The Coronado Historical Association (CHA) invites you to hear about the fascinating history of Coronado’s early owners at its Wine & Lecture on Thursday, January 15 at 5:30 pm. Researcher and retired Coronado Library Director Christian Esquevin will provide the historical significance and background stories about the colorful characters that owned Coronado during the 1800s. His presentation, “Coronado’s Owners Before the Beach Company: A Cast of Characters,” is sure to reveal insights into the extensive list of people who once owned Coronado.
Some of their names may sound familiar, evoking characters from a Charles Dickens novel: Bezer Simmons, Archibald Peachy, and William Aspinwall. You may have seen their names in books about Coronado’s history: the ones before Babcock and Story, and the ubiquitous John D. Spreckels. Yet among those early names were shapers of California and Western history, including a whaling ship captain and gold rush entrepreneur, the personal lawyer of John D. Sutter of Sutter’s Creek gold rush fame, a major partner in the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the future president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. And before them were the Californios like Pio Pico, the last Mexican Governor of California, Pedro Carrillo, and his bride, Josefa Ramona Bandini of the San Diego Old Town Bandini family. One of the above-named individuals was a member of the California Assembly in 1852 and of the California State Senate in 1860 and 1862. Another was a co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and yet another was involved with the early promotion of ecology and the formation of national parks.
This history of Coronado will be presented with the inclusion of pictorial slides and deed documents. Much of the confusing process of the continual sales of Coronado, the Peninsula as it was then called, will be clarified. The many persons in the chain of ownership saw great promise in Coronado, which has been borne out through most of its 180-year history.
The Coronado Historical Association museum is located at 1100 Orange Avenue. Tickets and information at coronadohistory.org or 619-435-7242.
Great way to dive into local history! A presentation like this with slides and deed documents, seems perfect for anyone curious how Coronado became what it is today.