7. R. D. Butler. (Resigned, September, 1919.)
1888. G. N. Hitchcock. 1919-21. Frederick F. Martin.
1889-94. Harr Wagner. (Resigned August, 1921.)
1895-8. W. J. Bailey. 1921. Miss Ada York.
1899-1914. Hugh J. Baldwin. (Appointed August 6, 1921.)
The private schools of San Diego in 1921 include the following : Academy of Our Lady of Peace.
The Bishop's School for Girls, at La Jolla.
California Commercial College.
California Conservatory of Music.
Kelsey-Jenney Commercial College.
Montessori School, at La Jolla.
Francis W. Parker School.
San Diego Academy of Art.
San Diego Army and Navy Academy, at Pacific Beach.
San Diego Business and Academic College.
San Diego Conservatory of Music.
Sawyer School of Secretaries.
Seventh Day Adventist School.
Sloane School of Music.
University Heights School. (Seventh Day Adventists.)
The Academy of Our Lady of Peace was established in 1882 by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
The San Diego Army and Navy Academy at Pacific Beach was organized eleven years ago by Captain Thomas A. Davis, formerly of the United States Army. The school has been successful from the start and has maintained a high standard.
The Scripps Institution for Biological Research, at La Jolla, has become one of the most important stations of the country in the collec- tion of scientific data, and its fame has spread accordingly. The movement which resulted in the establishment of this station had its origin in a small tent laboratory started in the summer of 1892 at Pacific Grove, far up the coast, by a party of about a dozen persons from the University of California. Lack of funds prevented any pretentious experiments along this line for several years. In 1903, assistance being given by the Chamber of Commerce and others, not- ably Dr. Fred Baker, a temporary laboratory was set up at Coronado. To carry on the work so well started here, in a field especially adapted for the purpose, the Marine Biological Association of San Diego was organized in the fall of 1903. First officers were: H. H. Peters, president ; Dr. Fred Baker, vice-president ; H. P. Wood, secretary ; Julius Wangenheim, treasurer; Professor William Ritter, scientific director ; Miss Ellen B. Scripps and E. W. Scripps, directors. Except
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 279
for the first president and secretary, who soon moved from San Diego, the board remained the same for several years, Dr. Baker becoming president in the second year. F. W. Kelsay, W. C. Crandall and H. L. Titus were added to the list of officers, the first two becoming secre- taries and Mr. Titus becoming vice-president and counsel. In August, 1907, as the result of offers of support made by E. W. Scripps and his sister, Miss Ellen B. Scripps, the biological station was established at La Jolla, taking Pueblo Lot No. 1289, of nearly 170 acres. To the support of the station from 1907 to 1911 Miss Scripps gave $67,000, while her brother gave $15,000. Construction of the first building began early in the summer of 1909 and was completed the next year. The station was transferred in 1912 to the control of the regents of the University of California. Liberal support in recent years has been given to the institution by Mr. Scripps and his sister. When the university took over the station, its name was changed to the Scripps Institution for Biological Research of the University of California. Dr. Ritter, in order to supervise its work, took up his residence in La Jolla in 1910 and has remained there since. W. C. Crandall is business manager. Resident biologists in 1920 included Dr. Ritter, F. B. Sumner, E. L. Michael, W. E. Allen and C. Essenberg. The chief buildings of the institution are a fire-proof research laboratory, with salt water aquaria; a two-story library building, a large salt water tank, a public aquarium building of wood, a concrete pier 1,000 feet long and twenty-eight residences for the scientists, assistants and workmen. Among subjects investigated are physical oceanography, taxonomy and distribution of marine animals, problems of the growth of organisms, problems of heredity and environmental influence and logic of biology. Study of oceanic conditions by investigators at the station has attracted wide attention.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE THEOSOPHICAL HOMESTEAD
One of the most interesting places in or near San Diego is the International Headquarters of the Universal Brotherhood and Theo- sophical Society, at whose head is Madame Katherine Tingley, one of the most interesting and forceful women of her times, whose re- markable genius has brought to the society world-wide fame. The Raja Yoga School and Theosophical University are among the prin- cipal parts of the great enterprise which has been established on Point Loma since February 23, 1897, when Madame Tingley laid the corner- stone for the first building, the home of the School of Antiquity, as it was called then. The site for the Theosophical Homestead, embracing several hundred acres, was bought by Madame Tingley in 1896. William Q. Judge, who had interested Madame Tingley in Theosophy, died in 1893, and named her as his successor. The work which she has done at San Diego has been in that capacity and has been carried on with a vigor whose results are seen in part in the magnificent homestead of the present day. After the death of Judge, Madame Tingley went on a tour of the world to organize the movement with which she had become enlisted. The Universal Brotherhood was estab- lished by her in 1898 at her home in New York, and at the convention of the Theosophical Society in Chicago a short time after that the Theosophical Society was merged into it. Madame Tingley was elected president for life, with power to appoint her successor. Under her direction the message of the society has been carried to nearly every country of the world and has brought to support of the movement many notable men and women, well known teachers, artists, musicians and others. They and their associates have done much to elevate the cultural side of San Diego.
In 1902 Madame Tingley became the owner of Fisher's Opera House, which thereupon was renamed the Isis Theatre, and from its stage the Theosophical leader and her associates have given the mes- sage of the movement on many occasions, Madame Tingley's words always being received with interest. On it, too, have been given many dramatic performances and musical entertainments by pupils of the institution's schools. At Point Loma the Theosophists built, several years ago, a Greek theatre whose beauty is unsurpassed by any sim- ilar structure in the country, according to all who have seen it.
Several times in the past the Theosophical leader has been made a target of litigation or attack, in which she has been vindicated, notably when objection was made, in 1902, to the bringing of Cuban children to the Point Loma school. The Commissioner-general of Immigration was sent to investigate and filed a report highly com-
280
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 281
mending the school and those at the head of it. In several instances newspapers which were led into adverse criticism of the institution have learned the facts concerning it and have then told the real story.
The list of enterprises set under the heading of the institution in the city directory of San Diego gives some idea of its scope and size. It is as follows :
Aryan Theosophical Press, Children's International Lotus Home, Isis Conservatory of Music, Isis Theatre (now the Colonial), Men's International Theosophical League, New Century Corporation, Point Loma Homestead, Raja Yoga School, School of Antiquity, School of Antiquity Operating Company, Theosophical Publishing Company, Theosophical University, Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical So- ciety, Woman's Exchange and Mart, Woman's International Theo- sophical League. Among those who in recent years have been actively associated with Madame Tingley in these various units are: Frank Knoche, Clark Thurston, Professor and Mrs. William A. Dunn, J. H. Fussell, E. August Neresheimer, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Spalding, widow of A. G. Spalding: Gertrude W. Van Pelt, John Davidson, Clark Thurston, Ross White-these being only a few of the many.
One of the most notable tasks undertaken by Madame Tingley in recent years has been the abolition of capital punishment, which she has called "legalized murder." Akin with this has been her work for prisoners and unfortunates-a task in which her sincere humanita- rianism has been made evident.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE CITY'S NEWSPAPERS
The story of San Diego's newspapers is one of the most im- portant parts of San Diego's history-important not only because of its principal characters but because the newspapers have given a re- markably valuable picture of the town almost from the day of Amer- ican occupation. And this part of the city's history is as interesting as it is important.
The first San Diego newspaper was the San Diego Herald, in whose career there were two outstanding participants-John Judson Ames, its gigantic editor, and Lieut. George Horatio Derby, whose fame as "John Phoenix," quaint humorist, had its origin in the very shadow of Point Loma. Since then San Diego has had its full share of newspapers, weekly and daily, all edited by able men, and reflecting much credit on the city. The opinion has often been expressed in recent years by newspaper men of standing that in no other city of similar size in the United States are there newspapers better than the three which now are published in San Diego. They are the San Diego Union and the Evening Tribune, owned by the Spreckels in- terests, and the San Diego Sun, member of the Scripps group of newspapers, whose real founder, E. W. Scripps, for some years has had his residence at Miramar, not far from the site of the present Camp Kearny, north of the city.
Ames was born at Calais, Maine, on May 18, 1821, the son of a shipbuilder and shipowner. When a young man Ames went as second mate on one of his father's ships to Liverpool. As the ship was tying up at Boston, it is related, Ames, who had tremendous strength, tried to stop a scuffle between his sailors and some tough boarding-house runners, struck one of the rowdies and, to his horror, killed him. Hardly had he recovered from the surprise occasioned by the blow before he was arrested. He was soon found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to a term in prison, but was pardoned by President Tyler, to whom the facts of the case were made known. Ames after this continued his education for a time and then started a newspaper at Baton Rouge, La. When the gold rush to California started, he joined one of the early expeditions and arrived at San Francisco October 28, 1849. There he remained for about a year, making many warm friends, it appears, among the Masons, of whom he was a member and with whom he became formally associated in California Lodge No. 1.
In December, 1850, having made his plans to establish a weekly newspaper in San Diego, Ames issued a prospectus of his proposed Herald. He expected to get his materials in San Francisco, but was
282
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 283
disappointed and went to New Orleans and bought an outfit. In bringing this to San Diego Ames displayed a tenacity of purpose which if it had been maintained on more ambitious lines in Ames' later days must certainly have landed him in a high place. The boat which was carrying Ames' outfit on part of its trip across the isthmus sank, and the heavy materials went to the bottom of the Chagres River. The boatmen fished around and got a lot of Ames' machinery up, but could not raise the press standard, a heavy casting. Ames lost his patience, according to a story he told his friends later, jumped into the water and alone raised the tremendous weight. There were other diffi- culties in getting the machinery to the Pacific, one of these resulting from an attack of fever which came upon Ames at Panama, com- pelling him to wait and lose his passage on the mail steamer, which stopped at San Diego. At last Ames set out for San Francisco on a smaller boat, which sprang a bad leak, nearly sank and then ran aground, but at last got to its destination. At San Francisco Ames was just in time to lose more of his material by fire. At last, how- ever, he reached San Diego, set up an office on the second floor of the building of what was then Fourth and California streets, owned by Hooper & Co., dealers in general merchandise in the new town of Gray and Davis, then seemingly an assured fixture. The first number of the Herald was issued May 29, 1851. It contained the following announcement by Ames :
"To Our Patrons-After surmounting difficulties, and suffering anxieties that would have disheartened any but a 'live yankee,' we are enabled to present the first number of the Herald to the public. We issued our prospectus in December last, and supposed at the time that we had secured the material for our paper ; but when we came to put our hand on it, it wasn't there! Determining to lose no time, we took the first boat for New Orleans, where we selected our office, and had returned as far as the isthmus when Dame Misfortune gave us another kick, snagged our boat, and sank everything in the Chagres river. After fishing a day or two we got enough to get out a paper, and pushed on for Gorgona, letting the balance go to Davy Jones Locker.
"Then came the tug-of-war, in getting our press and heavy boxes of type across the isthmus. Three weeks of anxiety and toil prostrated us with the Panama fever, by which we missed our passage in the regular mail steamer-the only boat that touched at San Diego- thereby obliging us to go on board a propeller bound for San Fran- cisco. This boat sprang a leak off the Gulf of Tehuantepec-came near sinking-ran on a sand bank-and finally got into Acapulco where she was detained a week in repairing. We at last arrived in San Fran- cisco, just in time to lose more of our material by the late fire! Well, here we are at last, as good as new, and just as our paper is going to press the thought occurs to us that we ought to make this explanation to those who gave us their subscriptions last December. to account for our tardy appearance.
"Now for a few words in relation to the course we shall pursue :
"In politics, the Herald will be independent, but not neutral : it will be the organ and engine of no party, but the impartial advocate of such measures as shall seem best calculated to promote the general
284 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
welfare of the state, and advance the local interests and prosperity of Lower California, or more immediately of the district of San Diego.
"Its design, however, will by no means be to engender any sec- tional jealousies, or to encourage any measures or feeling at variance with the unity and harmony of the state. Its paramount object will be to describe the localities and unfold the resources of 'the sunny and luxuriant regions of the south'-to watch over their social and admin- istrative interests, and to promote their welfare by every legitimate means and influence which the press can employ.
"To the American residents in Lower California, the publisher will look for his principal support ; and considering the expense of the undertaking and its immediate importance to the local interests of San Diego, it is hoped that the publication will meet with liberal en- couragement.
"Among the inhabitants, however, of the northern districts, the Herald will expect to have many readers desirous to obtain authentic information and periodical intelligence from the south."
The Herald at that time was issued in four pages of four columns each and in the style of the period, with advertisements taking up half the front page. More than a column of the first page of the first issue was devoted to a list of letters remaining unclaimed in the San Diego postoffice. The advertisements were largely of San Francisco merchants, this being ample evidence of the manner in which Ames had gained the support necessary to start his paper. Reference al- ready has been made to his connection with Senator William M. Gwin, who sought to divide California into two states, the southern doubtless to have had San Diego as its capital. The Herald's support of Gwin's schemes was evident almost from the first. So was the fact that Ames was to spend as much time as he could in San Fran- cisco, where much of his revenue was forthcoming. While he was away in the north, his paper was edited by various friends, or an issue of two were dropped out of the year's total, or perhaps Ames was able to leave enough clipped material and local items so his fore- man could get the paper out. That was the life for an editor!
When Ames was in the editorial chair and had his pen well in hand, he very often wrote forcefully and fearlessly. There is no doubt that his great size kept him out of some trouble, for it would have taken a very irate subscriber to dare to storm against such a powerful editor.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.