USA > California > San Diego County > San Diego > City of San Diego and San Diego County : the birthplace of California, Volume I > Part 43
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CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 349
In July, 1913, the club decided to broaden its field to cover commercial and athletic features and changed its name to the Cabrillo Commercial Club, and since that time has worked enthusiastically as an organization to stimulate commercial activity in San Diego.
One of the best known members of the club is Oliver J. Stough. who in 1920 announced his 103rd birthday anniversary. He is one of the twelve life members of the club and has given $16,000 for its various works.
For several years the Cabrillo Commercial Club has had its home in the old Marston store building at the southwest corner of Fifth and C streets.
The San Diego Rotary Club, organized to bring representative business men of the city and suburbs together for better acquaintance and fellowship, to give them better knowledge of one another's work and to render thereby better service to the community, was incorporated March 8, 1912. The incorporators were: Carl H. Heilbron, Charles K. Voorhees, John B. Lyman, Jr., Ernest S. Shields, Ernest E. White, Alonzo de Jessop, Gordon L. Gray. B. H. Vreeland and Sydney V. West.
The organization has been active in community service of many kinds and has had in its membership since the beginning some of the best known business men of San Diego. As is customary among Rotary clubs, it has had as guests at its weekly meetings prominent men from all parts of the United States. Past presidents of the club are as follows :
1911-12-Carl H. Heilbron. 1916-17-John A. Gillons.
1912-13-Jay F. Haight. 1917-18-Alfred D. LaMotte.
1913-14-Gordon L. Gray. 1918-19-Leslie S. Everts.
1914-15-Homer W. Sumption. 1919-20-Elwyn B. Gould.
1915-16-Guy T. Keene. 1920-21-Sam S. Porter.
The officers for 1922 are: President, George W. Colton ; first vice president, Robert E. Hicks: second vice president, Charles H. Benton : secretary, Leslie S. Everts ; treasurer, Julian F. Weir : direc- tors, W. Ernest Kier. Jack C. Thompson, Sam S. Porter. Alonzo de Jessop, S. Vaughn Griffin, Charles H. Benton, Julian F. Weir and Robert E. Hicks.
The San Diego Kiwanis Club was organized August 10, 1920. starting with fifty members. The following temporary officers were chosen to begin the club's work: E. P. Sample, president : Bernard Levi, vice president : George S. Pickerell, treasurer : T. H. Shore. secretary : other directors were: Dr. C. M. Fox. J. A. Watson. J. R. Showley, W. E. Shaw. P. H. Goodwin, Dr. A. E. Banks, J. L. Ernst- ing and J. J. Fraser. The club is one of twelve Kiwanis clubs now in existence in California. Officers elected to serve in 1922 are as follows: C. E. Rinehart, president ; Herbert L. Sullivan, first vice president : John J. Fraser, second vice president ; other directors are : Arthur J. Morse, Lacey D. Jennings, W. H. Fraser, George J. Champ- lin, Fred H. Jones, O. E. Darnall, Luther Ward. George Mayne and Wellington Irysh.
The Advertising Club of San Diego was organized in 1911, as a result of a meeting held by William Tomkins, now secretary of the
350 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Chamber of Commerce, and some twenty others. Tomkins was chair- man of the meeting and, as he laughingly relates it, "was president of the club for ten consecutive minutes." Albert E. Flowers was elected president when plans of organizatoin were worked out, and later the club became associated with the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. Presidents of the club since its organization are as follows: Albert E. Flowers, J. F. Haight, Edward O. Tilburne, T. H. Shore, Stanley Hale, Jack C. Thompson, E. B. Gould, Jr., A. T. Johnson, Ed. Davidson, Harry Folsom and Leslie B. Mills, the incumbent. The club has taken an active part in many civic movements, and its membership includes many of the active young business men of the city. Weekly luncheons are a feature of the club's life.
A San Diego branch of the Lions, an organization similar in purpose to the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, was formed in the summer of 1921. The following officers were elected: P. S. Packard, presi- dent ; Frank H. Page, vice president ; C. A. Litt, secretary and treas- urer. They and the following are directors: J. W. Aarasmith, Ruel H. Liggett, J. Frank Munro, Charles S. Powell.
One who attempts an adequate history of San Diego need offer no apology for devoting generous space to the San Diego Rowing Club. Not only has its name become well known among athletes along the Pacific coast but its services as a community builder have been long and honorable. Founded many years ago, it has survived many vicissi- tudes and has maintained its measure of growth along with the ever- increasing population of the city of San Diego. No other one agency, perhaps, has done more to promote good health among San Diegans, young and old, for its large membership includes not only the boys of the present and the men of the near future but those who have attained maturity without being' willing to relinquish the excellent and easily grasped opportunity which this club has afforded, and still affords, for healthful exercise in a superb climate within the confines of a harbor whose beauty is an inspiration for clean, manly living.
The very size of its membership, held by low dues in part, is an indication of its democratic character. It has been a club for all who seek an orderly outlet for youthful spirits, or a chance for a swim or a game of handball between work periods, or a less strenuous method of exercise to keep aging muscles supple. Throughout the many years in which its crews, selected from many aspirants, have rowed against the best on the Pacific Coast, all during the period in which its swimmers and divers have contested in similar manner, this organization has continued to do an even greater though less heralded work in making its hundreds of members stronger men and better citizens. That accomplishment, measured through the years, has been a mighty force in the life of the community which always has felt and always will feel the urge of the great outdoors.
Starting with five boats, purchased on borrowed capital, and with sixty-one members, the San Diego Rowing Club, organized June 5, 1888, under the name of the Excelsior Swimming and Boating Club, has grown so fast that in 1921 it ranked as the second largest rowing club of the country, with approximately 600 members and a fleet of more than thirty boats.
CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY 351
The first meeting of the club was held at Steadman's Hall, and the following officers were elected: J. E. Peterson, president ; H. J. Lanson, vice president; F. D. Weston, financial secretary ; Lyle Pendegast, recording secretary; R. B. Steadman, treasurer ; E. B. Steadman, sergeant-at-arms; D. W. Dean, captain: G. Meyer, lieu- tenant-captain ; R. A. Barclay, Ed. Duvals and A. Eubanks, executive committee, and W. G. Schmidt, C. Schafer and W. K. Holmes, trustees.
Mr. Steadman offered the club five boats, to be paid for as the club was able, and his offer was accepted. He also lent the club the use of his boat house at the foot of F Street for a year.
President Peterson resigned in August, and Lanson held the office until September 13. Upon Lanson's resignation, J. G. Decatur, who, perhaps, did as much as if not more than any other man for the club in its early days, was elected president by acclamation. In October, 1888, the office of the first lieutenant was created, while the office of second lieutenant was started in December.
The club was in many financial difficulties until its reorganization, later. In July, 1888, a motion to buy a lantern for the club house was defeated because "the club still had a piece of candle." The first regatta given by the club was held in September, 1888, on Admission Day, and the first excursion was on the old Roseville in August of that year.
In September, 1890, a committee of nine members, composed of J. G. Decatur, B. Benjamin, E. J. Louis, J. R. Aitken, W. R. Rogers. R. K. Holmes, C. C. Loomis, C. L. Bisbee and A. W. Atherton, was appointed to consider the advisability of taking a site for the club's home on the old Pacific Steamship Company's dock at the foot of Fifth Street. The committee and club voted for the new site, and in June of the next year the club accepted L. A. Chandler's offer to give the use of his boat house, provided the club kept it in good condition. Exactly when the club moved into its present quarters is not disclosed in the club's records, but the minutes of the meeting of October 4, 1897, are the first in which it is written that a meeting was held in the boat house. The secretary at that time, by the way, was E. O. Hodge, who has since become well known as a banker of the city, and his reports of meetings of that period are models of neatness. The full list of officers chosen for that year at the annual election on May 5, is as follows: President. Dr. T. G. McConkey : vice president, Oscar A. Trippet, now one of the federal judges of the southern district of California ; secretary, E. O. Hodge: treasurer, I. L. Leszynsky: captain, F. L. Sargent; first lieutenant, George H. Neale : second lieutenant, W. A. Bassett.
The name of the club was changed from Excelsior Swimming and Boating Club to the San Diego Rowing Club on September 2, 1891, and the slogan, "San Diego, San Diego, Row, Row, San Di-e-go, Go," suggested by Decatur, was adopted. Articles of incorporation were drawn up in 1893, but is was not until 1896, that final arrange- ments in that respect were made.
The club is now the ranking athletic club of the city, being represented in all of the state aquatic championship contests held in California. as well as having teams in the city basketball and city bolwing leagues in recent times.
352 CITY OF SAN DIEGO AND SAN DIEGO COUNTY
The officers for 1922 of the rowing club are: E. B. Gould, presi- dent ; Louis Almgren, Sr., vice president ; H. DeGraff Austiin, sec- retary ; Harry Clark, treasurer ; Richard Barthelmess, captain ; Merald Hunter, first lieutenant, and John Perry, second lieutenant. These officers in 1922 served their second terms, having been elected by unanimous vote to succeed themselves.
The San Diego Club, an organization of women which has had a decided influence on the life of the community, was organized and incorporated in 1892, for purposes of general study, betterment of the home, civics and philanthropy. Its founders were Mrs. Lottie J. Park, who became the club's first president ; Mrs. Flora Kimball, Mrs. John Berry, Mrs. William Collier, Mrs. Harriet Wallace Phil- lips, Mrs. Rose Hartwick Trorp and Miss Estelle Thompson. Daniel Cleveland, the attorney, was very helpful to the organizers in attending to the legal formalities and was made an honorary member of the organization, being its only male member.
The club has done a good work not only among its own members but with struggling societies of the community. During the world war it did much for the soldiers at Camp Kearny.
The charter members in addition to those already named in- cluded Mrs. George H. Ballou and Mrs. John Snyder. When the membership was small, the club met at: homes of the different members. It was largely through the energy and interest of the late Mrs. A. Frost that the club bought the site for its fine clubhouse on Ninth Street between Broadway and E Street. The club had only about $16 in its treasury at the time, and to go into debt for $2,000, as was necessary, to complete the transaction, seemed to be a large undertaking ; the club members, however, faced the task with resolution and attained success in the work. At first the home of the club on the site was only a small building, which was later replaced by the fine clubhouse now standing there. Many of the members donated not only money but furniture to equip the first home of the club. The club's guest book of the early years contains the names of many distinguished women, among them being Susan B. Anthony, Anna Shaw, Carrie Chapman Catt, Augusta Bristol, Helen Gardner and Beatrice Harraden.
From about fifteen members the club has grown to more than 400. It joined the general federation in 1896, the county federation of women's clubs in 1898, and the state federation in 1900. The club had grown so large in 1914, that various departments of club work were organized.
Past presidents of the San Diego Club are as follows :
1892-3-Mrs. Lottie J. Park. 1905-6-Mrs. William L. Johnston.
1893-6-Mrs. G. H. Ballou. 1906-7-Mrs. Clarke W. McKee.
1896-8-Mrs. J. D. Parker. 1907-8-Mrs. Rosa H. Scott.
1898-00-Mrs. G. H. Phillips. 1908-9-Mrs. Clarke W. McKee. 1900-02-Mrs. Estelle H. Lang-1909-10-Mrs. John H. Ferry. worthy. Mrs. Frank P. Frary (acting).
1902-4-Mrs. Farnum T. Fish. 1910-11-Mrs. Frank P. Frary. 1904-5-Mrs. Clarke W. McKee. 1911-13-Mrs. E. M. Capps.
Mrs. Rosa H. Scott (acting).1913-14-Mrs. Stephen Connell.
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1914-15-Mrs. A. E. Frost. 1918-19-Mrs. Maud Frary.
1915-16-Mrs. E. W. Peterson. 1919-20-Mrs. J. G. Burne. 1916-17-Mrs. F. W. Van Buskirk. 1920-21-Mrs. William H. West.
1916-17-Mrs. E. D. Miller. 1921-Mrs. O. J. L. Arsenault. 1917-18-Mrs. Cary S. Alverson.
The Wednesday Club, which has been one of the most influential organizations among women of the city for many years, was formed in 1895. Meeting at their several homes, a little group of prominent San Diego women were studying general history and literature to- gether. On one of these occasions it was proposed by Mrs. M. A. Luce that a chib should be formed with literary and artistic culture as the main object. This was at once and enthusiastically approved. and Mrs. A. E. Horton, wife of the founder of new San Diego, was made the first president.
The members of the Wednesday Club during the first year of its organization : Mrs. H. R. Arndt, Mrs. Josiah Preston, Miss Emily Preston, Mrs. M. A. Luce, Mrs. F. R. Stearns, Mrs. Edwin Carson. Mrs. Israel Washburn, Mrs. Hayden DeLany, Mrs. Noah Hodge, Miss Grace Luce, Mrs. Heber Ingle, Mrs. J. Wade McDonald. Mrs. Herbert Richards, Mrs. W. Maize, Mrs. Alexander Reynolds, Mrs. Clough, Mrs. Charles S. Hamilton Mrs. J. D. Wood. Mrs. Nellie Laird Williams and Mrs. W. B. Woodward.
The membership of the club has always been limited to a certain number : it is now 160, and there is a long waiting list of those who wish to be associated with its work. An unwritten law of the club is that it shall not take part as a club in civic or political ques- tions, it being recognized that many of its members are leaders in other organizations and branches of work which they can carry on such activities. In spite of that, however, the club's influence has been large in moulding opinion, especially perhaps in the work of the public library and in similar fields. The first home built by the club was a cottage opposite All Saints Church on Pennsylvania Av- enue. Its present fine home on Sixth Street and Ivy Lane was built in 1911. Of this structure Mrs. Hazel B. Waterman, recently president of the club and prominent in the cultural development of the city, was architect. Miss Alice Klauber as responsible for the charm- ing interior decorations.
The presidents of the club from the time of its organization are as follows :
1895-96-Mrs. A. E. Horton. 1906-07-Mrs. Adelbert II. Sweet. 1896-97-Mrs. W. H. Bailhache. 1907-08-Mrs. M. A. Luce.
1897-98-Mrs. James D. Wood. 1898-99-Mrs. Hugo R. Arndt. 1899-00-Mrs. F. W. Stearns. 1900-01-Mrs. J. W. McDonald.
(Mrs. S. M. Utt. acting president. ) 1908-09-Mrs. James F. Brooks. 1909-10-Mrs. Rufus F. Robbins.
(Mrs. Williams Steffes). 1910-11-Mrs. Robert Darling.
1901-02-Mrs. Philip Morse. 1902-03-Mrs. Iver N. Lawson.
1911-12-Mrs. H. M. Kutchin. 1912-13-Mrs. Henry W. Foote. 1903-04-Mrs. Robert H. Dalton. 1913-14-Mrs. Sam Ferry Smith 1904-05-Mrs. Charles N. Clark. 1905-06-Mrs. N. L. Williams. (23)
1914-15-Mrs. Iver N. Lawson. 1915-10-Dr. Bessie E. Peery.
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1916-17-Mrs. Edgar I. Kendall. 1918-19-Mrs. Ernest Cleverdon. 1917-18-Miss Julia Powers. 1919-20-Mrs. Andrew J. Thornton (Mrs. Joseph M. Spining) 1920-21-Mrs. Waldo Waterman.
The San Diego Woman's Press Club was organized February 9, 1911, largely through the efforts of Mrs. S. C. Payson of Loma Portal, and was incorporated May 1 of the same year. Its purposes are thus outlined: "To promote fellowship among women writers and those interested in the study of literature and kindred arts; to be the medium through which members and their guests may meet professional visitors of note: to promote the development of the literary art in the community." It has had a considerable influence in encouraging writing by San Diego women. Past presidents of the organizations are as follows :
Mrs. Henry P. Newman. Mrs. Thomas G. Gwynne.
Mrs. Rae Copley Raum. Mrs. Charles Summer Tainter.
Mrs. Thomas B. Wright. Mrs. Grant M. Webster.
Mrs. Maude Ervay Fagin.
The president for 1921 is Mrs. Alfred Stahel, Jr. Active mem- bers of the club number about forty. Mrs. Rae Copey Raum is a life member and John Vance Cheney, well known author, is an honorary member.
The As You Like It Club of San Diego, whose purpose is the study of Shakespeare, current events, civics and other topics helpful to its members, was organized in 1910. It has about fifteen members.
The College Woman's Club, a local branch of the national organ- ization of such clubs, was formed in 1911. It has about 200 members. Social service, partly accomplished through its "neighbor- hood house," is the principal aim of the club.
The Mothers' Club of San Diego, organized in 1897, has for its purpose the study of vital problems of the day that the members may become better mothers and citizens. It has about fifty members at present.
The Pacific Beach Reading Club, which draws its membership from Pacific Beach, was organized in 1895, and has about fifty mem- bers at present. Intellectual uplift is the aim of the club.
The San Diego Business and Professional Women's Club, one of the most active of the newer organizations of San Diego women, was formed March 5, 1917. Its aim is thus given: "To bring together business and professional women and to promote the physical, social, intellectual and spiritual development of its members." It hold weekly meetings at the noon hour.
The San Diego County Nurses' Association, started to establish and maintain ethical standards among nurses, to support and defend the law applying to them and to promote and educational and social standing of the profession, was organized in 1905. It has more than 100 members.
The San Diego Society of Arts and Crafts, whose membership numbers about twenty-five, was formed in 1912. It aims to do arts and crafts work and to give aid to the Children's Honxe.
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The Federation of State Societies of San Diego was organized May 11, 1911, at a meeting in the grill of the U. S. Grant Hotel, with ten states represented. It soon grew in size and importance and especially in the days before the Exposition it did a great service to the city. By 1916, the organization boasted a membership of 15,000. As this is being written in 1921, an effort is being made to reorganize the federation on stronger lines that its aid to the community may be continued through the years to come. Through the state societies thousands of letters about San Diego have been sent by members to their back-east friends and relatives, and many of those letters have been printed in eastern newspapers.
An organization which, though comparatively young, has brought forth much of the public spirit of San Diego is the local council of the Boy Scouts of America. The purposes of this organization are too well known, of course, to need explanation here. The first charter granted to citizens of San Diego interested in this great world-wide movement was given in 1915, for a council of the second class. The movement, however, did not make much headway until April, 1917, when Milton A. MacRae of Detroit, one of the founders of the move- ment in the United States, now a well known resident of San Diego for much of every year, invited 100 leading men to a luncheon where the plan of organizing a council of the first class was presented. This resulted in organization of a committee, which completed the forma- tion of the local council and raised funds for the first year's work. It was not until August of that year, however, that the council's work began in earnest ; then Ellwood E. Barley was called here from San Francisco, where he had just been discharged from the army, and was commissioned Scout Executive. At the end of the first year the organization had grown from three troops with 101 Scouts to 23 troops with 736 Registered Scouts and 46 commissioned Scout leaders ; at that time 15 more troops were in process of organization.
San Diego's Boy Scout organization did splendid work in the Liberty Loan drives and other war activities in 1917 and 1918. At the end of the first year the Rotary Club of San Diego, through its president, Leslie S. Everts, asked for and obtained the privilege of sponsoring and financing the movement for a period of three years. With this added impetus, the organization continued to grow until at this writing, in 1921, it consists of four district councils of 50 troops. representing more than 1,500 Scouts and officials.
For some time the Scout headquarters has been in the five acre Indian Pueblo village reservation, which was built at a cost of $150,000 in the Exposition days and which the city turned over to the Scouts for headquarters and a week-end camp, which in recent months has been much used by hundreds of young Americans who are being trained in this fine way.
Outstanding features of the Boy Scout work in San Diego have been a well equiped radio station where a free course of signalling is given and the formation of a pioneer troop. Boy Scout Officers Reserve, for Scouts of distinguished merit.
In addition to those already named, there have been many citizens who have given freely of time, money and effort in this worthy cause. Among them are Duncan Mackinnon, Judge C. N. Andrews of the
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superior court, Ed. Fletcher, Carl H. Heilbron, Gordon Gray, Alfred LaMotte, Judge S. M. Marsh of the Superior court, Sam S. Porter, Julius Wangenheim, George Burnham, Matthias F. Heller, Leslie S. Everts, Elwyn B. Gould, Frank J. Belcher, Jr., Irving Brockett, W. B. Conniry, Frank A. Frye, Samuel I. Fox, John H. Gillons and H. L. Sullivan. Mr. McRae was made honorary president of the organiza- tion and still retains that office.
CHAPTER XXXVI
SAN DIEGO'S OLD HOTELS
San Diego, ever since its site was in Horton's Addition, has had hotels famous throughout the southwest. The most famous of the old days was the Horton House, described in the newspaper advertisements of the early days as "new, complete, elegant and commodious," placed on a "site admirably chosen" and thus afford- ing "a magnificent view of harbor, ocean, islands, mountains, city and country." Hotels contemporaneous with the Horton House were the Cosmopolitan at Old Town, run by A. L. Seeley, who had the Los Angeles stage office, and the new San Diego Hotel, down by Culver- well's wharf in the new town. The latter had been started by Captain S. S. Dunnells at Horton's earnest solicitation and was the first in his addition.
There had been another hotel in the new San Diego, but it had gone in the '50s, when William Heath Davis' "new town" venture faded away. That was the Pantoja House, fronting on what is now New Town Park but what was then called the Plaza Pantoja, after a Spanish pilot who surveyed the harbor in 1782. Charles J. Laning ran that in the old days, and he advertised excellent service, includ- ing the use of a fine billiard table. Out at Old Town on the Plaza in those days were two hotels, the Colorado House, which H. J. Couts ran, and the Exchange Hotel, conducted by G. P. Tebbets. Also at Old Town was the old Gila House, run by Charles R. Johnson, who had also the Playa House at La Playa.
Captain Dunnells started his little hotel at State and F streets in 1867, soon after Horton began his town of San Diego. The town grew so fast that more hotel accomodations became necessary and in 1868, a man named Case started the Bay View Hotel at Fifth and F streets. The Horton House was opened October 10, 1870. It was torn down in 1906, and excavations were at once started for the big U. S. Grant Hotel, which now occupies the site.
Another famous San Diego hotel of the days gone by was the old Florence Hotel, opened January 24, 1884, at Third and Fir streets. That was a show place in the "boom" days and then was "'way out in the country," or almost so. W. W. Bowers, who later was Congress- man from the San Diego district, was the proprietor and manager for a time. Some of its structure was used in making the Casa Loma, which now occupies the site. And "downtown" in those days were other hotels. Among them were the Plaza Palace House in the Schmidt block on Fourth Street between E and D: the city guard band gave weekly concerts there on the Plaza in front of the Horton House, but the old bandstand and the old hotel are now gone and
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