THE CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM OF HISTORY & ART | NEWSLETTER VOL. 5, NO. 3; FALL 2011


CALENDAR October 20


Board of Directors meeting 5:30 p.m.


October 21


New Members’ Party 5-7 p.m. November 17


Board of Directors meeting 5:30 p.m.


November 18


Holiday Open House/ Museum Store event 5-8 p.m.


December 2


Spreckels Society Holiday Parade Viewing 5:30 p.m.


January 12


“Visions of Coronado”exhibit Members’ Opening


A New Town Is Born…


An enticing real estate advertisement appeared in the San Diego Union newspaper in early November 1886. It was one of several announcements published over a period of weeks designed to encourage prospective buyers to attend an auction of lots on Coronado island. But for at least a year prior to those announcements, colorful brochures, maps and publications about Coronado had been distributed throughout the country by W.H. Holabird, a good friend of Hampton L. Story, one of the town’s founders. Holabird toured the east, meeting tour agencies, Chambers of Commerce and distributing literature wherever he could, working especially with ticket agents of railroad lines.


On Nov. 13, 1886, Kate Sessions (top) was in Coronado for the CBC auction (see page 4). ( © Joy Raab from Kate Sessions: Mother of Balboa Park); (below) Coronado’s first ferry.


The third local announcement of the auction in the San Diego Union touted the “Water Works,” a pipeline under the bay, bringing an “abundant supply of pure water, at about one- half…San Diego meter rates…to residents of Coronado Beach.” But what probably attracted most readers were these words: “Cheap lots for people in moderate circumstances. Medium- priced lots for those with a little more cash. Fancy lots for the rich. Everybody shall be pleased. Every investor will make money.”


On November 13, 1886, over 6,000 people came across San Diego Bay on the ferry boat Coronado and tug boat Rover to take part in the island’s first public land sale. The visitors were impressed by the wide streets and boulevards, lined with newly planted trees, and the efficient transportation system. “Water spouted from fountains among the trees along Orange Avenue as visitors moved to the auction site area, somewhere near the present Hotel del Coronado,“ according to the authors of Coronado: The Enchanted Island, Katherine Carlin and Ray Brandes.


“At 11 a.m., (the auctioneers) moved to the auction block. Bidding began at $500 and moved up to $1,600. Major Levi Chase bought the first lot on the ocean, near the site of the proposed hotel. Before the day had ended, the Land Bureau had sold 350 lots for a total of $110,000.00,” continues the book’s description of the auction. This amount by happy coincidence matched the amount that Hampton Story and Elisha Babcock originally borrowed to purchase the peninsula. They would now be able to secure new funds to begin building the great resort hotel they envisioned.


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