San Diego History

Native Peoples of San Diego

The San Diego area has been the historic home of the Kumeyaay Native American people. The Kumeyaay people are comprised of three groups: along the coast two groups were approximately separated by the San Diego River: the northern Ipai (extending from Escondido to Lake Henshaw) and the southern Tipai (including the Laguna Mountains, Ensenada, and Tecate).

When Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed into San Diego Bay, he saw several Kumeyaay Indians waiting on shore. They had long hair, some in braids and adorned with feathers or shells. Some men wore capes made from the skin of sea otter, seal or deer.

The Kumeyaay tribes today live in several reservations around the San Diego area. They run a casino at Barona Valley Ranch.

Spanish Discovery & Administration

In 1540, the Viceroy of New Spain (Mexico) appointed Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo to lead an expedition up the Pacific Coast in search of trade opportunities, and possibly a passage to the Far East. On June 27, 1542, Cabrillo set sail from Navidad (now Acapulco) in New Spain. Cabrillo landed in what is now San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and named it "San Miguel." After provisioning their ships, the Spanish departed for points north.

Over the next 60 years, contacts with the Spanish were infrequent.

In 1601 the Viceroy in Mexico City appointed Sebastian Vizcaino to lead an expedition to locate safe harbors in Alta California for Spanish Galleons to use on their return voyage to Acapulco from Manila. He was also given the mandate to map in detail the California coastline that Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo had first reconnoitered 60 years earlier.

Vizcaino departed Acapulco with three ships on May 5, 1602. His flagship was the San Diego, accompanied by the San Tomas and the Tres Reyes. On November 10, 1602, he landed and surveyed the harbor, Mission Bay and Point Loma. He named the area for Saint Didacus, whose Spanish name was San Diego. He and his men stayed on land for several days before sailing on.

In 1769 the Mission system was established in Alta California with the construction of the first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcala. The mission was founded by the Franciscan friars under Father Junipero Serra. In the same year, Gaspar de Portola built the Presidio of San Diego overlooking what is now Old Town.

By 1797, the San Diego mission claimed the largest native population in California, with over 1,400 neophytes living in and around the mission.

After the Mexican Revolution in 1821, California became a province in the new country. Without Spanish support, the missions entered a period of decline. This decline was accelerated by the passage of the decree of secularization in 1834 (wherein all church properties were expropriated by the state), after which the missions were essentially abandoned.

In 1847, San Diego became a destination for the Mormon Battalion, in which the faithful marched 2,000 miles and built a brick courthouse.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

Sebastian Vizcaino

California Joins the Union

The success of the American Forces in the Mexican-American war in 1848 resulted in the lands of Mexico's Alta California being ceded to the United States. In 1850, California was granted statehood, San Diego was designated as the seat of the newly-established San Diego County, and the city was incorporated. At the time, the city's population was only 650 residents.

In 1858, San Diego was hit by a 75 mph hurricane, causing damage to buildings, but no deaths were recorded.

By 1870, San Diego's population jumped to 2,300 residents. In the same year, the city became the first city west of the Mississippi River to set aside land for an urban park. The 1,440 acres in the center of the city later became Balboa Park.

In 1884, Helen Hunt Jackson's romanticized novel Ramona was published, describing the tragic fate of a half-breed senorita and her Indian husband at the hands of prejudiced whites in northern San Diego County. This was the first novel published about Southern California.

The Real Estate Boom and Bust of the 1880s

In 1885, Eastern land speculators began to buy up San Diego County land. The interest in San Diego lands had been stimulated by the anticipation of a railroad connection between San Diego and the Santa Fe line at Barstow. In November 1885 the new line opened. Suddenly the growth of San Diego accelerated.

In the same year, the Coronado peninsula was purchased by Chicago magnates for $110,000, and construction began on the Hotel del Coronado.

In 1886, the population of the city jumped from 7,500 to 12,000. This population growth naturally resulted in a surge of construction, and 1886 saw the completion of 913 buildings. During 1887, the number of new buildings erected in the city rose to 1,760.

Land speculation, however, not construction, provided the real stimulus to the economic boom. A land investment fever had seized San Diego by the spring of 1887.

By the end of 1887, the flush times of the economic boom had almost run their course. The town's population swelled to between 35-40,000 residents. The economy would soon take a drastic turn.

In the late spring of 1888, the bottom fell out of the real estate market. Construction of new buildings fell off sharply, and by the end of the year only 319 new structures had been completed in the city.

By the end of the decade, the population had shrunk to just 16,000 residents.

San Diego in the 20th Century

At the beginning of the new century, San Diego had a population of just under 18,000 residents. By 1910, the population climbed to just under 40,000 residents. There are several reasons for this growth.

Construction of the Panama Canal is authorized by Congress in 1902, and San Diego's proximity to Panama results in increased maritime activity. The U.S. Navy established a coaling station in San Diego in 1907, giving further impetus to the town's growth.

In 1903 the famous call girl Ida Bailey took up residence at the Canary Cottage, 530 4th Avenue, a house of ill repute in the Stingaree. The Gaslamp Quarter was known as the Stingaree district because it was said you could get stung just as badly in the District as by the stingrays in Mission Bay. There were around 350 prostitutes working in 120 bordellos. The Stingaree's 71 saloons boasted names such as the Turf, Oasis, First and Last Chance, Old Tub of Blood, and Legal Tender.

In 1910, the city's 1,400 acre park is renamed Balboa Park, and preparations begin for the Panama-California Exposition began. In 1912, the Stingaree Raids closed all of the brothels in town so as to foster a more wholesome environment in the town during the exposition.

The exposition was held between March 9, 1915 and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first US port of call for ships traveling north After passing through the canal. The fair was held in San Diego's large urban Balboa Park.

By 1930, the town's population has grown to almost 150,000 residents.

The California Pacific International Exposition was held in San Diego in 1935 and 1936, and was staged at the site of the earlier 1915 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park.

The focus of the depression era exposition was to promote San Diego and bring in tourist dollars to the city. The fair was considered to be a great success, owing in part to its exhibits. These included hundreds of exhibits in history, arts, science, and industry; some exhibits were unusual, such as the Zoro Garden Nudist Colony or the 1 ton (900 kg) Mechanical Man, and some were not so scientific, such as the Lost Continent of Mu.

After World War II, the military played an increasing role in the local economy, both with a large direct naval, air force and marine presence, and defense contractors manufacturing their products in local factories. But the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s took a heavy toll on the local defense and aerospace industries.

Today's San Diego

Downtown San Diego has been undergoing an urban renewal since the early 1980s, beginning with the opening of Horton Plaza in 1985, the revival of the Gaslamp Quarter and the construction of the San Diego Convention Center.

The Centre City Development Corporation, San Diego's downtown redevelopment agency, has transformed what was a largely abandoned downtown area into a showcase of waterfront skyscrapers and hotels, loft developments and cafes, restaurants, shops and boutiques. PETCO Park, the downtown home stadium of the San Diego Padres, was opened in 2004.

San Diego's economy has benefited from investments in such high technology areas as telecommunications and biotechnology. The telecom giant Qualcomm is headquartered in San Diego, as are many emerging biotechnology companies fostered by the presence of the University of California San Diego, a major center of science.