The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Summer 1984, Volume 30, Number 3
Thomas L. Scharf, Editor

By John C. Brownlee
Copley Books Award, San Diego History Center
1984 Institute of History

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page182

Mayor Edwin M. Capps at his desk in 1915. A native of Tennessee, Capps came to San Diego in 1886 and began a career as a civil engineer.

 

 

page187

The dredge “Silvergate,” as seen in 1913, was used to improve San Diego’s harbor under the 1911 Harbor Improvement Plan or the “Capp’s Plan”

 

4526-3

The Broadway Pier under construction in 1913. [Image 4526-3]

 

page188

 

 

 

 

Designed by Capps in 1911, the San Diego City Jail would serve as a model for other city jails throughout California.

 

 

80-2434

Spruce Street Suspension Bridge c. 1915. Built according to plans prepared by Capps, the bridge remains the only suspension foot-bridge in San Diego. The structure is made of iron and rests on concrete pier blocks. [Image 80:2434 — very similar to image in the Journal]

 

page191

Spruce Street Suspension Bridge
c. 1915. [Image 80:2433]

THE PHOTOGRAPHS are from the San Diego History Center’s Title In­surance and Trust Collection.