Balboa Park History 1920

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual Edition, 3:1, 6:3. Great outdoor organ typical of San Diego climate; concerts daily throughout year on magnificent instrument, by Humphrey J. Stewart.

Exactly five years ago today the great Spreckels organ at Balboa park was dedicated to the public. This magnificent instrument, together with the building, in which it stands, was the gift of Messrs. John D. and Adolph B. Spreckels.

In addition to the original gift of the organ and organ pavilion, John D. Spreckels has paid the salary of the organist from the inauguration to the present time, together with the salary of the resident organ tuner, whose services are needed every day in order that the instrument may be kept in proper condition.

The organ was formally presented to the people of San Diego on December 31, 1914, on the even of the opening of the Panama-California Exposition. The daily recitals commenced on the following day, January 1, 1915, and they have been continued regularly to the present time.

A series of organ recitals given daily and extending over five years is unique in the history of American music, and in fact I am not away of such a record in any other country. The Spreckels organ has another distinctive feature — it is the only outdoor organ in the world; nor is it likely that this unique distinction will ever be challenged, for climatic conditions would probably stand in the way of such an enterprise in any other city. No better testimony to the climate of San Diego can be given than the fact that postponements of concerts on account of unfavorable weather have only averaged nine days each year.

As I have had the honor to preside at the Spreckels organ in the capacity of official organist since its inauguration, I gladly accept the invitation of The San Diego Union to give a little information concerning the instrument and its use. Speaking generally, it may be said that the object of the generous donors was not only that of affording gratification to our music-loving people, but also to cultivate a taste for good music in the community by the daily presentation of high-class compositions. It will be seen, therefore, that the work of the organist is largely educational, and the daily programs must be judged from this standpoint rather from that of merely providing amusement and diversion by the performance of music of a popular type.

It will readily be understood that the preparation and performance of the daily program is a task of considerable magnitude. For example, during the year 1919, no less than 2,269 numbers were played. This record naturally includes a good many repetitions of favorite pieces, most of them by request; but by actual count, 1,174 compositions have been presented and of these about 200 have been played for the first time. The list of composers represented is too long for publication in this article, but it numbers 385, and includes names ranging from Bach (1685) to Debussy and others of the present day. Practically every composer of note is represented in the list.

I esteem it a great privilege to have had the opportunity of presenting these daily programs to the people of San Diego, for I know that the recitals have been of inestimable value in bringing the works of the great masters before the public. To most people the great men in music are merely a name or a tradition. In a vague way we know of these musical giants — Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Wagner, to mention only a few — but unless we have opportunities of hearing their works, the world of music is as a sealed book to us. Such opportunities are afforded by the daily organ recitals, which are growing in popularity as the taste for good music develops.

The Spreckels organ is one of the finest examples of the organ builders’ art. It was built by the Austin company of Hartford, Connecticut, and it contains four complete manuals with 88 stops. Only those who have inspected a modern organ at close range can appreciate the truly wonderful mechanism by which its thousands of pipes are easily operated. I take this opportunity to inviting any of my audience to go over the organ after the daily recitals, and I shall be most happy to explain to them the details of this noble instrument.

Undoubtedly the greatest problem the recital organist has to solve is that of the choice of music for his programs, and a few words on the point may not be out of place, especially as the same question has arisen in every city wherein organ recitals have been established. Quite frequently the performer is accused of playing selections which are “over the heads of the people,” to use a common expression. It is a curious fact that the eminent pianist, violinist or vocalist who presents a recital program may — and does — perform the works of the great masters without arousing hostile criticism. Only the organ recitalist seems to be the target for such comment; and just why this should be I confess I am at a loss to understand.

But there is another side to the question. The organist is compelled to bear in mind that a large number of his audience really do desire to hear good music, and they are quick to resent the introduction of mere “trash,” such as may be found in the so-called “popular” music of the day. This tendency is indicated by the numerous requests received for high-class compositions; indeed it has been my experience that requests for special numbers are almost invariably along classical rather than popular lines. Of course, we are always likely to have with us the friendly critic who tells you he “knows nothing about music”; a fact which, if properly considered, ought to make him rather careful in criticizing. Still, this type of critic seeks to justify himself by stating that even if he knows nothing about music, “he knows what he likes.” Now, having already informed you that he is ignorant of the art, with delightful inconsistency (and not a little self-conceit), he calmly assumes that the music that happens to please him must, of necessity, be the best not only for himself, but for others.

In this connection, a little experience of my own may not be without interest. A few months after assuming my duties at the Spreckels organ, a gentleman waiting on me at the close of a recital, and complained that the music he liked did not appear on my programs.. Not feeling quite clear as to his wishes, I suggested that he should draw up two or three specimen programs, thus giving me a definite idea of what he wanted. This he promised to do, and a few days later he called again. I asked him for the promised programs, and he said, “Dr. Stewart, I feel I owe you an apology. I thought it would be easy, but I find that I am unable to name enough pieces to make even one program.” I ventured to remind him that I had to furnish not one, but 365 programs every year; upon which he renewed his apologies, but produced a slip of paper containing the titles of three of his favorite compositions. Turning to my record, which I have kept everyday since I commenced by duties here, I was able to prove to my friend that each of his selections had been played quite recently, and one of them on two or three occasions.

As I before remarked, the question is one of some difficulty, but I have found the best solution to be a system of “request” numbers. Anyone who wished to hear a favorite piece has only to send me a postal card giving the name of the selection and the date on which he wishes it played. As the programs are prepared three or four days in advance, allowance should be made for this in the date selected; but if this is not convenient the request many be handed in at the time of the recital, and if possible the piece will be played as an extra number.

It is perhaps needless to aid that music of the cabaret or dance-hall type will not be considered. Such pieces are really not music at all, and their performance would undoubtedly give offense to a majority of the audience. Those who prefer “music” of this kind will find no difficulty in gratifying their taste, for unfortunately such selections are always to be heard in public places; but to allow then on a concert program would be the equivalent of filling the bookshelves of a public library with dime novels or exhibiting comic supplements of the Sunday papers on the walls of an art gallery.

I am sure that all loyal San Diegans would deplore the presentation of programs which would certainly give a wrong impression of the musical taste prevailing here. It has often been a satisfaction to me to find my programs quoted in eastern musical papers, coupled with complimentary remarks as to the choice of pieces. In this way I know that the daily recitals have established the musical reputation of San Diego throughout the United States; and so long as I have the honor to preside at the keyboard of the Spreckels organ I shall endeavor to maintain this standard, believing that only in this way can for objects for which the instrument was dedicated be completely achieved.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 3:1-3. Stadium one of San Diego’s show places; crowd of 50,000 in big enclosure hear President Wilson.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 3:2-5. Exposition grounds recall old Spain, by Katherine E. Oliver.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 3:4. Organ Pavilion real pleasure to music lovers, San Diego residents, visitors.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 3:8. Leading position taken by city in cultural arts; unique movement aims to concentrate art, club and civic life in Museum, by Gertrude Gilbert..

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1, 5:5-7. County’s productiveness shown at Fair in Balboa Park.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual. 5 (whole page). Architect’s drawing of projected San Diego Naval Training Center and Marine Corps Base.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 6:1. Year-around beauty of City parks charms visitors; flowers and greenery glorify Exposition grounds; 1400-acre tract in heart of city is San Diego’s pride.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 6:5-6. Rare collection on exhibit in Balboa Park museum; display in Science of Man Building declared one of the most complete in world.

The San Diego Museum has been kept open every day since the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-1916. Its galleries are visited by not less than half a million persons every year. Its collections are known as among the most valuable in the world. The museum is restricted to the sciences of man — anthropology, ethnology, archaeology and art.

The California building, built, owned and maintained by the state, is by arrangement between the state commission and the museum association devoted to the museum of American archaeology. It also contains the museum library, the California reception rooms and executive offices. The Fine Arts building, built by the city and granted to the Museum association for the use implied by its name, forms part of an architectural unit with the State building, bearing the name of the California Quadrangle, a permanent, fireproof structure. It includes the main gallery, several small halls, stores rooms and the business office.

Fifteen Exhibitions Held

The museum has the beginning of a permanent art collection, and with the assistance of the San Diego Art guild, which has transferred its activities from downtown to the museum, the gallery is kept well filled. Fifteen exhibitions were held during the year and not less than 600 paintings were displayed.

The Science of Man building houses the collection of the same name, which is conceded t be the best of its kind in existence. One of the unique collections of the world. The building also accommodates the laboratories of anthropology and psychology, the latter including the child psychology department of the city schools. Five artists have studios in the building.

The Indian Arts building houses ethnological collections, the museum lecture hall, the priceless Jessop archery collection, the Art guild quarters and studios for sculpture, weaving and leathercraft. It and the Science of Man are two of the most attractive of the original exposition buildings, but they are temporary structures and must be improved for permanent use.

Painted Desert Impresses

The Painted Desert, built by the Santa Fe Railway Company, was taken over by the museum this year and reopened. It constitutes a unique ethnological museum in itself, even without collections. It is a complete Indian pueblo and suggests endless possibilities in educational directions.

From the above it will be seen that the museum as an inheritance from the exposition is one of the half dozen most extensive and valuable museums in America. The hospitality of the museum has been

extended to a dozen or more active organizations, which now hold all their meetings in the buildings and add much to the cultural life centering about the institution. A dozen artists have their studios in the museum buildings: painting, sculpture, design, textile weaving and leathercraft being represented. It is hoped to equip at least double the number of studios during the coming year and place them at the disposal of the artists, both resident and non-resident. The plan of offering free studio facilities to artists as free laboratory and library privileges are accorded to students of science is one that has met with gratifying results. It is done for the advancement of art and as an assurance to artists of the appreciation of their presence and efforts on the part of the institution and community.

Expansion Proposed

Discussing the outlook for the museum, the following statement was made by the directors:

“The museum has only private support, and the years just past have not been easy ones. Nevertheless, if all dues are paid, it will reach the year of the year 1919 free of debt. Few museums of any importance can show such a record now. Nearly all are struggling with formidable deficits, with rapidly mounting expenses and serious impairment of service to the public. That the museum is able to report such a condition is due to its peculiarly favorable situation which enables it to run on smaller expenses than any other large museum in the country; to employees who remain out of loyalty to the museum; to a considerable amount of volunteer help; and to contenting ourselves with a well-nigh stationary policy. Such a course is tolerable only during a crisis. An institution must grow or die. We must find a way to buy cases for valuable collections that can be had for this museum if we will install them properly, otherwise they are going elsewhere.

“The safety of the priceless collections we have must be assured. There should be a museum assistant in each building to insure the proper care and use of collections and for the guidance of classes. The valuable library must be put into service. The buildings must be made comfortable during the winter for the large number of sojourners in San Diego to whom the museum and its library constitute on of the city’s foremost attractions.

Research Work Urged

“The museum should begin to do its park in research work. One of the richest and least known fields in the world (Lower California) lies at our door awaiting scientific exploration. Even from our own back country priceless collections are being taken to eastern museums. It seems hardly right that in order to study some of the most important things of San Diego county we should have to go to New York City.

“During the war the Museum association did not feel like pressing the needs of the institution. There should be several thousand corporate members and among the many who have found great opportunities in San Diego there must be a considerable number who as sustaining members and patrons and through bequests are prepared to keep the museum growing at a rate commensurate with the developments of San Diego now confidently predicted.”

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:8. Naval Hospital will be built in Balboa Park.

One of the finest and most modern hospitals planned by the navy department will be established in beautiful Balboa park within a short time. More than $1,000,000 for this hospital is now available. And additional $1,000,000 is expected to be appropriated from funds which originally were to have been expended for hospital construction in France. The end of the war made these later built hospital unnecessary.

The buildings for the magnificent San Diego naval hospital were designed by Bertram Goodhue, famous New York architect. The plans and specifications were drawn up under the supervision of Comdr. F. W. Southworth, project manager of hospitals, bureau of yards and docks, navy department.

17-1/2 Acre Plot for Hospital

According to Capt. H. C. Curl, senior medical officer of the Balboa Park temporary naval hospital, it is planned first to erect four groups of wards, an administration building and a commissary or supply store. Later a commanding officers’ quarters, nurses’ quarters, power house, and other buildings will be added to complete the permanent group.

The hospital grounds will be located on Inspiration Point, one of the most scenic spots in San Diego. The grounds will cover 17-1/2 acres.

Captain Curl said that the staff of the new hospital will comprise 10 surgeons and physicians, two pharmacists, a supply officer, 50 hospital corpsmen and 25 nurses. The hospital will be used exclusively in rendering medical attention to units of the Pacific fleet based at San Diego and to the various naval establishments in and near this city.

San Diego Physicians Praised

Whether the temporary naval hospital buildings in Balboa park, which rendered excellent service during the war, will be abandoned entirely upon the completion of the new $1,000,000 hospital, has not been decided, according to Captain Curl. The latter paid a sterling tribute to the corps of San Diego physicians who formed virtually the complete surgical staff of the temporary hospital at the park during the war.

“These San Diego physicians who volunteered for duty during the war and who were attached to the Balboa park hospital performed their duty efficiently and zealously,” said Captain Curl. “The navy appreciated their fine work.”

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 6:8, 7:3-4. Exposition site buildings became property of city; artistic structures amid scenic tropical foliage preserved for public.

When the Panama-California Exposition officially closed its gates on December 31, 1916, the Exposition itself passed into history, but the beautiful and artistic structures, flanked by rare plants, shrubbery and flowers, and bordering on wide paved thoroughfares, have been preserved.

It is this “white city” in the spacious Balboa Park, San Diego has a unique and distinctive attraction. Years before the Exposition was completed, and when the plans were being laid, the builders decided upon a policy of stability of construction, to the end that when the purposes of the Exposition had been fulfilled, the building could be passed down as a heritage to the city. Most of the larger buildings are now devoted to civic uses, such as art galleries, museums, libraries and assembly halls.

In the building of the exposition the principal structures were grouped, and the streets and grounds were brought to the highest state of improvement. It is this group of buildings that is now being used for civic purposes.

The Panama-California Exposition, known as “the Exposition Beautiful,” continued for two years, thereby establishing a record for continuity that had not been approached anywhere in the world. The object of the Exposition was to commemorate the completion of the Panama Canal, as well as to advertise to the world what Southern California, in general, and San Diego, in particular, had to offer.

Because of its magnificent setting, architecture and permanent collections, the Exposition was a distinct contribution to the science and art of America. It gave San Diego an enviable reputation as a place of beauty and culture, and educational and scientific advantages. The charm of the Exposition was not confined to its superficial features but the serious side of human affairs — the arts, industry, history and science were given special attention. For the first time in the history of expositions, the story of man was given special presentation: the native American culture was presented in a manner more illuminating than ever before. Aside from the great exhibits illustrating the highest achievements of aboriginal America, there were others of great historic and scientific value which received interested attention on the part of the public and unstinted praise on the part of men of science, and which, from the inception of the Exposition, were destined to serve a great purpose as the permanent museum of San Diego.

The Museum of San Diego is the logical successor to the Exposition. It was established for the purpose of cooperating with the city in making the benefits of the Exposition perpetual. The park, buildings and scientific collections are the permanent possession of the people. By developing a great cultural and recreational center, the Exposition is made a permanently productive investment. The museum is planned to meet the high standard of the Exposition and the park, and to develop with the future growth of the city.

The museum is already the largest west of Chicago. The buildings, which have been granted for its use, are valued at $500,000; the collection on exhibit is worth $250,000. Not less than $1,000,000 were spent in the grading, planting and other permanent development of this portion of Balboa Park. The Fine Arts Building, now installed throughout, includes the gallery of Exposition architecture, the mission chapel, the women’s headquarters, the main art gallery, the little art gallery and the oriental art gallery. The plan is to keep this building constantly installed with collections of paintings and other objects representing the progress of art, particularly in California and the Southwest.

Wonderful and inspiring, and the only one of its kind in the world, the magnificent outdoor organ, in the Exposition grounds, stands as an impressive tribute to the year ‘round openness and delightfulness of San Diego’s climate. Here recitals are given throughout the year. Because of its character as an out-of-door organ, the builders gave special attention to the carrying quality of its tones and produced an instrument which can be heard many blocks distant, even when the total power of the organ is not used. Special attention was paid to the orchestral equipment of the organ when it was designed, consequently orchestral effects are to be found in greater number in this instrument than would be in the case with an organ designed for church work.

The organ was the gift of John D. and Adolph Spreckels to the Exposition and the city. Through the generosity of John D. Spreckels afternoon recitals are given the year around, and are free to the public.

January 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Annual, 7:7-8. Naval Training Center and Marine Base for city’ big projects entail outlay of $16,500,000.

January 9, 1920, San Diego Sun, 2:5. It will involve approximately $1,000,000 to make Exposition Buildings lasting according to Frank P. Allen, Jr.

January 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:3. Inspection made of buildings at old exposition; no decision reached regarding old structures; auditorium planned.

No decision was made yesterday by the exposition preservation committee after making an inspection of all the buildings at Balboa park which were used during the two years’ exposition, as to whether the buildings should be salvaged or used for future use.

Every building was inspected carefully from the ground to the top of the roof and in many cases members of the committee went below the surface to see the main beams of the buildings. The structures were found to vary as to their condition. Some of them were found to be in fair condition in one section while another was not so substantial. In many cases buildings close to the ground without good underground ventilation were found to be in poor condition. This was found to exist in the southeast end of the Pan-Pacific building, which during the exposition was called the Electrical building.

The Southern counties building, which is proposed to be used as a music building in the future, was found to be in good condition. Several members of the committee who made the inspection suggested this building could be made into an auditorium at a small expense. It is said that it has a seating capacity of approximately 35,000 people.

As no decision was reached yesterday, it is expected that a meeting of the committee will be called in the near future at which time it will submit a report and some definite plan for the maintaining or salvaging of the buildings.

Those making the tour of inspection yesterday afternoon included F. F. Grant, George W. Marston, G. A. Davidson, Frank Allen, Julius Wangenheim, J. P. Morley, Miss Gertrude Gilbert and Joseph W. Sefton, Jr.

January 12, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:2. Directors to quit Wilde’s oil projects; Weitzel and Heilbron explain reasons for “getting out.”

January 14, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:1. A communication received from the Board of Park Commissioners by the Council today states that a Council resolution request that Park Commission expenditures not exceed the budget allowance for parks is misleading.

January 15, 1920, San Diego Sun, 9:3. San Diego poultry and pet show opens in Balboa Park tomorrow.

January 15, 1920, San Diego Union, 9:1. Marines to be hosts at Balboa Park; much interest shown by Corps in annual ball; decorations are elaborate.

The marines stationed at the barracks at Balboa Park are looking forward with much interest to their annual dance to be given this evening in the San Joaquin building. Every detail for the entertainment of their guests has been completed and the officers are cooperating with the enlisted men to make the affair one of the most enjoyable ever given by men of the service in this city.

The San Joaquin building has been elaborately decorated with flags, palms, flowers and greenery for the evening. A buffet supper consisting of chicken salad, sandwiches, olives crackers, ice cream cake and coffee will be served at a late hour and punch will be served throughout the evening.

The grand march will start at 9:30 o’clock and will be led by Colonel John E. McGill and Mrs. Moore and Sergeant Major Moore and Mrs. McGill.

Automobiles will meet the guests at the street car line and convey them to the San Joaquin building and after the dance will take them back to the car line.

January 15, 1910, San Diego Union, 9:4. Program for Park concert is varied; benefit at Organ Pavilion expected to draw large audience.

A large audience is expected at the Organ Pavilion next Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock to attend the concert which has been arranged by Dr. H. J. Stewart for the benefit of Associated Charities

The program will be a varied one, consisting of ensemble numbers for violin, cello, piano and organ, and soprano solos. Dr. Stewart and Royal Brown will play two beautiful compositions for organ and piano with a special arrangement of the piano part by Dr. Stewart. Dr. Stewart, for four years the official organist of the open-air organ in the Park, has an international reputation as composer and concert organist, and his compositions appear on the programs of famous singers and organists of this country and abroad. Royal Brown, one of the best known pianists and organists of the city and at present organist and choir director at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, has appeared successfully many times before the Amphion Club. During Dr. Stewart’s absence from the city, Mr. Brown has played the daily organ concerts in the park.

The other artists who will appear on Sunday’s program are Mrs. Dorothy Cranston Scott, violin; Mrs. Hermina West, soprano; and Mrs. Bernhard Mollenhauer, cello.

January 15, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:4. Park Board says funds are not overdrawn; resolution passed by Council is misleading.

January 18, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 4:4-5. Program at park today offers widest variety; Mrs. Dorothy Cranston Scott, violinist, to appear (photo).

January 19, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3-4. Benefit recital for Associated Charities at Organ Pavilion enjoyed by 2,500 persons.

January 24, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:7. Wilde shoots another barrage at Police!

January 27, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:1-8. San Diego welcomes General Pershing today.

January 28, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:2, 6:6. Pershing is guest of honor; throngs gather at Organ Pavilion to meet American Expeditionary Forces hero.

January 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1. General Pershing visits San Diego; will speak at Organ Pavilion today.

January 29, 1920, San Diego Sun, 3:3-4. Thousands at reception given Pershing; war idol continues journey north.

January 29, 1920, San Diego Sun, 10:1. Alleged pickpocket falls among park crowds.

January 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1-2, 6:3-4, 7:1-4. General Pershing spoke to 30,000 persons at Organ Pavilion; made plea for universal military training.

January 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:3. A “Community Sing” will be held at Organ Pavilion Sunday afternoon under auspices of Y. W. C. A.

January 29, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 9:3. Crowds to park handled easily; transportation to Pershing reception at Balboa Park successful; San Diego Electric Railway now using zone system of fare collection..

January 30, 1920, San Diego Sun, 10:2. James E. West, chief Boy Scout executive, will visit San Diego tomorrow; to speak at organ in park.

January 31, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:3. Hospital assured; $500,000 is ready; bids called soon.

January 31, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:6. Balboa Park to be scene of “Big Sing”; Blue Triangle community “feast” will be staged tomorrow at organ

 

February 1, 1920, 6:3. Work on Naval Hospital to begin; Congressman Kettner wires Navy will call for bids within 60 days; hospital will be largest on coast; $500,000 available for work.

February 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:3. The Katyimo Campfire Girls held a meeting yesterday in their club room in the Zuni Pueblo, Painted Desert, Balboa Park.

An exhibition of their handiwork formed part of the attractions of the day, needlework, cooking and other evidences of their progress in domestic science being on display.

Dr. Edgar L. Hewett talked to the girls on the early life of the Indians and showed specimens of pottery found by the excavators in Arizona and New Mexico. Grant Wallace told some of his experiences while living among the Navajo Indians. These talks were made to fit into the address delivered before the girls the previous Saturday by John Burroughs, the eminent naturalist, who spoke on woodcraft, the campfire and outdoor life in general.

February 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 2:6. Community Sing at Organ Pavilion held by Y. W. C. A.

February 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 8:3-6. James T. West, chief executive Boy Scouts of America, addressed boys at park Organ Pavilion yesterday afternoon.

February 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:3. Community Sing at Organ Pavilion yesterday afternoon.

February 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:3-4. Camp plan of Throop College of Technology at Pasadena outlined last night by President Scherer; plan prepared by Bertram Goodhue (illus.)

February 18, 1920, Letter, Edgar L. Hewett to Frank Mead (George W. Marston Papers, Collection 219, Box 2, File 31, San Diego History Center).

In order to adapt the interior of the California building to the purpose for which it is devoted, namely that of a museum of the art and culture of Ancient America, it is desirable to have some architectural changes made while the interior is being repaired. I, therefore, desire to submit the following specifications for your consideration, and if they meet with your approval, would be obliged if you will pass them on to the California commission for final action.

1. Remove all the rococo plaster ornament.
2. Change the columns under the balconies from round to square, using wire lath and

stucco, making them from 30 inch to 36 inch square at the base as may seem best

to you after studying the proportion to all the related members.

3. Bring the Maya frieze from the walls of the upper balconies to the entablature

around the rotunda, making three additional panels so as to complete the subject

as originally planned. Cover the balustrade around the balconies with wire and lath

and stucco, making the same appear as a upward extension of the entablature and

placing the Maya frieze in the center of same.

4. Convert the semi-circular apse into a square chamber with the tall monument in the

center of the entrance, making a rectangular room approximately 12 by 16 feet, the

interior of which can be treated in the decorative style of the inner cells of the Maya

temples.

5. Make the interior of the building, including the small rooms of the main rotunda,

an old ivory color corresponding to that of the ceiling in the vestibule.

6. Move the mural paintings from the upper balconies to the corresponding spaces

below. The small windows that will be thus covered by the paintings should be

permanently closed on the inside and the paintings lighted by artificial light.

7. Continue the scheme of decorating the interior with Ancient Maya Art by adding

designs in color to the panel spaces of the great columns supporting the dome,

also to the wall spaces on each side of the monument in the apse and the great arch

above the same. These paintings can be prepared on canvas and either pasted upon

the walls in their proper spaces or stretched on frames to be fitted to the wall

spaces; the latter might be serviceable in improving the acoustics of the building.

8. Cover the floor of the rotunda with grass matting, which may also be treated with

Maya designs.

9. Close permanently the two side doors between the vestibule and the main rotunda.
10. Cover the glass in the large transept windows with material that will break the

clear transparency but at the same time reduce the light as little as possible.

11. Provide glass doors at the main entrance to be used for protection from the weather

when the solid doors are thrown open. (NOT APPROVED.)

12. Finish the interior of the tower with rough sand finish.
13. Remove the chandelier from the center of the rotunda and replace the same with a

more effective system of lighting. (NOT APPROVED.)

14. It has been suggested to me recently by an eminent authority in such matters that a

very important improvement could be made in the acoustics of the building by

stretching a canvass across the rotunda at the base of the dome, an instance being

cited where an experiment of this kind in a similar case has been a conspicuous

success. This might be an experiment worth trying. (NOT APPROVED.)

In working out the architectural changes and decorative scheme proposed above the director has had the cooperation of yourself, as architect, Mrs. Jean Beman Smith, Miss Alice Klauber, Mr. Templeton Johnson, and Mr. Henry Lovins; the latter having prepared drawings embodying these plans which are herewith submitted. These drawings have been studied and criticized by all members of the above named committee and have been formally approved by the board of directors of the Museum. The whole scheme is now submitted for your final consideration and for submission to the California commission. Any modifications that you have to suggest will be gratefully received.

Very sincerely yours.

Note: I concur with the above recommendations. (Signed) Frank Meade.

 

February 20, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. “Community Sing” to be staged at organ on Washington’s birthday, Sunday, after recital by Dr. Stewart.

February 23, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5, 6:4-7. Memorial service held in Balboa Park yesterday morning in honor of San Diego’s dead war heroes; services held in Cristobal Café on account of rain.

February 27, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:8. Work on Naval Hospital soon to be underway; bids for first buildings to be opened April 1; plans and specifications have been approved; call for medical institution with 600-bed capacity; large porches to surround various wards; huge warehouse to be erected at foot of Broadway.

 

March 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1. Elementary school bonds carry nearly 4 to 1; high school bonds carry by well over 3 to 1.

March 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6-7. Mayor Wilde makes criminal libel charge against San Diego Sun; letter signed by “R. A. Lacey” attacking him cause of action.

Marcy 7, 1920, San Diego Union, 14:5. Former pastor tells of city’s beauty in speech; Dr. Hollington, once First Methodist head, recalls experience here.

March 9, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. Council decides to improve Auto Camping Grounds in Balboa Park despite protests of Hotel Men’s Association; John Morley submitted plan costing $3,800 but was told to cut it down to $1,800.

March 11, 1910, San Diego Union, 3:4-5. John Charles Olmsted, landscape architect of Exposition, dies; leaves many friends here.

John Charles Olmstead [sic], landscape architect of national fame, well remembered here because of his work in connection with the San Diego Exposition, died in Brookline, Mass., on Feb. 24. As advisor to the buildings and grounds committee of the exposition he played an important part in arranging the wonderful landscape effect that has been held by many to be unsurpassed.

At his suggestion Bertram Goodhue and Frank P. Allen were engaged as architect and director of works respectively and great credit is given Mr. Omstead by all who were connected with the building and management of the exposition for its marked success.

George W. Marston yesterday received a letter from Frederick Law Olmstead, brother and business partner of John Charles Olmstead, telling of his death. The letter said:

“After a year of fluctuating illness and much pain borne with characteristic but wonderful patience and cheerfulness, my brother John died last night, quietly and painlessly.”

Speaking of John Charles Olmsted, Marston said:

“During his stay here in San Diego Mr. Olmstead made many friends who held him in highest regard and honor.””

The noted landscape architect was engaged by the directors of the exposition in 1910 for professional work in connection with exposition plans. He spent several weeks here in the preparation of landscape and building plans. The border planting of Balboa Park on the north and east sides and partly on the south side was done under his personal direction.

A brief review of his life, published in a recent issue of the New York Evening Post, said:

“John Charles Olmstead, landscape architect, long associated with Frederick Law Olmstead in his chosen profession, dies on Tuesday in Brookline, Mass, where his home was at 16 Warren street. Mr. Olmstead, who was in his sixty-ninth year, has been failing in health throughout the last year.

“He was born on Sept. 14, 1852, in Geneva, Switzerland, the son of Dr. John Hull Olmstead of Hartford, Conn. And Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted of New York. He was educated at the Englewood military academy and the Knapp school in Plymouth, and later at the Yale Sheffield scientific school, where in 1875 he received his Ph. D. degree.

“He was a member of the American civic association, American society of Landscape Architects, of which he formerly was president; the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, American Association of Park Superintendents, Massachusetts Horticultural society, American Forestry association, Social Science association, American Free Trade league, Municipal Art society of New York, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Massachusetts Anti-Double Taxation league, Boston Museum of Fine Arts association, and he was an associate member of the Boston Society of Architects. He belonged to the Appalachian Mountain club, the Century and Reform clubs, as well as the National Arts ___, New York.

“On Jan. 18,1899, Mr. Olmsted married in Brookline, Sophia Buckland White, by whom he is survived, together with two daughters, the Misses Carolyn and Margaret Olmsted.”

March 15, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:2. Boy Scout troops hold weekend camps in Balboa Park.

March 16, 1920, San Diego Union, 20:1-4. H. J. Penfold, Exposition secretary, discusses San Diego’s destiny.

March 20, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5, 5:5. Mayor Wilde is victor in first stage of libel trial.

March 21, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:3. Musical organizations to assist “sing” at Organ Pavilion today.

March 21, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 8:4-5. Plays to be produced by Community Theater; association to have use of Sacramento building; informal opening will be held next month; work under consideration includes translations, pantomimes, membership of organization more than 100.

March 27, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5. Naval Reserve Force Day today; evening music at Organ Pavilion followed by dance program at Cristobal Café.

 

April 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:1. Los Angeles and local Boy Scout troops met at Indian Village Thursday evening; Dr. Hewett gave talk on tribal life and customs.

April 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:3. Seven thousand took part in Easter “Community Sing” at Organ Pavilion.

April 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1. Young Prince of Wales cheered by thousands.

April 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:8. Nearly 25,000 heard Prince of Wales speak via Magnavox at Stadium yesterday.

April 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:1-4. Ball given at Hotel del Coronado; the mayor’s daughter has a coming-out party with the prince as guest of honor; list of those invited.

April 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:2-3. Community Theater explains purposes; preservation of Sacramento building feature of project; company to offer plays neglected by commercial stage.

April 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:8. Pacific Oil and Gas Company decide not to come in with San Diego because of Sun’s attacks; praise mayor for work to aid city.

April 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:1-8. Photograph of outdoor “sing” on Easter Day at Organ Pavilion.

April 13, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 14:7. Mayor appoints John F. Forward, Jr. to Park Board; park foreman post abolished and superintendent placed in charge of that work; positions of clerk and bookkeeper eliminated; secretary to absorb these duties.

April 18, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 7:1. Pietro A. Yon of New York City will given an organ concert in Balboa Park this afternoon.

April 19, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:5. Pietro A. Yon concert well received.

April 23, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:3. Barbecue picnic in Pepper Grove will be followed by planting of California redwood in memory of Charles Mortimer Belshaw of Antioch, past president Native Sons of Golden West; 42nd annual convention of the grand parlor of the Native Sons.

April 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4, 10:3-6. Barbecue picnic in Pepper Grove.

April 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:1. Fine example of floriculture exhibited at 12th annual rose and spring flower show at Cristobal Café yesterday and today.

April 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:3-4. Sunrise in Balboa Park is a prescription for the unhappy, by Winfield Barkley.

April 27, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:3. Plans received for $1,000,000 Naval Hospital; preliminary draft with recommendations of changes to be sent to Washington.

April 30, 1920, Board of Park Commissioners, Letters (?), Minutes (?). Park Commissioners gave Boy Scouts permission to utilize the Painted Desert as their headquarters for an indefinite period.

 

 

May 7, 1920, Minutes of the Board of Park Commissioners. Executive secretary was directed to make an appointment with F. J. Belcher of the Exposition Board and J. B. Pendleton, former exposition auditor, and to secure a statement from them of their position in regards to funds advance from the Park Improvement Fund for the completion of the California State Building.

May 15, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:2. Hugo Goodwin of Chicago, Paulist chorister, to given concert at Organ Pavilion tomorrow afternoon.

May 17, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:1. Hugo Goodwin, Chicago organist, gives recital in Park.

May 23, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5-6, 7:1-4. Mayor Wilde wins in sweeping decision; appellate court rules against Sun.

May 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:3-4. Walk through park sin morning prescribed as fitting start for day, by Winfield Barkley.

May 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:1. Boy Scouts may use Painted Desert as headquarters.

By action of the board of park commissioners Friday afternoon, the Boy Scouts of San Diego were given the privilege of using the Painted Desert in the park. It is given out at local scout headquarters that the San Diego council is making careful plans to make the most of this splendid opportunity, and it is the belief of those in charge that in taking this action John Forward, Jr., Judge Ryan and F. F. Grant, members of the board, have not only given a wonderful opportunity to the boys of San Diego city and county, but have made it possible to conduct a type of boy work here that is not duplicated anywhere. It is the hope of the local scout officials to make of San Diego’s tabloid Painted Desert of five acres one of the most unique and most productive outdoor schools of scout craft in the country.

The desert, with its five replicas of Indian pueblos, has been one of the most interesting show places of San Diego since its erection by the Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1914 at a cost of $150,000, but only periodical activities have been conducted in it since the closing of the fair in 1916.

In presenting the plans of the local council to the members of the board of park commissioners Ellwood E. Barley, local scout executive, explained that it is the purpose of the council to transfer the weekend activities at the present reservation to the Painted Desert, and also establish the executive offices of the organization o the main building facing the Isthmus.

Other departments that will be opened are the scout museum, where a collection of all kinds of bird, animal, mineral and plant specimens will be arranged, a branch of the city library containing all the best boys’ books, department of equipment and supplies and a shop of woodcraft in which all kinds of woodcraft can be taught and all repairs to the pueblos made, printing department, and a department of camping, in which will be kept sufficient camp equipment to care for the needs of 43 local scout troops.

Each of the troops will have its own special troop headquarters and general assembly headquarters will be furnished, in which the following schools of special instruction will he held throughout the year.

Scout leaders’ reserve, scoutmasters, assistant scoutmasters, patrol leaders, scout scribes, drill leaders, second class, first class, merit badge scout, band, bugle and drum corps and amateur wireless. Special quarters will be assigned to scoutmasters and assistants, patrol leaders and sea scouts.

Regular weekend camps and hikes will be scheduled so that each troop will get the greatest possible share of the advantages offered in the centralized scouting activities.

The formal presentation of the use of the Painted Desert to the scouts by the board of park commissioners will be made Saturday, June 5, at the third annual scout field meet.

May 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:3. Morning Memorial Day services at Park to be impressive; high mass will be offered; Catholic, Protestant clergy to speak.

May 27, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:3. $300,000 Naval Air Station administration building completed at North Island.

May 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:4-5. Morning Memorial Day services at Park.

May 30, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 4:4. San Diego High School will present its annual “Grand Chorus” at the Organ Pavilion next Sunday afternoon.

May 31, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:4. All live troops in County plan to enter field meet; third annual meet of Boy Scouts to be held at Indian Village Saturday (photography of Boy Scout Day at Indian Village last year).

Wayne Hageman, Boy Scout leader, who is in charge of the third annul field meet to be held at the Indian Village Saturday, announces that every line troop in the county is planning to enter one or more of the events. Friday evening the troops will report in at the camp as early as possible and prepare their camp with troop and individual camp equipment. This is the annual tryout of the troops’ ability to set up an overnight camp, and the following day make a presentable appearance for the annual inspection. Saturday’s program will take the form of a daily program in a scout camp with the annual contests as a special attraction.

The Colburn trophy is attracting keen interest, as the scouts are heaving many rumors which come from the troops that are busy training for the contest, and Saturday is expected to see at least 10 well-drilled teams in the field for the final test. It has been announced that troops not going into the camp will not be debarred from entering the contest, but they will be handicapped enough to give an even score for the troops that carry out the program in full.

The commissioners’ flag and the American Legion colors have not arrived at the headquarters, but are expected before Saturday. These are new trophies and have aroused keen interest among the troops. Troop 15 says that the commissioners’ flag is already in its possession, but several other troops are brushing up their uniforms in hopes of capturing this all-year honor. The legion colors will go to the troop making the best all-year scout effort.

 

June 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3-4. Photographs of May Festival at Golden Hill.

June 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:4-6. Military Mass at Organ Pavilion in memory of soldier dead; ministers of all denominations join in service of commemoration.

June 2, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. A permanent home for the San Diego Society of Natural History and the permanent construction of a group of fair buildings in Balboa Park was made possible yesterday by a $50,000 gift of Miss Ellen B. Scripps of La Jolla. The only condition was that the Society should take steps immediately to enlarge its membership.

Exposition Building No. 8, at the southwestern corner of the Plaza de Panama, will probably be rebuilt as a fireproof structure. Society collection has been housed since 1917 in the Nevada Building in the Park.

June 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1-8. First picture of great Naval Hospital to be built in park; drawing received from Bureau of Yards and Docks yesterday by Congressman William Kettner; made by architects of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, under the supervision of Admiral C. W. Parks, chief of the Bureau.

June 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5. Millions to be spent here by Government to carry out plan for great naval base; between $500,000 and $1,000,000 will be expended in constructing the first units of the $2,000,000 Naval Hospital at Balboa Park; appropriations will become available July 1; first group of buildings to consist of Administration Building, two wards, surgical laboratory, subsistence building, mess hall and one or two other structures; the City recently deeded 17 acres of land on Inspiration Point to Navy Department as a hospital site.

June 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:4. Boy Scouts to take full possession of Indian Village.

The Boy Scout Indian Village in Balboa Park took on a new lease of life last night when several hundred local scouts pitched camp under the shadows of the rocks and pueblos of the famous Painted Desert. After the youngsters picked their camp sites and stood in line for their first inspection in the new home, the campfire was lighted by Charles N. Miller, national field scout commissioner, who is a special guest at the local council at the third annual scout field meet. An interesting program was given by troops 15 and 19, the former standing a troop meeting under the leadership of Tom Russel, scoutmaster, and Wayne Hageman, senior patrol leader, with 32 uniformed scouts, nearly all of whom were are first class. Troop 19 proved to be real actors in staging the popular scout playlet, “A Strenuous Afternoon,” in which the scoutmaster, Stanley Millar, and Orville Thompson, senior patrol leader, starred.

Duncan MacKinnon, president of the San Diego council, was a special campfire guest, but when greeted by the scouts, told them that he would have something to say to them this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock, when the scouts will form in line and the members of the board of park commissioners will formally present the use of Indian Village to the scouts of San Diego county.

Some of the discoveries made last night were that troop 10 reported as a body, including the troop committee and the pastor of the church. The entire organization went under its own canvas for the night. Thirteen scouts reported from Fallbrook. Troop 18 had just 18 scouts in camp. Troop 15 had 24 first class scouts present. A number of parents and friends were on hand.

Local scout headquarters announces that the program of events today will be interesting and in invitation is extended to the general public to attend. The contest for the Colburn drill trophy will take place at 11 o’clock this morning, following the third annual review. These two events will be in charge of Colonel E. N. Jones, who is an enthusiastic volunteer scout worker. The afternoon events will consist of a first aid race, staff relay, fancy drill demonstration, message relay, carrying message one mile at scout pace, making fire by friction, cooking flapjacks. A number of mass games will be played, the contests being under the direction of Scoutmaster Sandford, director of the Rose Park playgrounds.

This afternoon, Judge Henry C. Ryan, F. F. Grant, and John Forward, Jr., members of the board of park commissioners, will be present at 2:30 o’clock and formally present the use of the Indian Village to the San Diego council. Duncan MacKinnon, president of the council, will officially accept the custodianship of the village for the local council, and will then address the scouts who will form one of the famous scout squares. Milton A. McRae, scout commissioner, also one of the founders of the Boy Scouts in this country, will be present as guest of honor.

June 7, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. Chorus of high school singers pleased audience yesterday afternoon.

June 7, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 16:1-3. F. F. Grant, park secretary, presents Indian Village to Boy Scouts.

In presenting the use of the Indian Village to the Boy Scouts of San Diego city and county last Saturday afternoon, F. F. Grant, secretary and member of the board of park commissioners, made friends with the scouts who were assembled in one of the famous Boy Scout hollow squares, and expressed his confidence in the scouts that they would not only officially appreciate and protect the property involved, but that in short time marked improvements would be made. He told the scouts of many responsibilities resting with the board of park commissioners and that it was a pleasure for him to present the use of the Painted Desert to the scouts. The unavoidable absence of Judge Ryan and John Forward, Jr., the other members of the board, was regretted, as well as that of John Morley, park superintendent.

In accepting the custodianship of the Indian Village from Mr. Grant, in behalf of the San Diego Boy Scout council, Duncan MacKinnon, president of the council, mad a fine address that will stay with every scout who heard it. He told Mr. Grant of the splendid and “good turn” the board of park commissioners had done in making it possible for the boy scouts to use this reproduction of the abode of the first Americans. He explained to the scouts the great responsibilities that rested upon our public officials, how the mayor was responsible to the citizens for the proper care and improvement of Balboa Park. After explaining the responsibilities of the board of park commissioners, MacKinnon paid the present board a compliment for the splendid effort its members were making to make this valuable heritage, Balboa Park, serve the largest number of people in the best possible way. He assured Grant that the executive committee of the local boy scout council fully realized the confidence the board placed in the scouts of this city in turning over to them property so valuable as the Indian Village, and turning to the scouts, he said that big opportunities always carried with them correspondingly large responsibilities and that he wanted each scout present to state definitely whether or not he would promise not only to protect the property from defacement or destruction, but that he would not permit it to be done by another. Every scout promised to fulfill this part of the contract and MacKinnon expressed his confidence in the promise of a Boy Scout. He said that any boy scout who needed a policeman to watch him so that he would not destroy public or private property had no place in the Boy Scouts of America.

(Remarks by A. McRae that follow are not included.)

June 7, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:4. Third annual scout field meet declared great success; work of winning team said to be better than record last year.

June 9, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1. EDITORIAL: Our Painted Desert

The Park Board has performed a double service in granting the use of Indian Village of the Painted Desert in Balboa Park to the Boy Scouts. They have provided a permanent home and appropriate headquarters for a deserving organization and they have take efficient measures for the preservation of a cluster of buildings architecturally and historically unique.

June 10, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:6. Elks to observe Flag Day Sunday afternoon with advice service in park.

June 13, 1920, San Diego Union, 14:1. Elks will hold celebration of Flag Day today; all invited to exercises at Organ Pavilion this afternoon.

June 13, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 5:5. Plans grow of State Music Teachers’ Convention; sessions to be held in San Diego Club House and at Organ Pavilion in Park on July 9, the closing day.

June 14, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:4-5. Elks pay homage to flag in impressive exercises, ritual of order amplified with escort of colors; Reverent Thorp in patriotic address says great danger to United States in attempt to direct hatred against Great Britain and Japan.

June 15, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 15:1. Charter revision to be submitted; councilmen favor abolition of water, park and civil service commissions.

June 19, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:4-5. Junior College and High School classes received diplomas at Organ Pavilion yesterday afternoon.

June 23, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. Official organists submits his fifth annual report; 256 recitals in 1919; 241 by Dr. Stewart, 11 by Royal A. Brown of San Diego and 4 by John Doane of New York; 8 recitals omitted because of unfavorable weather; 5 days no recitals because of failure of electric current; 22 days no recitals by reason of repairs to organ and Organ Pavilion; Roy W. Tolchard, resident tuner, in daily attendance; cards containing information about daily recitals distributed to hotels.

June 24, 1910, San Diego Union, 1:4-5, 2:5. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of Navy, greeted by thousands on visit to city..

June 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1. EDITORIAL: San Diego’s Organ

A unique feature of San Diego’s daily life is the recital at the Spreckels organ in Balboa Park. No other city in the world possesses this attraction, because there is no other city in the world combining a great outdoor organ with a climate that permits daily recitals throughout the year.

June 25, 1910, San Diego Union, 1:7, 5:3. Because of an appeal voiced by Congressman William Kettner and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels at the Rotary Club luncheon yesterday, City Attorney Higgins informed The Union last night that he will present to the Council next Monday an ordinance calling for a special election to vote on the question of conveying to the United States Government certain tidelands and park lands for naval purposes.

Higgins explained to The Union that the reason he has not hurried the proposed election is because the legislature could not ratify the amendments until January of next year, and because there is a cloud on the title to the site for the proposed new Naval Hospital in Balboa Park, which the Government wanted cleared up.

In a communication addressed to this office during the month of February, 1920, Mr. Robert O’Connor, Unites States district attorney for the southern district of California, doubted the sufficiency of the title of the city to that portion of land in Balboa Park sought to be conveyed. It seems that some years ago the city conveyed this land in trust to a certain benevolent society for the founding of an orphan’s home. This land was never used for such purpose, and undoubtedly reverted to the city. The United States district attorney insisted, however, that this cloud on the title be straightened out, and it was accordingly agreed that this office should initiate the necessary quiet title proceedings.

June 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:1. Council will set date for voting on gifts to Navy; unless there is change, city body in Monday will designate August 3 as time.

June 27, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:3. Dr. Stewart will leave tomorrow for his annual convention; daily concerts suspended for July.

June 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:4. Daniel A. Hirschler, Kansas organist, to give four recitals at Spreckels organ in July.

 

July 4, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1;8. Organ Pavilion will be scene of old-time Fourth; celebration will include oration, reading of Declaration of Independence; music; Daniel Hirschell, organist, to play patriotic music

July 4, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 3:4. Women’s Civic Center to hold picnic in Pepper Grove, Tuesday, July 13.

July 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:4-5. Patriotism finds eloquent expression at organ rally.

July 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1. EDITORIAL: What Is A Park?

The Court of Appeals of New York has recently defined the meaning of the work and its application in a decision reversing the judgment of the Supreme Court and the Appellate Division to the purpose that “no objects, however worthy, such as courthouses and schoolhouses, which have no connection with park purposes, should be permitted to encroach upon it without legislative authority conferred.”

. . . The decision is in the main applicable to every public park in the United States, but as the Court intimates its scope is subject to local statutes and regulations. A park reservation is a public asset and it should not in any portion be alienated from the public except by free public consent, and even then only for a purpose equal to or superior to the original one of recreation.

July 6, 1920, 10:7. Community Theater Association to present “Everyman” at Sacramento Building Saturday.

July 7, 1920, 15:4. Park building is idea site for community play.

July 9, 1920, 9:1-2. Closing programs of Music Teachers’ Convention to be at Organ Pavilion this afternoon and evening; Raymond Harmon, Los Angeles tenor, to sing.

July 10, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:1-5. San Diego Community Players promise artistic rendering of “Everyman” at Balboa Park his evening.

July 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:4. Morality play given on portico of Fair building.

July 11, 1920, San Diego Union, Society Club, 4:4. San Diego auxiliary to League of American Pen Women had open house in the Indian Arts building Thursday morning.

July 12, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:4. Every San Diego Boy Scout invited to camp in the Park.

(Excerpts)

The camp equipment which has been returned from the Del Mar training camp will be set up in the Indian Village and every scout in San Diego will be given an opportunity to register for attendance one, two or three nights, or even whole week periods.

The largest number of scouts allowed in any one night or overnight or weekend camp will be 32.

The shower baths are being repaired.

No charge of any kind will be made.

July 14, 1920, San Diego Union, 2:5. 1200 officers of the Reserve Training Corps at Camp Kearny to be entertained at Stadium and Pepper Grove Saturday; Vice President Marshall will speak at Stadium in afternoon.

July 14, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:45-. Prospective United States Army officers to give exhibition at barbecue in Balboa park next Saturday.

July 14, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:1-2. Government will spend $5,900,000 if voters of city grant title on August 3.

July 15, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:3. Notified by City Auditor that Park and Health Departments are overdrawn, City Council yesterday informed the Park Commission and Health Board that they will have to slow down with future expenditures. Park Commission said that when celebrities visit city, it is necessary for the Park Board to provide funds for entertainment which is a drain on that Department.,

July 16, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:4. Miss Lois Saum gave luncheon Wednesday noon at Japanese Tea Garden, Balboa Park, for eastern visitors.

July 17, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5-6. Official program for Reserve Officers Training Corps review and flag presentation exercises at Stadium and Balboa Park this afternoon.

July 17, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:3. Rear Admiral Parks, U. S. Navy Bureau head, due July 31 to go over local plans.

July 18, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 8:1-4. Vice President Marshall counsels obedience to law at review given in his honor; Madame Schumann-Heink sang National Anthem; 1,100 R. O. T. C. cadets acquitted themselves with credit; fast order drill; bayonet charge.

July 19, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:2. Boy Scouts field executive inspects quarters in Park.

July 22, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:5. Communities view in plans for big exhibits at San Diego’s second annual county fair.

July 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6. Bids to call for expenditure of $1,000,000 in Park; construction to include group of wards at Naval Hospital and administration building.

July 25, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 7:1. San Diego’s need of new historical body pointed out; intention of proposed organization is to cooperate with Pioneer Society; hope to use Domestic Economy building in Park.

July 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3. Millions hang on “Yes” vote.

July 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:3. Naval Reserve to hold smoker in Balboa Park; all who are members or who are eligible asked to “get together” session Friday night, July 30, in Cristobal Café.

July 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:4-5. Navy assembles material for building operations; Department’s move indicates confidence that gift of sites will be ratified by electors Tuesday; work on four projects to begin when titles are transferred.

July 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:1. John Doane to give three concerts at Organ Pavilion next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

 

August 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5. Navy’s pledge is $45,000,000 in great work in return for land worth $274,000; figures from San Diego Chamber of Commerce; seventeen and eight tenths of land in Balboa Park; present value of land $40,000; total gain in favor of San Diego for next ten years $4,960,000.

August 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1:1-8. Perspective view new Naval Training Station, San Diego, Calif., Public Works Department.

August 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1:1-2, 2:4. Millions will be spend by Navy here within year; program all arranged and final approval depends only on result of vote next Tuesday; projects outlined by Admiral Parks; “four projects are coordinated.”

August 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 2:1-8. Drawings of Marine Base at Dutch Flats, Administration Headquarters and Navy Pier; Naval Hospital; photo of Admiral C. W. Parks.

August 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5, 2:6-7. Harbor Commission urges voters to ratify gift of tidelands to Navy tomorrow.

August 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:7. Rear Admiral Parks views sites involved in vote for ratification.

August 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1. EDITORIAL: Building A Seaport.

All the government asks of San Diego is the concession of a few acres of tidelands and a site for a hospital in Balboa Park, in return it gives San Diego one of the finest naval establishments in the world.

August 3, 1920. SPECIAL ELECTION FOR RATIFICATION OF GRANT TO NAVAL HOSPITAL . . . Yes – 9,289; No – 137.

August 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:3. 3:3. Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks, Washington, D. C., makes inspection of various units bordering on harbor; announces plans for navy base.

August 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:6. B. W. Sinclair, Republican candidate for Congress, urges voters to approve four propositions.

August 4, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1, 3:3-4. Navy items carry by record vote; vote almost unanimous; land in Balboa Park for a Naval Hospital:

Yes 9,341

No 134

August 4, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:3. Plans for County Fair well in hand.

August 7, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:1. Seventh Day Adventists to hold camp meeting in Park buildings, August 12 to 22; large tract of land north of California Mines Building and south of Painted Desert being leveled; Park Commissioners have tendered use of Industrial Building, Cafeteria, International Harvester Building.

August 9, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:3. The second Boy Scout division of San Diego council is scheduled to meet at Indian Village for its first district rally Friday evening.

August 12, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1-2. Adventists ready, grounds prepared for convention; mass meeting at 8 o’clock this morning will open session.

August 13, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:5. Adventists open big conference in Balboa Park; choir of 80 voices and audience of about 2,000 were present at opening meeting in auditorium of Industrial Building last evening.

August 15, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1:1-5, 7:1-4. Seventh Day Adventist camp embodies biennial conference; Balboa Park buildings equipped to seat 3,000 at meetings which number 12 every day; teaching of denomination outlined; missionary work described.

August 16, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1. A revolver duel at point blank range, a hand-to-hand fight of a night patrol of Balboa Park by a score of armed policemen last night furnished excitement to dwellers in the vicinity of 7th and Date Streets, and let to the arrest of Grant Perry, 19, believed to be the hold-up man who has been operating in the park for the last few nights.

August 16, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:5. Elder of Seventh Day Adventists sect preached at evening meeting in the auditorium of the Industrial Building in Balboa Park.

August 16, 1920, San Diego Union, 9:7-8. Boy Scout rally held at Indian Village Friday evening.

The second division, consisting of Troops 10, 20, 28, 33, 36, 37 and 44, held its first monthly district rally at the Boy Scout Indian Village Friday evening and everyone present became enthusiastic over the program to be used this winder in connection with the new Boy Scout headquarters.

August 17, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:3. Three thousand hear Mr. Longacre of Washington, Adventist speaker, last evening in auditorium of Industrial Building.

August 18, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:5. Adventists hold banquet in cafeteria on Exposition grounds; health talks given; tobacco scored.

August 22, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:4. Adventist camp to end at service tonight; resolutions adopted thanking Park Commissioners, press and others.

August 22, 1920, San Diego Union, Automobile Section, 10:4-5. Plans for organization of San Diego County Historical Society taking shape.

August 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:4. Community Theater to stage “The Tent of the Arabs” at Park Saturday evening.

August 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:3-4. Sacramento Building amateur players’ home.

August 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 12:2-3. Story of Ramona and Alessandro to be stages at marriage place in Old Town; may be made annual ceremony.

August 31, 1920, San Diego Union, 12:4. Symphony Society to give concert at Balboa Park in new Community Theater, formerly Sacramento Building, Saturday evening.

 

September 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 6:4-5. “Nature Guiding in Value of Balboa Park as a Civic Center,” article by Fidella Gould Woodcock.

September 7, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5-6, 2:4-6. City celebrates most successful Labor Day fiesta in history; games and feasts enjoyed at Balboa Park; address at Organ Pavilion by Hugh L. Dickson of San Bernardino, Democratic nominee for Congress.

September 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 1;7. Pharmaceutical school at Naval Hospital to be largest in United States; adjunct to big institution may be ready within year; plans for Naval Hospital nearing completion.

September 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3-5. James Wadham, old-time newsie, celebrated lawyer, shot rabbits where Maryland Hotel now stands; resident for half a century of San Diego.

September 12, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6. Mexicans to hold Independence Day fiesta at Organ Pavilion, September 15 and 16.

September 17, 1920, Minutes of the Board of Park Commissioners. Upon motion duly made and carried, authority was given Executive secretary to request of the City Attorney a proposed ordinance transferring the balance credited to Park Bond Funds to the Park Improvement Fund.

September 19, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1:!. Big agricultural, horticultural, industrial fair opens Wednesday; exhibits occupy four buildings in Balboa Park; greatly enlarged sheds provided for livestock; city schools to close Friday; industrial building will house home products section, auto section, varied industries and educational exhibits; Cristobal will contain farm center and home department activities; adjoining building will include poultry and rabbit show; Harvester Building will be used for general agricultural and horticultural exhibits; below this building are the livestock sheds and big “stunt” fields; great outdoor free dance will be on pavement between Industrial and Southern Counties buildings.

September 20, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:4. Four cattle exhibits will be features of county fair.

September 22, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5. Today’s program at fair; ample car service provided for visitors.

September 22, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:1-4. County Farm Bureau’s big fair will open today with attractions to please everybody (photo).

September 22, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. Claude Woolman of School Board explains lawns torn up in front of High School to put in low shrubbery to reduce expense of keeping such a large expanse of lawn.

September 23, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:3, 3:4-5. County fair exceeds last year’s great success at every point (illus.).

September 23, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:7. Plans for Naval Supply Base and Hospital received; bids of two structures to cost about $1,400,000, submitted in October; Hospital to be completed in 300 calendar days.

September 24, 1920, Minutes of the Board of Park Commissioners. Executive Secretary presented a proposed ordinance transferring funds from Park Bond Funds to Park Improvement Funds, and was directed to request the Common Council to adopt same.

September 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5, 3:4-5. 20,000 visit Fair first two days; week’s total of 50,000 expected; attendance exceeds that of last year; awards made, exhibit room thronged.

September 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:1-2. First National Band has miniature county fair in its exhibits (illus.)

September 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:1-4. Style show great hit at county fair.

September 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5, 2:5-6. El Cajon snatches first prize for best community exhibit at Fair; honey prizes awarded; school children granted holiday, swarm over grounds.

September 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5, 15:1-8. 17:6. Night of gaiety closes big fair; attendance exceeds record; El Cajon wins banner from Escondido by one point.

September 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:1-2. Carroll De Wilton Scott, of Natural History Museum, describes first bird walk at Park given under direction of Museum.

September 27, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 9:2. Big gathering at “sing” in Park yesterday; crowd estimated at 3,000 enters into spirit of occasion.

September 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 2:5. Park Board gets $7,500 additional from surplus park bonds; some members of Council question Park Board expenditures regarding culture of flowers; all agree Park is one of the city’s biggest advertising assets.

 

October 3,1920, San Diego Union, 12:1-4. Plant walk at Balboa Park turns into palm walk, by Carroll De Wilton Scott, Natural History Museum.

October 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:1-3, Classified, 6:1-3. Fall flower show of San Diego Floral Association arouse enthusiasm of members.

October 9, 1920, San Diego Union, 2:6. Big flower show will open in Cristobal Building, Balboa Park.

October 10, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3-5. Fall flower show with beautiful displays opens in park building.

October 11, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:3. Thousands visit flower exhibits as show closes; proceeds of show to be turned over to Park Board for upkeep of Park.

October 13, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:3. Proceeds of flower show donated to Park Board’s treasury’ John Forward, Jr., park commissioner, expresses appreciation.

October 16, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5. Commander Lincoln Rogers, project manager, arrives to take charge of work on Naval Station to be erected on Point Loma bayshore.

October 17, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 3:4-5. Semi-annual exhibit of San Diego Art Guild to open in Park today; 85 paintings will be shown by leading artists of city.

October 18, 1920, San Diego Union, 16:5-6. Indian Village scene of lively rally held by Boy Scouts Third Division.

(Excerpts)

San Diego council is divided into four city scout divisions and each division meets on the Friday evening of each month which corresponds to the division number. The third division meets on the third Friday evening of each month.

Two one-minute rounds of peppy boxing were put on.

Scoutmaster A. L. Brown of Troop 16 told of his work with the boys of his race, and during his talk thanking the scoutmaster of Troop 11 and his scouts for the help they had given his troop during the last four years.

October 19, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6. Council refuses Mayor Wilde’s request to oust Chief of Police James Patrick; mayor charges police chief has allowed dens of vice to run wide open.

October 22, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:3. While members of the City Council would be glad to see the Southern Counties Building reconstructed into a Civic Auditorium, a plan advanced by the women of San Diego’s Civic Center to have that building transferred to them as a corporation was not approved by the Council yesterday afternoon; City Attorney said such a transfer to a private corporation might not be legal; Council would be glad to see the money raised for the improvements with the city still in charge of the buildings and grounds.

October 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:4-5, 2:6. Local firm’s bid of $707,350 lowest at Naval Hospital; Kier Construction Company of San Diego bid jointly with Sampson Construction Company of Los Angeles; time of contract set at 450 days.

 

 

November 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5. Naval Hospital contract for 6 buildings let to local firm; joint bid of two companies is $707,350; work to start at once; to be completed within 450 days; contract calls for erection of only 6 of the total group of 20 buildings planned by the Navy Department for the completed $2,000,000 Balboa Park hospital; Kier and Sampson Construction Companies will construct.

Administration Building: 6 stories in height counting tower; 144 feet long and 27 feet wide with an extension 15 by 30 feet.

Two hospital wards, each 2 stories in height; 237 feet long and 37 feet wide; central portion will be 3 stories.

Two-story operating building, 82 by 37 feet.

Four-story subsistence building with 2-story extensions; main building will be 144 by 37 feet and the extensions 42 by 30 feet.

Two-story power house, 25 by 26 feet.

All buildings will be of the old Spanish-Renaissance type. They will have reinforced concrete framing throughout, concrete footings, hollow terra-cotta tile walls, plastered throughout, with stucco exteriors. The roofing will consist of pan and over tile and glass tile.

All the buildings contracted for yesterday, with the exception of the power house, will be located on the brow of Inspiration Point. They will face to the westward and will form an imposing sight when completed.

1. E. Kier Construction Company built the Administration Building at the North Island Air Station. Sampson Construction Company erected the San Diego depot.

November 3, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:1. Harding presidential victory is greatest in history of nation.

November 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:8. Harding landslide for President; San Diego lines up loyally.

November 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:1. First Division Boy Scouts holds it initial meeting at Indian Village.

November 10, 1920, San Diego Sun, 4:1. EDITORIAL: The Japanese Menace.

The Japanese are holding thousands of acres of land in the west now, and the acreage is increasing rapidly. The people of the United States are facing a serious problem in this, whether the east and middle west realize it or not.

November 10, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:3. Memorial Drive proposal received; cash amounting to $3,000 with Southern Commerce and Trust Bank; G. A. Davidson, chairman and custodian of Pershing Drive fund; Davidson said yesterday some sort of memorial to the local men who died in the service of the county in the European war should be erected, even if the memorial drive plan is given up.

November 11, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:2, 2:5. Entire city celebrating end of war; Armistice Day stops all other activities; Balboa Park is place.

November 11, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:4. Program at organ to commemorate signing of Armistice; Professor J. H. Hildebrand of University of California to give chief address; veterans of all wars expected to be present..

November 11, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:2. Memorial fund committee will continue at work; smaller body will consider plans for 20 foot paved rive through park with a five foot shoulder on each side running from 28th Street through Balboa Park; city engineer estimates cost at $50,000.

November 12, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:4-5. Armistice Day program at Organ Pavilion; music and speechmaking.

November 13, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:2. Work on new Naval Hospital began today.

November 14, 1920, San Diego Union., 20:5. Excavating begun on site of Navy Hospital.

November 20, 1920, San Diego Sun, 5:3-6. San Diego’s Boy Scout Town, by Lansing Warren.

If architects, with the results of several fund drives and large charitable bequests, has planned to build headquarters for the San Diego Council of Boy Scouts, they never could have succeeded in constructing anything so ideal as the Painted Desert and Indian Village in Balboa Park.

Combining an incomparable atmosphere of romance and adventure with space for every sort of activity, the Indian Village is probably the most unusual and distinctive Boy Scout center in this country, and offers an opportunity for limitless development.

Built for the Panama-Pacific exposition [sic], an exact reproduction in plaster and frame of the adobe villages of the Navajo Indians [sic] of New Mexico [sic], the village has a historical and intrinsic value beyond many of the structures surviving the exposition. Unoccupied, it was gradually falling into decay for want of care, when the directors of the Boy Scout council took up the idea of obtaining it for a permanent scout headquarters.

The plan, backed by many prominent citizens, was presented to the park commissioners, who at once lent their cooperation, with the final result that the entire Indian Village was turned over to the scout council by the city last July.

Offices of Elwood [sic] E. Barley, scout executive, were immediately installed in the main entrance building, and the members of the various scout troops outlined the program of improvement and upkeep of the grounds and buildings which is now progressing. All work is done through the volunteer services of the scouts themselves, who keep the village in order, and are fitting quarters in the various buildings to accommodate different activities.

The buildings include two main village replicas of the Indian villages at Taos and Zuni, New Mexico, and several smaller groups They are built around a wide field which affords a parade ground and sport field, surrounded by walls and stockades.

One of the smaller buildings is being equipped as a mess hall and kitchen, and in another of the houses, the large, wireless apparatus is operated daily by the scouts. A class of more than 80 is studying radio at the village, and the control is kept open by regular shifts of the pupils. The instrument has communicated with San Francisco, and during hikes and trips kept in touch with the scout troops who carry field wireless sets.

While individual troops, in most cases centering at churches in the district, retain their own headquarters, the Indian Village is the center of all the larger scout activities. Deputy commissioners and committees meet their [sic] annually, scoutmasters meet once a month, and a monthly rally of scouts is held there. Campfires blaze on the Indian Desert, lighting up the red-terraced dwellings. The scouts are assigned to separate parts of the village for their meeting and camp is pitched by each group. After the meetings there is a general assembly, when each troop presents some stunt of demonstration of scout craft.

In order to preserve the policy of development of group activities, use of the village is assigned to the four scout districts in rotation. Division one has the privilege the first week in each month, division two the second week, and the other two divisions during the next weeks. Only for special events in the entire membership assembled.

Offices of the council, who aided in securing the unique meeting place for the scouts are: Milton A. McRae, scout commissioner; Duncan MacKinnon, president; Mathias F. Heller, first vice president; Leslie S. Everts, second vice president; George Burnham, third vice president; Frank J. Belcher, Jr., treasurer; and the following honorary vice presidents: A. S. Bridges, G. Aubrey Davidson, Lyman J. Gage, George W. Marston, E. W. Scripps and John D. Spreckels.

November 20, 1920, 3:4. This afternoon Dr. Stewart will give special recital at Spreckels organ for pupils attending public schools.

November 20, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:4-5. Work on Naval Hospital to start in ten days; grading and excavation operations begun several days ago; plans and specifications being drawn up by large force of engineers and draughtsman in the Winchester building at Fort Rosecrans and Lytton Street; Commander Lincoln Rogers is in charge of this work; a survey of the Naval Training Station to obtain elevations for the buildings is nearing completion.

November 21, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:5. Union exercises will be held at park organ Thanksgiving; Reverend W. E. Crabtree, speaker of day; organist will be Dr. Stewart and musical director will be Wallace Moody.

November 21, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 3:3. Motion picture syndicate plans studio in Park; W. A. Robards has asked Park Commission for use of Southern Counties Building.

November 22, 1920, San Diego Sun, 2:3-6. Important art exhibitions shown at museum in park, by Beatric de Lack Krombach.

Group of the work shown at the 11th annual fall exhibition of the California Art club, which recently closed at the Museum of History, Science and Art at Los Angeles, sung by the committee of the San Diego Art Guild; to be seen until December 22.

Paintings by Indians living in the southern states show yesterday afternoon in blue room of the museum at meeting of the Archaeological Institute. . . . Dr. Hewett presented these painting and explained their symbolism. He showed a group of the first work done by Cresencio — who will be remembered as the prime factor in the Indian pottery making at the Panama-California exposition. . . . Also show, paintings by Velino, Awa Taiveh, Kahotie (check spelling).

November 23, 1920, San Diego Sun, 8:1-2. Local citizens to oppose Commission abolishment.

At a meeting of citizens being held at a downtown grill yesterday afternoon at which G. Aubrey Davidson presided as chairman, it was unanimously decided to organize at once a committee for the purpose of conducting a vigorous campaign against four of the proposed charter amendments which are to be voted on at the election two weeks hence.

November 23, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6, 3:3-6. Fight organized on amendments to abolish four city commissions; John F. Forward, Jr. alleges City Council and San Diego Board of Education have formed a secret combination to destroy the commission form of government.

November 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:5. Y. W. C. A. and church organizations to hold prayer meeting in Balboa Park Thanksgiving morning.

November 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:2-3. The City Commissions, by Mayor Louis J. Wilde.

In one emphatic sentence, I believe this special election to be entirely out of order, uncalled for, or no real use, but stacked up and put out on the taxpayers as a new overhead expense and timed with becoming ingenuity for spring election propaganda and should defeat everyone who favors it. Vote to keep your commissions — every last one of them. Caution is given to the commissioners not to quarrel among themselves, and the public is warned not to oppose because they dislike some few commissioners. “NO” is a big word, but nine times out of you can bet on It. “NO.”

Very truly yours.

LOUIS J. WILDE.

November 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:4-5. Charter amendment committee issues statement replying to opponents of proposed changes.

November 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 13:1. Recital at Organ Pavilion to open Thanksgiving Day program in park; services to begin at 10:50 a.m.

November 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:2-3. Henry C. Ryan, president Board of Park Commissioners, denounces amendments.

November 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:3. Twenty two big turkeys on exhibit at annual poultry show in the big showrooms of the Panama-Pacific [sic] building at the northeast corner of the Plaza de Panama; pigeons, rabbits, guinea pigs and cavies also shown; from November 25 to November 28.

November 25, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:3-5. Four thousand gather in Park for service of thanks.

November 27, 1920, San Diego Sun, 6:1. EDITORIAL: A Permanent Exposition.

The other day we read a story about some moving picture outfit proposing to lease the Southern Counties building in the exposition grounds as a permanent location for future operations.

We don’t know this outfit. It may be perfectly all right financially. Doubtless it is so, or the able park commissioners would not have considered the proposition, but we don’t like the idea on general principles. We don’t want to see our park turned into a moving picture village or city. There are plenty of other places for the establishment of such institutions if they can be induced to come here.

Some time ago the Master Pictures announced the purchase of the Jamul ranch for $375,000, the leasing of the mayor’s town house, and various other important activities. What has become of the Master Pictures? We dunno. Do you?

But, anyhow, friends and fellow citizens, why can’t something be done to establish a permanent exposition I the park, to be held several weeks of every year, the proceeds to go to the rejuvenation, rebuilding and renewing of the exposition buildings? Here we have a $5,000,000 plant, the most beautiful in the work, right in the heart of our city. What are we doing with it?

Dr. Hewett and his Archaeological society have done something — a good deal, in fact.

Dr. Baker and his Natural History society, with the aid of Miss Ellen Scripps’ splendid donation, have done something and will do more.

Dr. Stewart and the beautiful exposition organ, given by John D. and Adolph Spreckels, is still providing us with daily concerts.

The Friends of Art have established a series of beautiful art exhibitions.

Now these are all fine in their way, and together they make Balboa Park the greatest asset our city possesses, but we must do something to make permanent the wonderful buildings in the park. Why not a permanent exposition?

November 27, 1920, San Diego Sun, 8:1. Local museum in park to be educational center.

Popular education is to be made the main feature of the San Diego Natural History museum in the Foreign Arts building in Balboa Park. Toward this end an educator has been placed in charge of the branch of school work. Twenty traveling cases have been ordered ready for the opening of the schools and any teacher wishing first-hand knowledge will be able to find a case of specimens of birds, animals, botany, minerals, etc.

A year ago a collection of fossils was shipped from Kansas, but the museum was so crowded that this collection, with others, are still boxed. When this condition was brought to the attention of Miss Ellen B. Scripps, she, by a gift of $50,000 and a promise of more, made it possible for the museum to take larger quarters in its present location.

The first installation being made is a collection of fossils made by Charles H. Sternberg, the oldest individual collector of fossils on this continent. Mr. Sternberg has spend over half a century in this work and there is not a large museum in the world that lacks some of his material. He is here in person to install the material which will be the most striking exhibit of its kind on the coast. The collection occupied a whole car and was shipped from Lawrence, Kansas, where Mr. Sternberg had had his headquarters for twenty years. It contains the only duck-billed dinosaur on the coast, and this specimen alone will occupy a panel 86 (?) by 26 feet (?). A horse from Texas will be an open mount. There will also be three of the largest type of fish ever found. Two of these will be 18 feet long, and the other will be 16 feet long, so far the largest on exhibition.

November 27, 1920, San Diego Union, 14:4-5. Charter committee issues statement; advances argument in favor of abolishing commission form of government by adopting suggested amendments to charter; favors managerial system.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1:2-4. Integrity and Development of Balboa Park Real Issue, by John F. Forward, Jr.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:4-6. R. P. Irving, public accountant, says city records prove Park Board inefficiency.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 5:3-4. Electors asked to vote for school site in Balboa Park for 1200 pupils; 17 acres on north side of park at Upas Street and Park Avenue.

November 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:4. Country divided into sections for scout purposes; original plans of organization said inadequate to handle growing needs; the 12th district, of which San Diego is a part, comprises California, Arizona, Utah and Nevada.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 19:4-5. Carroll De Wilton Scott, Natural History Museum, defends his theory that forests of live oak not common on coast in early days.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 21:2-3. Poultry and rabbit exhibits will close tonight.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, 21:8. Schools in Park to save money, Board of Education declares.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 1:2-4. Integrity and development of Balboa Park real issue, says John Forward, Jr.

November 28, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 18:6-7. Committee of Charter Amendments points our benefits to be derived from centralization of authority under one municipal head; gives operating cost.

November 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:7. Golf enthusiasts multiply at links; on an average 80 are frequenting the 18-hole course on weekdays and between 140 and 160 on Sundays and holidays; small greens fee required.

November 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 10:4-5. Charter Amendments Committee discusses playground cost; sees economy under manager.

November 29, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 11:1. Klauber argues against ousting City Commissioners; declares their abolishment sought by Council and not by electors of San Diego.

November 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:1. Wire installed to light drill field for Boy Scouts; illumination of “Desert” made occasion for Scout demonstration.

November 29, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:5. Scout troop 10 camps two nights in Park.

The nights were unusually cold and the second night found the troop encamped indoors in the troop’s pueblo quarters.

Troop 10 claims the honor of running the first troop flag to the top of the new mast which holds the radio antenna.

November 30, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:4-5. Marie A. Hillyer writes letter opposing turning Balboa Park into a commercialized “movie location.”

November 30, 1920, San Diego Union, 12:4-5. Mayor Wilde urges defeat of proposed charter amendments.

November 30, 1920, San Diego Union, 20:3-5. Amendment Committee issues statement to public.

 

 

December 1, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1. EDITORIAL: The Charter Amendments.

December 1, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 13:1. Dr. Mary Ritter voices disapproval of charter changes at meeting of Women’s Civic Center.

December 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6-7, 5:3-4. Common Council members present their views on charter amendment issue; declare they have only best interests of city at heart; submit figures to prove assertion that great economy would be attained through adoption of managerial system instead of commission control of water, harbor, parks, playgrounds and cemeteries.

December 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:6. W. C. Crandall writes letter favoring plan for schools in Park.

December 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:3-4. S. I. Fox, prominent merchant, believes city’s affairs are safe in Boards’ hands.

December 2, 1920, San Diego Union, 13:1. Commissioner Forward brands as untrue statements made about Park Board; declares Commission always cooperated with Board of Education.

December 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6-7, 2:5-6. Park Commissioners reply to Common Councilmen’s statement on amendments; no proof furnished, they say of money misspent or wasted; statement was more conspicuous by what it omitted than by what in contained; managerial system would increase power of Council.

December 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:3. M. A. Luce says amendments give people control.

December 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:5-7. Board of Education tells of effort to get park school site.

December 3, 1920, San Diego Union, 13:1. A. P. Johnson, Jr., Arthur Morse, Alonzo Jessop, businessmen, favor management by commissions.

December 4, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:4-6. Charter Committee says city records prove Park Board inefficiency.

December 4, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3. The Park Commission yesterday accepted a proposal by the San Diego Women’s Civic Center to take over and convert the Southern Counties building into a civic auditorium

December 4, 1920, San Diego Union, 8:5. Writer declares sentiment growing against charter changes.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:3, 8:1-2. George W. Marston sees grave danger in abolishing city commissions.

George A. Marston, pioneer merchant who in past years has done much good work in helping to develop the San Diego park system is unalterably opposed to abolishing the park commission. Mr. Marston, himself once a park commissioner, issued this statement yesterday:

“The movement to abolish the city commissions very properly arouses grave apprehensions of danger. For my part, I am convinced that the parks, playgrounds, harbor and cemetery will suffer immeasurably by the transfer of management from the commissions to the council and city manager.

“No one should expect perfection from any form of government. The personnel of the administration determines mostly the character of the work done. And yet a good system is very important not only for its own inherent advantages but also because it will draw into office and hold there the ablest and best citizens.

“Under the present charter the mayor appoints and the council confirms or rejects the appointment. No better method of selection has ever been devised. It puts considerable power in the hands of the mayor, with a veto check by the council. If we withdraw this responsibility from the mayor, we are strongly impairing his rightful power and standing. Further, it is a charter provision that appointments shall be made in a sequence of years, in order to avoid abrupt changes in the personnel of the commissions. This holds some experienced men continually and prevents the growth of partisanship. While it is true that mayors may arbitrarily override these wise provisions, the system is perfect.

“Our fine councilmen have suddenly decided that this safe and democratic system, the product of a generation of thought and municipal experience, should be destroyed. Their recommendations carry great weight because of their fine personal character and the honest constructive work they have been doing for the city. I grant their sincerity and devotion to public welfare, but I believe they are slightly flushed with their success and in danger of ‘overdoing their job.’ Is the honorable council really ‘the whole thing?’ How about the mayor and his part of the city job? What about the score of representative citizens who, without compensation or salary or perquisites, are giving valuable time and business experience to various departments of the public service? It seems to me that it is a wise thing to join the paid and unpaid workers, the official and the non-official classes, in a united, representative community effort for city building rather than to turn all the legislative and executive functions of the municipality into the hands of five councilman and their selected manager.

Political Machine Feared

“Without reflection upon the present administration (for I respect and heartily commend its competent management of operations), I submit that there is a danger of a future political machine in making the proposed changes. The principal argument advanced is that concentration of management will insure economy and lessen taxes. This is specious, and incorrect in all probability, but even if true, it would not compensate for the losses that have been well pointed out by Mr. Klauber, Mr. Forward and others. In respect to the alleged extravagance of the park board, it is obviously unfair for the councilmen to make the comparisons they do between the figures of last year and former years. The growth of park planting, the general landscape development, and the high costs of labor and materials account for the difference.

“There are eight parks and plazas in San Diego, five of them under cultivation. This is an arid country, the soil is thin and park maintenance is necessarily expensive. The same conditions apply to our gardens. It is a great credit to this city that notwithstanding these adverse conditions, it has make its parks playgrounds and gardens exceedingly attractive and noteworthy. Balboa Park and the exposition grounds have won the admiration of the whole country. Their development has been entirely under the commission plan. Any other way means steady deterioration.

Applies To Cemetery

“What applies to the parks also applies to the cemetery, playgrounds and harbor. With the best intentions possible, the council would fail in the delicate and technical problems. Their contention is that their capable manager would get expert superintendents and foreman, just as the commissioners do. Let us see. For each commission, any mayor who has the interests of the city at heart chooses citizens of special intelligence and adaptability for the particular commissions. These persons given time to their duties, visiting other cities for ideas, studying the literature of their specialty, coming into personal touch with expert authorities and with their own superintendents and employees. They represent the non-office holding part of the people and, at the same time, are closely connected with the general administration of the mayor and council, and particularly under the financial regulations of the city government.

“I join Mayor Wilde in recommending that these charter amendments to abolish playground, park, harbor and cemetery commissions be voted down.”

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:6. James B. Gauchen reviews work of city commissioners.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:3-5. Board of Education says park school site will save at least $300,000 for taxpayers; issues final statement urging electors to vote for granting of land asked (illus.).

Telling the taxpayers that it will be necessary to spend $200,000 for school sites if the proposal to set aside 17 acres in Balboa Park for school purposes in not carried at Tuesday’s election, the city board of education yesterday issued its final statement on that subject. The statement follows:

“If proposition no. 1 on the ballot Tuesday fails to carry, it will necessitate the purchase of approximately six city blocks for school grounds. This purchase will have to be made, as buildings must be built to take care of our crowded conditions in the schools.

“The approximate cost of six city blocks would be $50,000 per block, or $300,000 for school sites for the two proposed schools. In addition to this, the city will lose the income in tax collections for all time on all property purchased for school purposes. This statement shows why the board of education is asking the city to grant the necessary school sites from the park land. It will be a great addition to the park if the school district s allowed to improve the 17 acres near Upas street and Park boulevard.

“The piece of land in question is indicated on the printed map of the park. If the school district uses this piece of land it will be improved and beautified in a way similar to the present high school grounds, and will relieve the park commissioners of spending money for its improvement, which means a great deal when you consider that so far this year the commissioners have spent $125,000 in maintaining the park.

“The Board of education has been compelled to purchase a nine-acre tract in the southeast part of the city, near Logan school, at a cost of $45,000. Before buying this, a careful investigation was made of property in different parts of the city. It was ascertained that in case the board was compelled to purchase school sites bordering on the park, in place of using the park land, they will not only spend a large sum of money for the city, but it will be necessary to close streets and destroy homes or move them away.

“If the taxpayers will consider the number of abstracts, condemnation proceedings, etc. necessary they will realize the added financial burden. The whole question is ‘Shall the board of education be authorized by the voters of the city to beautify the acreage absolutely necessary for a school on the border of our 1400-acre park, and thus save the city a tremendous outlay for school sites purchased from private owners, and at the same time beautify these pieces of land in the park, which at the present time are entirely neglected?’

“Remember that no funds were voted in the recent bond election for grounds for these two schools. It will be necessary to bond the school district again to purchase the sites in case proposition No. 1 is not carried. This will delay the construction of school buildings which are absolutely necessary.

“The park belongs to the people, not to the park commissioners. It is up to the people to decide next Tuesday whether the school board may use the necessary grounds for these two buildings”

 

 

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, II, 1:7-8. Commission Form is Wrong in Principle, says Moody; City Auditor addresses voters and taxpayers, endeavoring to prove proposed charter amendments will place municipality upon more businesslike basis and establish more efficient methods; illustrative examples given.

(Excerpts)

In this discussion of the proposed amendments, I wish to confine myself to a consideration of these measures that are vigorously opposed, namely, amendments nos. 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10, which provide for the placing of the administrative functions of the city playgrounds, water impounding system, parks and plazas, harbor affairs and cemetery, under the jurisdiction of the manager of operation.

These commissions, being appointed especially to care for these departments, are interested solely in the success of their individual department and not in the conduct and administration of the affairs of the corporation as a whole, which results in a lack of coordination between these various departments, conflict of authority, extravagances in the expenditure of money, each commission vying with the other in its endeavor to make the best showing possible without counting the cost to the taxpayer; their tendency is toward extravagance and inefficiency. It appears that their principal occupation is an everlasting scramble for money and more money, until our tax burden is rapidly becoming unbearable.

Now, Mr. and Mrs. Voter and Stockholder in the great corporation of the City of San Diego, why does not Mr. Spreckels adopt this splendid method which we have enforced for the city of San Diego in the management of his business; why does not Mr. Spreckels discharge his efficient manager and appoint a number of commissioners, good men and true, who will have his interests at heart, and who, by reason of the honor of serving a worthy cause, without pay or reward, will take charge of his several departments? Why does he not say to his worthy and honored commissioners: “I have appointed you to this responsible position because I realize that you are public-spirited men, men above suspicion and reproach, men in whom I place the utmost confidence. You will take great pride in making this part of my business a success; therefore I am intrusting you with the sole care and management of my interests. I authorize you to expend by money as you see fit.”

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 4:5-6. Board of Park Commissioners declares City Council is unfair; answers charges.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 1:1-3. Frank P. Allen, Jr. architect of exposition, says commission ought to be retained at election; also urges voters to vote against giving any part of Balboa Park for public school purposes.

Frank P. Allen, Jr., architect, who had a prominent part in the building of the San Diego Exposition, is one of these working hardest to defeat the proposed charter amendment that would abolish the park commission. He believes that to do away with the park commission would be a bad thing for the parks and for the city.

Allen also is opposing the item that would give 17 acres at the north end of Balboa Park to the city school system. He asserts that this proposal is both bad for the park and for the schools and should be defeated.

Mr. Allen, yesterday, sent the following letter to The Union outlining his views on both subjects.

Editor, San Diego Union: At the forthcoming election there are several matters to be voted upon concerning which I have special knowledge and experience that I wish to place at the service of the voters before they make their decision.

The first of these matters is the proposal to do away with the park commission and place the management and operation of the park in the hands of the city council. This is Item No.8 on the large ballot.

I believe that this will be a very unwise thing to do and the result can only be bad for the park and for the city. The proper development and upkeep of parks requires that very specialized knowledge of an extremely varied characters, combined with an appreciation and genuine love for the work. To the casual observer the development of the park appears merely a matter of individual taste, whether a road shall be run here or there, or whether one tree or a different one should be planted and that these matters are decided purely upon the taste or prejudice of those in power, and that after this is done the maintenance is merely a matter of mowing the lawns and watering the flowers.

This is far from being the case. Everything that is done in a park is or should be done for a very different reason and with regard to its part in the whole scheme of park development. In any park system, and especially in one like ours, which will be under development for many years to come, this means that many important questions continually are being put to the park commission for its decision, and in reaching these decisions it is guided by its past experience, by its plans for the final scheme when the park shall have been fully developed, and by practical considerations of the moment as well as the horticultural limitations and aesthetic ideas toward which it is struggling.

In addition to these, emergencies continually are arising which must be met not only immediately but wisely. The good city council, meeting with the best intentions in the world, would not have sufficient knowledge to make the proper decisions, nor would it afford to spend sufficient time to acquire this knowledge. In fact a new park commissioner, even though he be a man of excellent education, civic pride and horticultural experience and a liking for the park work, is seldom of much value until he has become a member for at least a year. For this reason many cities have found it wise to have a board of five or more members, serving terms of four or more years, and in this way the city gets the benefit of the experience gained by the commissioners and the continuity of the park work is assured.

Parks cannot be properly developed under a management that constantly is changing. Each park must be developed as a whole in itself and also as a unit in the entire park system. The results take years to accomplish and it will take as many more years to change them if they are not satisfactory. It the decisions in this work are left with the city council, which is changing every two years, the park will be subject to the whims and personal likes and dislikes of every incoming councilman, and the results can only be chaotic. The fact that the cost of the work will be wasted is not so important as the money can be replaced, but the wasted years cannot be replaced.

Future Development

A great deal of work has been done in Balboa Park in preparation for future development. To the layman practically all this work is meaningless. He sees only a grove of eucalyptus along the border, the trees in a canyon site, or some shrubbery near a road, and to him it seems very casual. Every bit of it however has been done with a definite scheme in mind. The park commission expects to build a boulevard passing the eucalyptus grove. When this is done, many of the trees will be moved away to open up vistas and the trees used to reinforce other points and make a growth stronger and heavier. Without the reasons for deciding upon these particular points, no one, not even a member of the city council, is competent to say whether such work shall be continued, stopped or changed in part.

There is another great reason that the park will fare much better in the hands of the park commission than in the hands of the city council. This reason is that parks need active defenders to protect them from neglect and encroachment. In most cases park commissions have to fight to get their appropriations and then continually fight to keep them and prevent the money being diverted for some other purpose. The commissioners have to listen to the noisy cranks, who have wonderful ideas as to why the plans should be changed, the property owners bordering the park who demand that a park entrance should be placed opposite their property or that a grove of trees be cut down or else that a grove of trees be planted or that something with red flowers be placed there.

Efforts Of Few

I wish also to point out that there is not one single thing in the whole of the San Diego park system, not one bit of roadway or even one spear of grass, that had been done by or because of any city council. The whole history of the park development in San Diego is the story of the continuous effort of a comparatively few individuals, working first as private citizens, at a later period as a committee of the chamber of commerce, and finally as the park commission. They work without salary, without hope of reward, and even without receiving credit for what they have done. Balboa Park as it stands today is entirely the result of their efforts. Can anyone imagine that the results would be equally good if the park had remained under the sole direction of the city council, even such a council as we have now?

The other matter of which I wish to speak is Proposal No. 2 on the small ballot, which proposes to give to the school board a certain tract of 17.4 acres on the northern part of Balboa Park. This area, as proposed, will extend along the north boundary of the park, beginning at the entrance on Park Boulevard and running west 989 feet, then running south into the park approximately 1300 feet to within a few feet of the building that was used for the tractor exhibit during the exposition, then skirting along the back of the Indian Village to the park entrance.

The boundary of this tract, as it is proposed, is extremely irregular and is purposely made so to avoid the canyons and take in only the level ground on top. This plan has been worked out so successfully that the school board will get all of the level ground lying between the tractor building and the north park boundary, except a small strip along the Isthmus, and, at the same time, all of the canyons will be left with the park board to develop and maintain.

Bad For Both

This proposal is very bad for the park and for the school board and should be defeated. In the first place the granting of this part of the park to the school board will absolutely block for all time the development along the north side in the park from Cabrillo Canyon to Park Boulevard. It is hoped that sometime in the future there will be a broad boulevard, similar to Park Avenue (Sixth Street from Date to Upas) across the whole north end of the park, which will connect with another boulevard along the east side of the park. Then with the further development of the road section in the southern part of the park, we will have a magnificent boulevard six miles long around Balboa Park. Probably it will take years to accomplish this, but the work was started in 1911, and the planting on the north and east boundaries was laid out with this boulevard in mind. Each year a little more work is being done. And when they are able to afford the grading and paving of some parts of the roadway, the trees and shrubs will be already well developed. The grant which is proposed for the school runs clear to the extreme north boundary of the park and blocks these boulevards absolutely. In fact, it so effectually shuts off the northern part of the park that it will never be possible to connect the northern part of Cabrillo Canyon to the main park, and anyone driving through will be obliged to go outside the part and then reenter. This grant will cut off access from the mesa of two beautiful canyons in the northern end of the park, and will cut off all access to the mesa points between them, except by climbing up from Cabrillo Canyon. These canyons and mesa points will have to be developed someday for their effect on the rest of the park, but will be utterly useless in themselves as they will be entirely inaccessible.

Furthermore, I feel very strongly opposed to the granting of this or any part of the park for school purposes. From 1910 to 1915, I was the chief architect and director of the works of the exposition. For more than three years of this time my officers were in the Administration building in the exposition grounds, and I walked, rode and drove over the grounds at all times of the day and well into the evening. My observations during this time clearly convinced me that no school should be located in any park.

Means More Money

Further than this, no building or other utility for the public should be located so far away but should be as near as possible to the center of this district. If the proposed school is built in the park, it will be at the extreme southern end of the district its serves and as far as possible away from three-quarters of the district. This means that instead of saving money on our schools by getting a free site, we will actually have to spend more money in the near future to build other schools closer to the district they serve.

I wish to urge upon the voters that Proposal No. 8 on the large ballot and Proposal No. 2 on the small ballot should be decisively defeated.

To me the whole scheme of doing away with all the city commissions and placing the work of these commissions in the hands of the city council seems not only wrong but ridiculous. Any man of average intelligence can accept appointment to a commission with the reasonable hop that he can learn enough of the work of that commission to be of value within the limits of his term, but to imagine that such a man, being elected to the council, would acquire all the necessary knowledge and information regarding the work of all commissions, covering the harbor, our parks, our water system, playgrounds, cemeteries, etc., as well as the multitudinous duties of the city council, is to imagine that we will secure councilmen who are mental colossi, of a type that are not apparent to the casual observer of the present city council. Much information may be dispensed around the cracker barrel of a corner grocery and a knowledge may be gained in bathrooms, but such learning scarcely equips a man to carry out the entire development of our city.

Very truly yours,

Frank P. Allen, Jr.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 1:4-5. EXPLANATION OF PARK MAP

The following explanation of the map printed herewith was furnished by the Park Board.

Map showing proposed school site on north boundary of Balboa Park on Upas Street, between Park Boulevard and Richmond Street.

Included within the heavy lines in the map is the tract of 6-1/4 acres approved by the Board of Park Commissioners as a school site, also the extensions inclosed in the area marked by the dotted lies, comprising altogether 17 acres.

The original site agreed upon commences at a point 130 feet east of the west line of Richmond Street, thence 678.90 feet to the east line of Herbert Street, thence southerly 400 feet, westerly 678.90 feet, then northerly 400 feet to the place of beginning.

The proposed site to be voted on comprises the whole area from 130 feet east of the west line of Richmond Street to Park Boulevard, a distance of 989.53 feet, thence southerly 70.12 feet, southwesterly 495 feet, then southerly 361 feet to the Tractor Building. The westerly line runs from a point 130 feet east of the west line of Richmond Street, 950 feet to the edge of Canyon, and the south line along the edge of the canyon 950 feet to a point, thence southeast 200 feet, thence east 829 feet to the southeast corner of Alameda Drive and the Tractor Building, a total of 17.43 acres.

The enlarged site has not been approved by the Board of Park Commissioners, In fact, they were not consulted on the matter, nor was any landscape authority consulted, the whole question having been decided upon by the Common Council and the Board of Education. The Board of Park Commissioners, as appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Common Council, are entrusted with the administration, improvement and integrity of the park system, and deem it against public park policy and the integrity of Balboa Park to agree to the proposed area to be voted upon and permanently removed from the park system.

Included in the 17 acres is a large part of the area set aside for the construction of a fine zoological garden, the plans of which are being made by the Zoological Society in connection with the Park Commission, and on which the Zoological Society has spend a large amount of money.

The road leading from the Alameda Drive to the municipal auto camp and Cabrillo Canyon will have to be abandoned, making it inconvenient to reach not only the camp but the canyon road to the west side of the park by having to drive out of the park and on Upas Street to Richmond Street entrance to reach those locations of over 130 acres in this territory of the park. It will also take away the area on the west side of the entrance at Park Boulevard and Upas Street removing control of the improvement of the future planting and ornamentation of one of the main entrances to Balboa Park as well as the landscape development of the adjacent area.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 1:7-8. City Auditor Moody says Commission form of government is wrong in principle.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 2:4-8. Carroll De Wilton Scott, Natural History Museum naturalist, makes imaginary trip around globe in search of flora to be found in San Diego’s park.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 3:3-5. Frank J. Belcher, Jr. reminds voters of Naval Training site obligations.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 6:4-5. C. R. Orcutt, pioneer, clings to belief oaks grew on Point Loma.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 8:1-2. Fred A. Heilbron, Jno. A Held, Don M. Stewart, Harry K. Weitzel, and Virgilio Bruschi, members of Common Council declare Park Commissioners’ statements misrepresent facts.

December 5, 1920, San Diego Union, Society-Club, 3:3-4. Parishioners, Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, East San Diego, to give card party and social in Indian Arts building, Balboa Park, next Thursday evening.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Sun, 11:1. City Attorney’s Office say Park Commission cannot lease Park for movie studio.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:5, 3:6. Both sides in hot charter fights says victory is theirs.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 11:5-8. Henry C. Ryan, Park Commission president, says political machines trying to win by specious arguments.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 15:1-2. Hotel men foresee defeat tomorrow for amendments.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 15:2. Golfer praises Park Commission; says Municipal Links are testimonial to its foresight and enterprise.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 15:3-4. Joseph W. Sefton, Jr., banker, urges defeat of amendments to abolish commissions; opposes school grant.

December 6, 1920, San Diego Union, 15:3-4. Board of Education requests voters to grant park lands for playgrounds and schools.

Urging passage of the measure in tomorrow’s election, granting land in Balboa Park for school sites and playgrounds, the city board of education yesterday issued the following open letter to the voters of San Diego:

“At Tuesday’s election we are asking you to vote in favor of the proposition granting two pieces of land from Balboa Park for school sites and playgrounds. You alone have the authority to give this to the school district. The amount asked for is simply enough for building site and playground.

“The building planned, for which you have voted the money, will face Upas street, near Park boulevard. The 100-foot front along Upas street will be a lawn with shrubbery on the east and west sides of the building. Back of the building, to the south, will be a well planned playground with tennis, volley ball, handball courts, baseball diamond, and the usual equipment of a playground. Every square foot asked for is needed in order that this plan may be carried out. There is no playground in this part of town, hence the city should make adequate provision at the new school that is planned for the north side of the park, near Upas street and Park boulevard. It will serve thousands of children for years to come.

“If this land is not voted now by the people, it cannot be granted until the legislature meets again two years from next January.

“The tract asked for has not other use. A careful survey of school enrollment shows that it is an ideal central location for about 1200 children to attend school. Hence the board of education must obtain a school site in this neighborhood. If it is not granted from the park, the district will have to make a purchase expending approximately $300,000. The city also will lose the tax income from the property purchased.

“We are asking you to dedicate these small parcels of land out of your immense 1400-acre park to playground. Our purpose is simply to give the necessary opportunities for education, mentally, morally and physically for the thousands of children that will grow up in these neighborhoods.

“All progressive cities are considering the welfare of children and have built up fine playgrounds in different parts of their beautiful parks.”

December 7, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:3-4. W. J. Mossholder urged negative vote on all amendments.

December 7, 1920. PROPOSITION 1: 17 ACRES FOR ROOSEVELT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL – Yes – 6,309; No – 5,308.

PROPOSITON 8: GOVERNMENT AND CONTROL OF PUBLIC PARKS, PLAZAS AND SQUARES PLACED IN THE OPERATING DEPARTMENT, UNDER CONTROL OF COMMON COUNCIL – Yes – 2,809; No – 8,562.

December 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:1-2. Anti-race track law beaten; all City Commissions remain; Council plan loses; Park school decision site doubtful; Marine Base refund to subscribers approved.

December 8, 1920, San Diego Union, 9:1-5. William Templeton Johnson’s plans and specifications for proposed bath house at La Jolla to be presented to Council.

December 8, 1920, San Diego Sun, 15:3-4. John Kelly believes Vizcaino saw oak trees on Point Loma.

December 9, 1920, San Diego Sun, 5:3. Election results practically same as first printed; schools win.

December 9, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:1. EDITORIAL: Reviewing the Result

In the present instance the citizens of San Diego decided they were satisfied with existing conditions and refused to rush into change for better or worse.

December 9, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:4-5. “Hands off Commissions,” new policy of Common Council.

December 9, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:3. The proposition to give the School District 17 acres of land in Balboa Park for school purposes, which was in doubt when The Union went to press yesterday, has carried.

December 12, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 1:3-4. California Art Club exhibit in Fine Arts Gallery draws large attendance.

December 12, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 1:4-5. Anonymous writer pleads for Natural History survey; calls park exhibit as arranged “a pile of junk.”

December 12, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 6:3-4. Carroll De Wilton Scott declares evidence of oak trees here in early days insufficient.

December 13, 1920, San Diego Union, Home News Section, 10:3. Dr. W. H. Raymenton, vice president San Diego Museum of Natural History, denies museum is “a junk pile.”

December 14, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:4-6. Council sharpens paring knife for 1921 estimates; members declare departments have “run amuck” in making requests for their next year’s expenditures; say exorbitant figures would mean a tax rate of $3.649.

December 15, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:3. Charles H. Sternberg, curator of paleontology at Natural History Museum, has been engaged for the last six months in mounting a number of old fossil bones of extinct mammals, fishes, lizards, which he has collected in his numerous “fossil hunts.”

December 15, 1920, San Diego Union, 9:3. Children to have big day at Park; Evening Tribune’s best babies’ contest to feature occasion this afternoon with Colleen Moore, movie star; prizes amounting to $1,000 being offered.

December 17, 1920, San Diego Sun, 1:1. Exposition here will be annual affair; Midwinter Exposition is planned.

December 17, 1920, San Diego Sun, 20:1. Plan theater for children; move backed by Parent Teachers Association; may be located in Balboa Park.

San Diego children may soon have a little theater all their own where every Saturday afternoon children’s motion pictures and playlets will be given. This movement is now underway with Leslie H. Carter, who has previously established many such theaters, as director, and Mrs. Florence Hersinger as assistant director. The movement is backed with the support of the Parent Teachers association, through the personal efforts of Mrs. Curtis Hillyer, president of that organization. The movement has the cooperation of B. C. Johnson, city superintendent of public schools, of the Community Service, and many other organizations and businessmen.

The little theater will be self-supporting and almost a non-profit organization.

A movement is now underway for a location in Balboa Park where the little theater may have a permanent home.

All parents who wish further information in regard to the Little Theater, and especially those having children between the ages of 6 to 14 can call at any time during the day for from 7 to 9 in the evening on Leslie H. Carter, room 29, 729 Broadway, where full detailed information will be given. The instructions to the children will be given free.

December 17, 1920, San Diego Union, 4:3. Ancient and modern “remains” in Natural History Museum exhibit; collection of curiosities will be opened to public tomorrow in building on the south side of the main driveway east from the Plaza de Panama; prizes offered to children.

December 18, 1920, San Diego Union, 3:3. Reverend W. B. Stevens, Episcopal prelate, to speak at pre-Christmas services in Park tomorrow afternoon; massed surplice choir will sing.

December 18, 1920. San Diego Union 5:3-5. Annual Mid-Winter Exposition in park announced by California Exposition Company; plans to feature countries of Pacific; Alexander Reynolds, Jr., president; H. J. Penfold, secretary; will open January 1, 1922.

December 18, 1920, San Diego Union, 5:6. Museum if like Garden of Eden in full bloom; beasts and birds, butterflies and bees appear on display ready for opening.

Officers and members of the Natural History Society of San Diego, volunteers, from the park force, and members of the Floral Association of this city, have been engaged the last few days in preparing and decorating the new Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park for the opening today.

In its floral setting the museum has taken on an appearance not unlike that of the Garden of Eden, with its birds, beasts, butterflies and bees in bowers of living green and flaming flowers. It is the hope of the institution that children especially will find great interest in the beautiful minerals, the multi-colored shells, the numerous specimens of fishes and the thousand and one other things on exhibition.

A special attraction for the boys and girls will be the “Children’s Corner.” C. A. Fries, the well-known artist, has painted a background of mountains and forest on the broad expanse of the walls with a brook winding its course through a picturesque valley. A wide variety of birds and beasts are to be seen, half hidden in real bushes and placed behind racks and trees.

Frank Stephen’s book , “California Mammals,” will be given as a prize to the boy or girl under 16 years of age who correctly names the greatest number of animals in this group. An artistic souvenir, a nature poem, by Carrol De Wilton Scott, will be presented to every participant in the naming contest.

Ten-minute talks on nature subjects will be given in the lecture hall and the museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. No admission will be charged.

December 19, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 3:2-3. Natural History Museum at park formally opened; thousand s who visited new institutions surprised at magnitude of exhibits.

December 20, 1920, San Diego Sun, 3:5-6. Museum is open to public; curator writes of plans, by Carroll De Wilton Scott.

The Natural History Museum opened its doors to the public on Saturday. The hundreds of visitors were entertained as far as possible by members of the staff. It had been decided that the opening would be an informal welcome from the museum of the people of San Diego. Hence there was no program and no addresses of dedication were made. But if the curator of education had said what was on his mind it would have sounded like this.

I believe the Natural History of San Diego will be a modern museum the ideal museum the museum of the future. The museums of the past have been storehouses of curiosities, mostly under lock and key, and seen only by the curious-minded, in fact, never intended to be seen save by the few. The old type of museum hid itself away from life, and in its proud isolation suffered the fate of the shrinking and the selfish — it was ignored by the live world of men and women. But he new museum will be primarily an educational institution.

It will, course, have a research department for advanced students. But its main energy will not be in that direction because research can be carried on to greater advantage in larger and special institutions. Besides not one person in 10,000 is fitted for or interested in research. The new museum is more interested in giving over to the 10,000 the knowledge which has been accumulated by the specialists of the past and present. Knowledge of nature will no longer be kept under lock and key, but given freely to all who ask.

Nature is for everybody to know and enjoy. The crying need of the world now is for nature lovers. The number of scientists will take care of itself.

Being a teaching institution, from the arrangements of its exhibits to its outdoor excursions, its watchword will be service. It will welcome to its rooms any man, woman, boy or girl who wants to know about any branch of natural history. It will be proud to help anyone to a better understanding and a deeper enjoyment of nature, because it knows that a correct understanding of man’s place in nature is one of the marks of an educated personality. As long as we are dependent upon the natural world for physical sustenance are healthful recreation, so long will the museum be an indispensable force in the educational life of the people.

The museum is not an end in itself. It is only a guide and invitation to the treasures of the outdoors. But with its collections and especially its pictorial exhibits, its habitat groups of plants and animals, it can foster a lover of plants and animals, rocks, birds, shells, weather and all. For it believes that every person, especially if he be a resident of the city, should have an outdoor nature interest just for the sake of his health alone.

Important as the specimens on exhibition are as tools and material for teaching, the workers of the museum will be of greater importance to the institution as an educational force. Rows of shells, drawers of butterflies, cases of minerals are so many mummies and curios unless back of them in every department there is the collector or teacher ready to make them alive to the new seeker of knowledge and inspiration. A boy bringing a rock in which he is interested, a girl a caterpillar to find out about, a man or woman a new plant or bird or shell to identify, to each one of these the museum will reach a hand of welcome and through some special science department of the general educational bureau give the desired aid and encouragement.

The museum of the future will be build solidly and generously upon the ability and helpfulness of its workers. Its value to the community will be determined more by the human beings than by the specimens within its walls.

The museum of the future will help to save the wild nature of proven value because it knows how much the generations to come are going to need and appreciate trees, birds, animals, parks and natural landscape. Therefore, it will be a leader and a center for the conservation of natural resources, water, soil and minerals, birds and animals.

But as a speaker cannot speak without an audience, so the new museum cannot reach its highest usefulness without the cooperation of those whom it seeks to serve. People of San Diego, his is your natural history museum, the only one you have. Help it be what it wishes to be. Ask favors of it, given it constructive criticism, give it duties to perform and stand back of it when it asks your cooperation. IT would be overpowered now with a sense of its imperfections if it did not have the hope of youth and the power of growth. Help to make it a museum of the future.

December 20, 1920, San Diego Sun, EDITORIAL: The Pershing Memorial Boulevard.

Councilman Fred Heilbron has figured out what seems a most satisfactory solution to the Pershing Memorial drive problem, and which suggestion has been enthusiastically accepted by good roads boosters and the directors of the Pershing fund, so far as seen.

In brief, this plan is to vote a small bond issue, say not more than $150,000 at the regular spring election next April to complete the following roads and streets in the city:

The Pershing Drive through the park; the paving of the boulevard running from the end of 12th Street up along the trolley line to the entrance of the Exposition grounds, paving the street from the east end of Imperial Avenue to connect with the new Encanto-Lemon Grove-Imperial County Highway just now being finished by the County; and complete the last link in the Los Angeles -San Diego Highway from La Jolla to the Biological Grade.

There is now $3700 in the Pershing Memorial fund, subscribed in small amounts by public spirited citizens.

December 20, 1920, San Diego Union, 18:1. New campfire circle or outdoor theater at north end of the canyon of Painted Desert was used for the first time Friday evening at Boy Scout rally; boys arrive late but in large numbers; Third Division is recruiting actively

With the addition of tents this week this part of the painted desert is bound to be one of the most used parts of the village grounds. The camp, with the background of rock cliffs, will make a fine scene for the amateur photographers from all parts of the country, who frequent the village daily.

December 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 7:2. Impressive scene to be feature of Park Christmas celebration; procession of Elks Chanters with novel lighting will precede program tonight on Plaza de Panama.

December 24, 1920, San Diego Union, 12:3. Council asked to care for Balboa Park zoo; San Diego Zoological Society wants Council to appropriate $5,000 for the upkeep of the zoo for the next year; assert that the granting of 17 acres of land at the north end of the park to the School District routed the zoo out of its home and made all improvements on the ground of new value; will seek new site in park.

December 24, 1920, San Diego Union, Classified, 13:1. New exposition offices to be opened in park; California Exposition Company will occupy quarters in Administration Building next week; list of officers.

December 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6-7, 5:2. Horace B Day, water commissioner, asks Council to oust Louis J. Wilde from office of mayor on the grounds that he is a resident of Coronado and not of San Diego.

December 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 2:1. Elks’ Chanters hold impressive open-air service; processional in picturesque setting is followed by a program of anthems, the south side of the Plaza de Panama was banked with automobiles extending almost to the Organ Pavilion, many persons preferring to view the exercises from their machines; benches flanked the east and west sides of the square; Chanters carrying lighted tapers and dressed in red and white vestments proceeded from the Prado at the west side of the Plaza to the balcony of the Varied Industries Building, while singing “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.”

December 26, 1920, San Diego Union, 6:1-2. Academy of Fine Arts to open in park January 10 in Sacramento Building; Eugene De Val will be director of the Academy.

December 30, 1920, San Diego Union, 1:6-7, 2:1-3. Mayor Wilde removes Day from Water Commission; “temperamentally unfit,” says Mayor.

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