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Coordinates: 32°43′53″N 117°08′43″W / 32.73139°N 117.14528°W / 32.73139; -117.14528
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In 1910, in anticipation of the [[Panama-California Exposition]], many of San Diego's business and city leaders began to develop a new streetcar that would be used to transport the crowds at the Exposition and, later, would become regular public transportation for the city of San Diego. Leading the project was [[John D. Spreckels]] and his [[San Diego Electric Railway Company]] (SDERy), who began work on a special design that took both the heavy traffic of the event and San Diego’s mild climate into account. These special cars, later known as the Class 1s, would go on to influence streetcar designs across the United States.
In 1910, in anticipation of the [[Panama-California Exposition]], many of San Diego's business and city leaders began to develop a new streetcar that would be used to transport the crowds at the Exposition and, later, would become regular public transportation for the city of San Diego. Leading the project was [[John D. Spreckels]] and his [[San Diego Electric Railway Company]] (SDERy), who began work on a special design that took both the heavy traffic of the event and San Diego’s mild climate into account. These special cars, later known as the Class 1s, would go on to influence streetcar designs across the United States.


Combining elements of the “California Car” and the “Closed Car”, lead designer Abel A. Butterworth built upon previous streetcar models to construct this new and improved modern streetcar. Beyond the technological advancements of the Class 1s, these cars were also designed with an artist’s touch, as they were conceived and decorated in the “Arts & Crafts” style. A total of twenty four of the Class 1 streetcars were built by SDERy partners The Saint Louis Car Company (SLCCo) and shipped out to San Diego, where they served as an important part of the city’s transportation until they were retired in 1939. Only three of these cars still exist today.
Combining elements of the “California Car” and the “Closed Car”, lead designer Abel A. Butterworth built upon previous streetcar models to construct this new and improved modern streetcar. Beyond the technological advancements of the Class 1s, these cars were also designed with an artist’s touch, as they were conceived and decorated in the “Arts & Crafts” style. A total of twenty-four of the Class 1 streetcars were built by SDERy partners The [[St. Louis Car Company]] (SLCCo) and shipped out to San Diego, where they served as an important part of the city’s transportation until they were retired in 1939.

Only three of the Class 1 streetcars still exist today.<ref>[http://sandiegohistoricstreetcars.org/history.htm The Home of the San Diego Class-1 Streetcars - History]</ref>


===The Panama-California Exposition: 1915–1916===
===The Panama-California Exposition: 1915–1916===

Revision as of 21:57, 1 September 2010

Balboa Park
La Laguna da las Flores at the Panama-California Exposition (1915)
Balboa Park (San Diego) is located in California
Balboa Park (San Diego)
Nearest citySan Diego, California
Area1,200 acres
Built1868
ArchitectMultiple
Architectural styleSpanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, Pueblo Revival, others.
NRHP reference No.77000331
Significant dates
Added to NRHPDecember 22, 1977[1]
Designated NHLDDecember 22, 1977[2]
The '"Casa de Balboa" beyond the Reflection Pool, in Balboa Park, San Diego.
The Botanical Building, Balboa Park.
The 'Casa de Balboa' on El Prado, in Balboa Park.

Balboa Park is a 1,200 acre (4.9 km²) urban cultural park in San Diego, California. The Park is named after the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. It was the location of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and 1935 California Pacific International Exposition which each created architectural landmarks for the Park.

Balboa Park's site was placed in reserve in 1835, and so is one of the oldest sites in the United States dedicated to public recreational use. Besides open space areas and natural vegetation green belts, it contains a variety of cultural attractions including many museums, theaters, gardens, shops and restaurants, as well as the world famous San Diego Zoo.

Balboa Park, and the historic Exposition buildings, were declared a National Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark District in 1977, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. [2][3] Balboa Park is managed and maintained by the stewardship of the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of San Diego.

Park Attractions

Gardens

The entire Balboa Park is a primary attraction in San Diego and the region. The Park's landscape has many mature, beautiful, and sometimes rare trees and groves creating an urban forest for San Diego. Many of the original trees were planted by the renowned American landscape designer, botanist, plantswoman, and gardener Kate Sessions. She was a forerunner of using drought tolerant and California native plants in garden design, establishing a nursery to propagate and grow for the Park and the public.

There are a number of Gardens in the Park including: Alcazar Garden, Botanical Building, Desert Cactus Garden, Casa del Rey Moro Garden, Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, Japanese Friendship Garden, George W. Marston House and Gardens, Palm Canyon, and Zoro Garden.

El Prado central area

Many of the park's cultural attractions are along El Prado, a long, wide promenade and boulevard running through the center of the park. Most of the buildings lining this street are in the Spanish Colonial Revival architecture style, a richly ornamented eclectic mixture of European Spanish architecture and the Spanish Colonial architecture of New Spain-Mexico. [2] Along this boulevard are many of the park's museums and cultural attractions, including the San Diego Museum of Man, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the San Diego Art Institute the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the San Diego Historical Society, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, and the Timken Museum of Art (where admission is always free). Other features along El Prado include the Reflection Pond, the latticed Botanical Building, and the Bea Evenson Fountain. Adjacent to the promenade is the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

Theatrical and musical venues include the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, featuring the world's largest outdoor pipe organ (free performances every Sunday at 2:00 PM year round, and on Monday evenings at 7:30 PM during the summer); the Old Globe Theatre complex, which includes a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre as well as an outdoor stage and a Theatre in the round; and the Starlight Bowl - an outdoor amphitheatre. The Casa Del Prado Theater is the home of San Diego Junior Theatre, the country's oldest children's theatre program. The "International Cottages" collected on El Prado offer free entertainment shows during the 'high season' (Sundays-2:00 PM).

"The Botanical Building" is a very large and beautiful greenhouse from 1915 designed by Carleton M. Winslow, with large specimen palms and other plants inside and a long reflecting pool out to El Prado.

Other Park areas

Located in the northeast corner of the Park is the Morley Field Sports Complex. Included in this complex are: the Balboa Park Golf Complex, the largest tenant with a public 18-hole golf course and 9-hole executive course; the San Diego Velodrome, baseball fields; the USTA awarded Balboa Tennis Club and tennis courts, archery ranges, the Bud Kearn Swimming Pool, and a disc golf course.

Other attractions in various areas of the Park include bridge and chess outdoor tables, horseshoe pits, playgrounds, walking and jogging trails, sports fields and courts, and picnic areas. Clubs and facilities for petanque and lawn bowling are based in the park. Abundant public transit and automobile parking options make Balboa Park easy to access and explore.

Among the institutions and facilities within the Park's borders but not administered by the city's Parks Department are the world famous San Diego Zoo, the Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD), and San Diego High School.

History

Land reserved

The city park space was made manifest in 1835 with the newest arrival of Governor José Castro, and his appointed pueblo of San Diego officials representing a new semi-independent status for Alta California with the Mexican government. One of the city officials' first actions was selecting a 47,000-acre (190 km2) tract of land to be used for the public's recreational purposes. This makes Balboa Park one of the oldest places in the United States dedicated to public recreational usage.

No further activity took place until 1845, when a survey was done by Henry D. Fitch to map the 47,000-acre (190 km2). The Mexican government was unable to develop a park due to the start of the Mexican-American War, and the resulting ceding of all Alta California, including San Diego, to the United States in 1848.

On February 15, 1868, a request was put forth to the city's Board of Trustees to take two 160-acre (0.65 km2) plots of land, and create a public park. This request was made by one of the Trustees, E. W. Morse, who along with real estate developer Alonzo Horton had selected a site just northeast of the growing urban center of "New Town" - present day Downtown San Diego - for the nascent park's location.

Park establishment

Subsequently, a resolution to set aside nine plots of land totaling a substantial 1,400 acres (5.7 km2), instead of just two, for a large city park was approved by the city's Board of Trustees on May 26, 1868.

Then in 1870, a new law was passed, an "act to insure the permanency of the park reservation." The law stated that "these lands (lots by number) are to be held in trust forever by the municipal authorities of said city for the purpose of a park".[4] It was around this time that San Diego residents were developing fondness for the park; as illustrated by their strong desire to keep the park intact when in 1871 there was a documented conspiracy to disassemble and "grab" the park land (Christman 15). At the urging of would-be land speculators and the city attorney, a state senator quietly introduced a bill in the California state legislature to repeal the 1870 law.

A San Diego resident learned of the plan and informed higher powers at the state level in Sacramento, California. The conspiracy was leaked to the press thereby exposing the city officials involved. A "public safety committee" formed and collected signatures supporting the current existence of the park. Their plea was successful and the bill was killed in the legislature.[5]

A City Park: 1872–1909

Desert Cactus Garden, Balboa Park

For the first few decades of its existence, "City Park" remained mostly open space. Numerous proposals, some altruistic, some profit-driven, were brought forward for the development and use of the land during this time, but no comprehensive plan for development was adopted until 1902.

Nevertheless, there was some building done. This included an orphanage and women's shelter (later burned down), a high school (Russ High School - later San Diego High School), and several gardens maintained by various private groups. One of the most celebrated of these early usages was a nursery owned and maintained by local horticulturist and botanist Kate Sessions, who is often referred to as "the mother of Balboa Park." Although owned by Sessions, by agreement with the city the nursery was open to the public, and Sessions donated trees and plants to the city every year for its beautification. Sessions is responsible for bringing in many of the different varieties of native and exotic plants in the park. Her work was so progressive that she was in fact the first woman awarded the Meyer Medal for "foreign plant importation" given to her by the American Genetic Association.

Other developments from this time include two reservoirs, an animal pound in Pound Canyon -later renamed Cabrillo Canyon, and a gunpowder magazine in the area now known as Florida Canyon.

The earliest recreational developments in the park were in the "Golden Hill Park" area off of 25th street. The National Register listed the rustic stone fountain designed by architect Henry Lord Gay as the oldest surviving designed feature in the park. Other attractions in the area included a children's park - probably the first in San Diego, walking trails, and a redwood bird aviary.

The San Diego Class 1 Streetcars: 1910-1939

Class 1 Streetcar #125 at 5th and Broadway in San Diego, CA (1915)

In 1910, in anticipation of the Panama-California Exposition, many of San Diego's business and city leaders began to develop a new streetcar that would be used to transport the crowds at the Exposition and, later, would become regular public transportation for the city of San Diego. Leading the project was John D. Spreckels and his San Diego Electric Railway Company (SDERy), who began work on a special design that took both the heavy traffic of the event and San Diego’s mild climate into account. These special cars, later known as the Class 1s, would go on to influence streetcar designs across the United States.

Combining elements of the “California Car” and the “Closed Car”, lead designer Abel A. Butterworth built upon previous streetcar models to construct this new and improved modern streetcar. Beyond the technological advancements of the Class 1s, these cars were also designed with an artist’s touch, as they were conceived and decorated in the “Arts & Crafts” style. A total of twenty-four of the Class 1 streetcars were built by SDERy partners The St. Louis Car Company (SLCCo) and shipped out to San Diego, where they served as an important part of the city’s transportation until they were retired in 1939.

Only three of the Class 1 streetcars still exist today.[6]

The Panama-California Exposition: 1915–1916

The Casa del Prado Theater, with Churrigueresque ornamentation framing the entrance
The California Bell Tower and San Diego Museum of Man, in Balboa Park.

The 1915 Panama-California Exposition design and development created much of the park's present day look and feel, and designed amenities. [2] The Exposition celebrated the 1914 completion and opening of the Panama Canal, and to advertise that San Diego was the first U.S. port of call vessels encountered after passing through the canal and sailing north. A similar fair, the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition, was held in "far to the north" San Francisco to celebrate the canal also. Exposition planning began in 1909 and the City Park was soon selected as the exposition site. The name Balboa Park, after the first European to cross Central America and see the Pacific Ocean - Vasco Núñez de Balboa, was adopted in 1910 as the winner of a naming contest. Groundbreaking for the Fair's construction began in 1911.

The Exposition's lead designer and site planner was architect Bertram Goodhue, well known for his Gothic Revival Style churches in New York and Boston, but looking for a regionally appropriate aesthetic to use in Southern California. Goodhue chose to use the styles of highly ornamented Spanish Baroque architecture with the Spanish Colonial architecture created during the Spanish colonization era in New Spain-Mexico and the lower Americas, with Churrigueresque and Plateresque detailing "updating" the already popular Mission Revival Style - to create the Spanish Colonial Revival Style. The buildings and the style were extremely well received by the public and design professionals in California and nationally, becoming a reigning style for decades, and still the primary vernacular style in much of California. Goodhue's associate architect was Carleton M. Winslow, who is solely credited with the lattice-work Botanical Building and other structures. Goodhue's team, which included Kate Sessions and Lloyd Wright for landscape design, had won out over the local and more modernist Irving Gill to get the commission. [7]

One of the most significant improvements to the park from that time was the construction of the Cabrillo Bridge across a major canyon in the city. The bridge connects the main portion of the park with the western portion and with Laurel Street.

On December 31, 1914, The Panama-California Exposition opened, with Balboa Park 'crammed full' of spectators. Yellow and red were the themed colors of the event and were displayed throughout. All of the employees, workers, security people, and management staff were dressed in period Spanish and Mexican military uniforms, and much of the park was filled with plantings of exotic plants. Over 40,000 red Poinsettia plants, all in full bloom, were used. The event had been successful in attracting national attention. Even Pennsylvania's Liberty Bell made a brief three-day appearance in November of 1915. The attempt to "put San Diego on the map" was successful. The event's original 1915 run was such a success the Fair was extended through 1916. Over the two years more than 3.8 million visitors would attend and witness the hard-sought magnificence that was Balboa Park.

  • Some of the buildings constructed for the Panama-California Exposition which still remain include:[8]
    • Cabrillo Bridge (completed April 12, 1914)
    • California State Building and Quadrangle (completed October 2, 1914 - now The Museum of Man)
    • Administration Building (completed March 1912 - now: offices of the Museum of Man)
    • Botanical Building
    • California Bell Tower (completed 1914)
    • New Mexico Building (now: Balboa Park Club)
    • Spreckels Organ Pavilion (dedicated December 31, 1914)

California Pacific International Exposition: 1935–1936

The Old Globe Theatre, in Balboa Park

Balboa Park’s second big event, the California Pacific International Exposition, came in 1935 when it hosted yet another world’s fair. This Exposition was intended to promote the city and remedy San Diego’s Great Depression era ills. Balboa Park was reconfigured by San Diego architect Richard S. Requa, who also oversaw the design and construction of many new buildings, some to be permanent. Facilities added at that time and still in use include the Old Globe Theatre, the International Cottages, and the Spanish Village. [9]

The California Pacific International Exposition left behind a legacy of colorful stories with its exhibits and entertainments. The Gold Gulch was a forerunner of the many "frontier town" themed areas of later amusement parks. The controversial Zoro Garden Nudist Colony, "Midget Village", and sideshow entertainments including fan dancer Sally Rand added to the lore. [10] The Exposition also provided visitors with early glimpses of 'Alpha'- a walking silver robot, and a strange new electrical device called a “television.”

Like the first exposition, the 1935 Fair was so successful it was extended for a second year through 1936. Opening ceremonies for the second season began when President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a gold telegraph key in the White House to turn on the Exposition’s lights. When the final attendance numbers were tallied, the 1935–1936 event counted 6.7 million visitors – almost double the total of the 1915–1916 exposition. Buildings from both expositions now make up a National Historic Landmark District, which is perhaps the most intact world's fair-exposition site remaining in the nation.[11]

Cultural Park references

Visual media

TheEl Cid sculpture, by artist Anna Hyatt Huntington.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Balboa Park, San Diego, California.


References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ^ a b c d "Balboa Park". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  3. ^ Carolyn Pitts (July 19, 1977). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Balboa Park" (Document). National Park Service. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help) and Template:PDFlink
  4. ^ Christman, Florence, The Romance of Balboa Park, San Diego Historical Society p. 14
  5. ^ Montes, Gregory E., San Diego's City Park, 1868–1902, Journal of San Diego History, Spring 1977
  6. ^ The Home of the San Diego Class-1 Streetcars - History
  7. ^ Montes, Gregory, Balboa Park 1909–1900: The Rise and Fall of the Olmsted plan, Journal of San Diego History, Winter 1982
  8. ^ San Diego Historical Society
  9. ^ Balboa Park Trust website
  10. ^ San Diego Magazine, December, 1997
  11. ^ Marshall, David, San Diego’s Balboa Park, Arcadia Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7385-4754-1
The National Historic Landmark Plaque for Balboa Park

32°43′53″N 117°08′43″W / 32.73139°N 117.14528°W / 32.73139; -117.14528

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