CONNECT with the CityNew Discoveries
Welcome to the New Discoveries blog! City of San Diego City Clerk Archives staff use this area to upload newly rediscovered documents from San Diego’s history. In their duties, staff often find unique and interesting pieces of history they want to bring to the public. Those documents are uploaded here and then organized into their appropriate Collection, or a new Collection is created. Please check back frequently for fascinating new finds and discoveries!
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Undated - Josephine Clifford McCracken (1839-1921): Writer and journalist
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In 1871, Josephine Clifford McCracken’s popular collection the "Overland Tales” was published. She was evaluated and "well known to men of letters and to the reading public as an authoress of rare merit.” In 1899, a large forest fire destroyed her home and the surrounding redwood trees. The disaster prompted Josephine's new found passion in conserving in the redwoods. The following year, she issued an impassioned letter in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, emphasizing the importance of protecting these majestic trees. She and her friends formed the Sempervirens Club and in 1902, establishing the Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the first conservation park in California. Josephine continued her efforts to protecting wildlife, eventually establishing the Ladies Forest and Songbird Conservation Society. Josephine was most notable for her dedication to the preservation of redwood trees.
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January 17, 1850 – Hand Drawn Map
See the hand drawn map of the late Ed Stokes’ estate from 1850.
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October 16, 1934 - City Flag
The official flag of the City of San Diego was adopted by the City Council on October 16, 1934, when a sample banner was submitted by Albert V. Mayrhofer, on behalf of the California Historical Association, Native Sons of the Golden West, Native Daughters of the Golden West, and San Diegans. The flag is composed of three vertical bars, from left to right, red, white, and gold. The center white field is the official seal of the City and beneath it the date “1542” the year explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo first entered San Diego Bay and claimed the area for Spain. The use of the three vertical bars is reminiscent of the colors of the flag of Spain, which flew over Cabrillo’s ship.
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1945 – Advertising Benches
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In 1945, the “California Bench Company” submitted a petition to place advertising benches on the streets throughout the city. These types of advertisements, even from 80 years ago were very appealing with their simplistic designs and familiar common household namebrands.
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1968 – Technology Frontier
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Let's take a trip down memory lane to 1968. Here are the Data Processing personnel in the City Administration Building basement. IBM 360 computer, teletype interface, and hard drives were in use. The IBM System 360 was a mainframe computer system announced by IBM in 1964 and delivered between 1965 and 1978. It was the first family of computers, which were designed to cover the complete range of applications, from small to large, both commercial and scientific. Nearly 60 years later, the City of San Diego has their own Information Technology department that handles the innovative computer systems and applications to ensure that various departments are safe and secure for decades to come.
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1916 - Two Legends
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See the historical image featuring two individuals standing in front of a car. The gentleman on the left is Mayor Edwin Capps, who served not once, but twice as the mayor of San Diego and also as an engineer. Capps was Mayor in our City from 1899-1901 and his second term from 1915-1917. The other individual in the photo is Ezra Meeker, an absolute legend. Meeker, a pioneer from Washington who did it all - he was a hops farmer, merchant, and an advocate for preserving the Oregon Trail. Since 1906 until his passing, he devoted his time and energy to marking and preserving this historic trail. In fact, he even went on four official trail-promoting trips! His third trip was in 1916, traveling east to west in The Pathfinder, a touring car with a canvas shell loaned to him, for publicity by the Pathfinder Company.
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April 10, 1905 – Appoint a Computer?
In this document, the Board of Public Works recommend to the mayor to appoint a Computer in Engineer's Office. The computer here is not the computer we use now, but a job position. This job was mainly computing street estimates, such as calculating the yardage of a great number of streets at that time. Salary to be $75 per month.
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August 23, 1925- Catch the Wave
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Check out this awesome photo from 1925 of an event along the Mission Beach - Pacific Beach Boardwalk, also known as Oceanfront Boardwalk. It is a concrete walkway that spans about 3 1/2 miles, from North Pacific Beach to South Mission Beach. Mission Beach is at the center of the Golden Strand, between South Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. One of the most popular beach areas in the City of San Diego, Mission Beach draws large crowds in the summer to its oceanfront and adjacent Belmont Park.
Mission Beach is one of nine beaches that has permanent lifeguard stations patrolled by San Diego Lifeguards.
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1894 – Midwinter Exposition
In this resolution of April 2, 1894, $1,000 was authorized to maintain an exhibit at the Midwinter Exposition. The California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 was a significant World's Fair that took place from January 27 to July 5 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. At that time, both California and the nation were facing economic challenges during the depression. The exposition was seen as an opportunity to stimulate California’s economy. The fair covered an area of 200 acres. A total of 120 structures were built for the exposition, attracting over 2 million visitors.
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1968 - Bridging the Gap between San Diego and Coronado
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In this historical photograph, we can observe the construction of the Coronado Bridge in 1968. This bridge, which was erected at an impressive cost of $50 million, commenced construction in February 1967. The esteemed architect behind this project is Robert Mosher. It opened on August 3, 1969, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of San Diego. The 2.12-mile-long bridge has a vertical clearance of approximately 200 feet, allowing the tallest ships to pass beneath it. In 1970, it won the 'Most Beautiful Bridge' Award of Merit by the American Institute of Steel Construction.
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Nov 20, 1906 – Thanksgiving Proclamation
The year 1906 brought significant challenges for the people of California. On April 18, a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, resulting in a staggering loss of life and the destruction of more than 80% of the city. This event stands as the deadliest earthquake in the history of the United States and holds a place high on the list of American disasters. Various aids were provided across the country and around the world after the earthquake, enabling the people of California to overcome this difficult period with their persistent endeavors. As a result, Thanksgiving Day in 1906 held a special significance to the people of California. In this thanksgiving proclamation, Governor George C. Pardee officially designated November 29, 1906, as a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God.
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December 10, 1943 - Frontier Housing Project
This historical document indicated that the War Production Board granted approval for the construction of a water main to supply water to the Frontier Housing Project. The Frontier Housing Project was built by the federal government during World War II. It comprised of 3,500 units with the aim of providing affordable housing for 15,000 defense workers, military veterans, and their families. Despite its initial purpose as temporary housing for war efforts, certain units remained in use for almost twenty years.
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1956 – Herpetologist: Laurence Monroe Klauber
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Laurence Monroe Klauber (1883-1968) was a herpetologist and the foremost authority on rattlesnakes in the 20th century. Klauber's most significant achievement is his two-volume work, "Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories, and Influence on Mankind," published in 1956. This comprehensive study, considered a definitive resource on rattlesnakes, meticulously documented over 50 species, delving into their behavior, habitats, and venomous properties. He served as consulting curator of reptiles for the San Diego Zoo from 1923. He donated approximately 36,000 herpetological specimens to the San Diego Natural History Museum, including a rattlesnake collection of over 8,600 specimens. After his death, his extensive personal library and field notes were donated to the San Diego Natural History Museum Research Library. In addition, Klauber has also achieved success as an entrepreneur. He dedicated many years of service to the San Diego Gas & Electric Company and held the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
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December 30, 1914 – Special Policeman Without Pay
In 1914, Chief of Police J. K. Wilson recommended a list of men to be appointed Special Policeman without pay, from date to appointment to January 1, 1916. This list was provided by G. A. Davidson, president of the Panama-California Exposition. Many local celebrities were included and expected to be a valuable assistance to both the Exposition and the City.
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June 27, 1941 - Soap Box Derby
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Check out this awesome photo of boys having a blast building their very own cars for the Soap Box Derby! The Soap Box Derby is a youth-oriented soap box car racing program that was inspired by neighborhood boys racing homemade cars on a Dayton Street in 1933, and the following year the All-American Soap Box Derby was officially held. The 1941 San Diego Derby was sponsored by the Southeastern Exchange Club. It’s been a tradition in San Diego ever since.
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October 21, 1939 - Armistice Day Program
This historical document showed that an Armistice Day Program was held at the Ford Bowl in Balboa Park on November 11, 1939. President Wilson proclaimed November 11, 1919, as the first Armistice Day to commemorate the end of World War I. In 1954, November 11 was renamed Veterans Day to recognize and show appreciation for all the veterans who have served in U.S. wars.
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1900 – San Diego Union Building
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In this historical image, you can see the building of the oldest newspaper company, “The San Diego Union.” San Diego Union published its first edition on October 10, 1868, near the Plaza in Old Town.
The San Diego Union-Tribune that we know today is the result from a merger that took place between The San Diego Union and The San Diego Evening Tribune, founded on December 2, 1895.
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September 13, 1913 – Carnival Cabrillo Invitation Letter
From this historical document we can know that Carnival Cabrillo was held from September 24th to 27th, 1913 in San Diego to honor Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the Spanish explorer credited with the discovery of California.
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1969 - A League of her Own
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Marita Redondo was born in 1956 in San Diego and played professional tennis from 1970 to 1982. With her signature devastating forehand and powerful game, she won the Atlantic City Tennis Classic Doubles in 1973, the Bridgestone Doubles Championships in 1976 and the Sillook Championships in Japan in 1976, 1978 and 1979. Her highest US ranking was five in 1976 and her career-best world ranking was nine. Marita has remained active in the San Diego Tennis Community. She was inducted into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012.
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September 26, 1972 - “We Are Family” The Sister City Program
The Sister City Program was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House conference on citizen diplomacy. Eisenhower envisioned an organization that could be the hub of peace and prosperity by creating bonds between people from different cities around the world. By forming these relationships, President Eisenhower reasoned that people of different cultures could celebrate and appreciate their differences and build partnerships. The City of San Diego established its first City relationship with Yokohama, Japan, on March 11, 1958. The City Council established a uniform policy as guidelines for the maintenance and expansion of San Diego’s Sister City Program in 2000. Since the date, at the recommendation and in accord with the International Affairs Board, San Diego has 18 additional Sister Cities.