Please check out this significant historical photo of first public library in San Diego. In 1897 Lydia Knapp Horton, wife of San Diego founder Alonzo Horton, wrote to Mr. Carnegie to start a funding effort. San Diego had the honor of being the first Carnegie library in California. It opened in 1902 at Eighth and E Streets. It was demolished in 1952 to make way for a new Central Library.