This is the cover of a century-old booklet produced for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915. The item was recently donated to the Coronado Public Library by a local Realtor. Image courtesy Coronado Public Library.
“A small and juicy piece of Coronado history,” is how Christian Esquevin describes the recent donation by a local Realtor. Esquevin is Director of the Coronado Public Library caretaker of the largest collection of Coronado anywhere. He was talking about a booklet published by John D. Spreckels and the Hotel del Coronado for distribution at the 1915 Panama-California Exposition.
The booklet surfaced on eBay recently, and was purchased by Lee Mather Co., Realtors a 64-year-old broker on the island (Coronado’s oldest brokerage), and donated to the library.
“In all my years of dealing with history, and in particular San Diego and Coronado history, I’ve never seen this booklet before,” said Esquevin. “It’s an extremely valuable find and we’re proud to add it to our collection of history for this region, thanks to Lee Mather Co., Realtors.”
The old Realtor has long been a supporter of Coronado history. A few years ago they located, purchased and donated a vast collection of rare, 1903 Tent City newspapers that rewrote Coronado history as we knew it from that year.
They also funded an expedition to document the last days of the ferryboat San Diego, which was being dismantled in the Bay Area. Information, photographs and artifacts from that expedition resulted in a major exhibit at the Coronado Public Library.
More recently, Lee Mather Company purchased a book on exploration of the West pertaining to geography and plant life as documented by scouts and soldiers mapping their way across country to California and San Diego.
“We are pleased to have been able to bring this rare, century-old document to the Coronado Public Library, and we’ll continue to do our part to find the missing pieces of the puzzle that is Coronado history,” said Mike Herlihy, co-owner of the Lee Mather Company.
The booklet was designed for visitors to the Exposition to carry with them. This particular item is 20 pages, and was brought back to Maine by someone who attended the Expo, who then put the booklet away in 1916. There is a slight smell of fresh pike tobacco about the document, which indicates it may have been stored in a humidor for the past 100 years thus explaining the fine condition it is in today, speculated Esquevin.
One hundred years ago, John D. Spreckels owned just about everything in sight. He owned the railroad, the Hotel del Coronado, the San Diego Union. He wanted to also make sure there was transportation directly to Balboa Park by rail that included the triangle made up of Balboa Park, San Diego and Coronado. This booklet connects the dots in that grand scheme.
On the rear of the booklet it says, “Printing Department Hotel del Coronado.” It has the colorful cover highlighting the California Building (now the Museum of Man), pictorial emblems of sunny California (orange trees, the Port and shipping lines), bullfighting in nearby Tijuana, and beautiful downtown San Diego showing the trolley line.
On page one you find the Organ Pavilion; then information about the Aviation Camp at North Island. There are wonderfully native ads for such things as the Marston Company a famous department store of the time.
Of particular note, it promotes the open-air band concerts at Coronado’s Tent City, with round trip rates to principal towns along the lines, connections, etc. Everything you needed to know to get around San Diego a century ago.
“The booklet,” said Esquevin, “gives you a wonderfully complete look at how people got around San Diego and Coronado when visiting the Exposition. It shows and tells you in a very exacting manner what railroad lines existed, and it is flushed out with maps showing exact means to get where you wanted to go.”
The Coronado Public Library is open Monday-Thursday 10-9, Friday-Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 1-5. The library is located at 640 Orange Avenue. For more information call or visit (619) 522-7390 or Coronado Public Library. All programs and events at the library are free to the public, and much of the history of Coronado is available online.
This item produced by Joe Ditler and Part-Time PR, serving all of Coronado’s public relations needs. For more information write or call [email protected] or (619) 435.0767.
