Posts Tagged ‘Alonzo E. Horton’

24th June
2019
written by Richard

Eyewitness accounts of early San Diego are a treasure. The 1872 diary of J. A. Shepherd, the quiet bookkeeper of city founder Alonzo E. Horton, provides a fascinating first-hand look at “poor, isolated San Diego,” as the young town struggled to find success in its obscure corner of the United States.

Jesse A. Shepherd

18th May
2018
written by Richard

Back in July 2017, I did a talk on San Diego founder Alonzo Horton for the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation. Attached here is the video recording of that lecture. Audio is sometimes iffy but overall, a nice production done by Bill Keller, a docent at the Gaslamp Foundation.

21st November
2014
written by Richard

The great need of this town is about to be supplied by A. E. Horton, Esq., who will immediately erect, on the northwest corner of Fourth and D Streets, a palatial brick edifice, for hotel purposes. It is to contain a hundred rooms and to be fitted up with elegant furniture and all modern improvements. –The San Diego Bulletin, December 18, 1869

The story of San Diego’s first hotel, the luxurious Horton House Hotel.

The Horton House Hotel, circa 1870.

The Horton House Hotel, circa 1870.

19th March
2014
written by Richard

Alonzo Horton, ca. 1868.

Alonzo Horton, ca. 1868.

Mr. A. E. Horton yesterday donated to the San Diego Free Reading Room Association his fine library. It will be remembered by old residents that this library was bought as the nucleus for a public institution some time ago, Mr. Horton having paid a large sum of money for it.  –San Diego Union, May 21, 1873.

San Diego’s first public library struggled to open its doors. A large book donation by city father Alonzo Horton was a start. But there were strings attached. . .

The story of San Diego’s First Library.

13th November
2013
written by Richard

The Thanksgiving Day menu from the Horton House Hotel.

The Thanksgiving Day menu from the Horton House Hotel.

In 1872, the dour secretary of San Diego founder Alonzo Horton would complain in his diary: Thanksgiving Day has not been very well observed. Too tired to work and too forgetful of comforts enjoyed . . . May our ingratitude be forgiven.  –Jesse Aland Shepherd.

But in future years San Diegans would invest a bit more in the national holiday. Here’s a look at how we celebrated in the 1870s: Thanksgiving in Early San Diego.

14th January
2011
written by Richard

Lieutenant Philip Reade, Officer in Charge, Signal Service, U.S.A. at San Diego, returned to the city yesterday, after a brief trip to San Francisco, bringing with him a telephone . . .

Less than two years after Alexander Graham Bell’s successful invention of the telephone, the mysterious hand gadget appeared in San Diego. Here’s the story of San Diego’s First Telephones.

4th January
2011
written by Richard

William Heath Davis

Of the new town of San Diego, now the city of San Diego, I can say that I was its founder. –William Heath Davis, interview with San Diego Sun, December 1887.

Often forgotten in San Diego history is the pioneer some historians regard as the true founder of the City of San Diego.  William Heath Davis certainly believed he deserved credit for his attempt of 1850, an effort that failed but paved the way for a later city builder named Alonzo E. Horton.

Read the story of San Diego’s founding: The Davis Folly.