Appleton Bridges (1848-1929)
Appleton Bridges was born in Maine in 1848. In 1878 he married Amelia, the daughter of Henry H. Timken, and was associated with Timken in the latter's business in Canton, Ohio. Timken was a highly successful manufacturer of carriages and carriage parts, ranging from springs to roller bearings.
Bridges came to the San Diego area about 1899 and invested in real estate and oil well drilling in our county. In 1908 he became the administrator of Timken's estate. In 1912, Bridges built a home at 2500 Chatsworth Blvd. in Point Loma where he lived the rest of his days. The structure is still there, at the corner of Curtis Street, but it has been divided into two homes, to make their sizes more suitable for present-day owners.
Mr. and Mrs. Bridges donated $410,000 for the construction of the Fine Arts Gallery (now called the San Diego Museum of Art) on the north side of the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park. It was completed and donated to the City of San Diego in 1925. Mr. and Mrs. Bridges also donated art treasures to the museum, and funds toward its operating expenses in the early years. William Templeton Johnson, San Diego's leading architect whose public buildings define pre-World War II San Diego, approached Bridges and asked to be considered as architect for the project. Johnson had never designed a museum before but offered to travel East at his own expense to study museum architecture. He was ultimately given the job.
The Mable Shaw Bridges Auditorium at Pomona College was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Bridges as a memorial to their daughter, who died in 1907 while she was a student at Pomona College (she was 22). The auditorium, built in 1931 and designed by William Templeton Johnson, has become a symbol of The Claremont Colleges.
The Bridges played a critical role in launching another of San Diego's attractions, when in 1927 they donated money that made it possible for Nino Marcelli to stage the San Diego Symphony Orchestra's inaugural concert. The gift was anonymous at the time, and the amount is not known.
During his lifetime Mr. Bridges served on a variety of civic and Chamber of Commerce Committees. His philanthropy was an essential part of the creation of two important cultural assets which grace the scene here today: the San Diego Museum of Art and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.
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