The Glory Years, 1865-1899
CHRONOLOGY: 1865-1898
1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox; Civil War ends, April 9.
1865 Lincoln assassinated; Andrew Johnson becomes president, April 14.
1865 Second great westward migration begins.
1867 Alonzo E. Horton arrives at San Diego, April 15.
1867 Horton pays $265 for 960-acre city site at auction, May 10.
1868 Kimball brothers buy Rancho de la Nación; lay out National City.
1868 The San Diego Union publishes first edition, October 10. 1868 Ulysses S. Grant elected president.
1868 Construction begins on Horton’s wharf.
1869 Old Town battles New San Diego to retain county seat.
1869 Central and Union Pacific Railroads meet at Promontory Point, Utah, May 10.
1869 New San Diego has its first major July 4th celebration. 1870 Coleman discovers gold at San Diego River headwaters. 1870 Gold Rush camp named Julian; mining district formed. 1870 Horton House completed and opens, October 17.
1870 San Diego’s first bank founded.
1870 New Town’s first school building erected.
1870 Western Union’s San Diego telegraph line completed.
1870 Immigrants forced out by drouth.
1871 Julian-to-Banner toll road completed.
1871 County seat moved to Horton’s Addition.
1871 County Court House constructed.
1871 Texas & Pacific Railroad chartered.
1871 San Diego votes Republican for first time.
1871 The San Diego Union begins daily publication.
1872 “No Fence” law repealed.
1872 Reincorporation of city provided by a new law.
1872 Old Town fire destroys business buildings.
1873 Texas & Pacific Railroad work begins at San Diego.
1873 San Diego Water Company formed; first major water system since Mission days.
1873 “Black Friday” stock panic wipes out Texas & Pacific Railroad.
1873 San Diego economy sinks to doldrums.
1874 City’s final patent to pueblo lands received.
1875 Bank of California fails; statewide discontent and depression.
1875 Gunfight at Gaskill’s Campo store.
1876 President Grant sets up San Diego Indian reservations. 1876 New City Charter adopted; provides five trustees.
1876 Rutherford B. Hayes elected president.
1876 Southern Pacific Railroad connects Los Angeles and San Francisco.
1877 Severe drouth in San Diego County.
1877 Anti-Chinese riots sweep California.
1877 San Diego River dike completed.
1879 New State Constitution formulated, effective January 1, 1880.
1880 James A. Garfield elected president.
1881 California Southern Railroad construction starts.
1881 President Garfield dies in office; Chester A. Arthur becomes president.
1882 San Diego Telephone Company begins operation.
1882 California Southern Railroad service begins.
1883 Mexican colonization law opens Baja California for settlement.
1883 John Montgomery makes world’s first controlled airplane flight at Otay.
1884 Flood wrecks California Southern Railroad.
1884 Stephen Grover Cleveland elected president.
1885 A. J. Meyers founds Oceanside.
1885 Babcock and Story buy Coronado.
1885 Transcontinental railroad reaches San Diego.
1885 San Diego Flume Company organized.
1886 First electric street lights installed in city.
1886 New City Charter; San Diego becomes sixth-class city.
1886 First public transit system with horse cars.
1886 Construction of Hotel del Coronado begins.
1886 National City & Otay Railroad incorporated.
1887 National railroad rate war starts westward land rush.
1887 Land stampede begins.
1887 Santa Fe Railroad terminus established at National cCiy. 1887 Vice and corruption grow with the boom.
1887 San Diego & Old Town electric street cars start operating.
1888 Hotel del Coronado opens.
1888 Land boom collapses, population declines.
1888 Benjamin Harrison elected president.
1889 New City Charter; San Diego becomes fourth-class city.
1889 Cable cars begin operating.
1889 San Diego Flume brings mountain water to San Diego.
1891 Coronado secedes from San Diego.
1891 Floods wipe out Temecula railway and Tia Juana City.
1891 California National Bank fails.
1892 Spreckels buys transit systems.
1892 Klondike gold rush begins.
1893 National depression brings bank failures.
1893 Riverside County formed and absorbs large area of San Diego County.
1895 Evening Tribune founded.
1896 Kimball brothers go bankrupt.
1896 Harbor fortifications work begins at Point Loma.
1896 William McKinley elected president.
1897 First major Navy celebration held in San Diego.
1898 Battleship Maine sunk at Havana, February 16.
1898 Spanish-American War starts, April 24.
1898 Spanish-American War ends, August 12.
1898 “Age of Confidence” begins.
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THE GLORY YEARS
Background
Ch. 1 It All Began With Father Horton
Ch. 2 Move Over, San Francisco!
Ch. 3 The Train That Never Came
Ch. 4 The Mountain That Spouted Gold
Ch. 5 The Panic That Broke the Bubble
Ch. 6 The Great Tidelands Robbery
Ch. 7 The Day the Town Went Wild
Ch. 8 Why Not Sell the Climate?
Ch. 9 The Big Gun Fight at Campo
Ch. 10 The Discontented Seventies
Ch. 11 The Train That Finally Came
Ch. 12 A Boom Nobody Would Believe
Ch. 13 When the Games Ran All Night
Ch. 14 Our ‘Innocent’ Lambs Are Sheared
Ch. 15 The Town That Wouldn’t Give Up
Chronology
Historical Statistics