The Explorers | Time of the Bells | The Silver Dons | The Glory Years
Gold in the Sun | The Rising Tide | City of the Dream

The Explorers 1492-1774

Time of the Bells 1769-1835

Silver Dons 1833-1865

Glory Years 1865-1898

Gold in the Sun 1900-1919

Rising Tide 1920-1941

City of the Dream 1940-1970

1900   C. P. Huntington, last of the "Big Four" of railroad fame, dies.

1900   George Chaffey begins irrigation of the Colorado Desert.

1900   John D. Spreckels opens Tent City at Coronado.

1901   First water turned into Imperial Valley canals.

1901   San Diego purchases water systems within city limits.

1901   President William McKinley shot by anarchist, Sept. 6; Theodore Roosevelt becomes President.

1902   Congress passes Spooner Act to build Panama Canal.

1902   Samuel Parsons Jr. designs plan for City Park.

1902   Katherine Tingley brings Cuban children to Theosophical Homestead on Point Loma.

1903   O. W. Cotton advertises San Diego nationally.

1903   Wright brothers fly first powered airplane.

1904   Mexican cut in Colorado River made to divert additional water to Imperial Valley.

1904   Theodore Roosevelt re-elected President.

1905   Gem mining in San Diego County reaches peak; tourmaline shipped to China.

1905   Floods on Colorado River bring disaster to Imperial Valley farmers and create the Salton Sea.

1905   First California auto registration law.

1905   New charter reduces City Council from 27 to 9 members.

1905   Horton House torn down.

1905   U.S.S. Bennington's boiler explodes in San Diego Harbor, July 21.

1906   Construction of U.S. Grant Hotel begun.

1906 Southern Pacific Railway spends $2,000,000 in attempt to control flood waters of Colorado River.

1906   John D. Spreckels announces he will build railroad to Yuma, Dec.

1907   Imperial Valley floods controlled, Feb.

1907   Imperial County formed; San Diego County is decreased by 4089 square miles, Aug. 6.

1908   Nolen Plan for city development presented.

1908   First traffic ordinance passed by City Council.

1908   Great White Fleet arrives off Coronado, Dec. 5.

1909   Alonzo E. Horton, "Father of San Diego," dies, Jan. 7.

1909   Little Landers Colony begun by William E. Smythe.

1909   Charter amendment reduces councilmen from 9 to 5 members.

1909   State legislature plans 3000-mile highway system.

1909   Panama-California Exposition planned to celebrate completion of Panama Canal.

1909   City Park renamed Balboa Park.

1910   City population reaches nearly 40,000 in national census.

1910   U.S. Grant Hotel dedicated, Oct. 15.

1911   Glenn Curtiss flying school established on North Island.

1911   Naval aviation history made as Curtiss hydroplane taken aboard U.S.S. Pennsylvania, Jan. 26.

1911   Baja California revolution begins in Mexicali, Jan. 29.

1911   Tijuana taken over by rebels, May; retaken by Federal forces, June.

1911   State Legislature grants city control of tidelands, May.

1911   Exposition groundbreaking, July 19.

1911   Bonds voted to build D Street pier violate Nolan Plan.

1912   I.W.W. "free speech" riots, Jan. to May, climaxed with expulsion of Emma Goldman.

1912   San Diego vies with Los Angeles for transcontinental auto route connection with Phoenix.

1912   Woodrow Wilson elected President; William Kettner elected to Congress, Nov.

1913   Southern California Mountain Water Company purchased by city.

1913   Mountain Springs Road dedicated, May.

1913   Representative Kettner influential in obtaining Senate appropriations for naval coaling and radio stations.

1914   Archduke Ferdinand shot at Sarajevo, starting World War I, June 28.

1914   Panama Canal opens and first private craft through the canal arrives at San Diego, Sept. 6.

1915   Panama-California Exposition opens, Jan. 1.

1915   First plank road laid in Imperial Valley.

1915   Decision made to continue exposition for another year.

1916   "Rainmaker" Charles Hatfield commissioned to fill Morena Reservoir, Jan.

1916   Heavy floods in county; Lower Otay Dam washed out.

1916   Tijuana racetrack opens.

1916   Second Plank road constructed in Imperial Valley.

1916   Woodrow Wilson re-elected President, Nov.

1917   Formal closing of Panama-California Exposition, Jan. 1.

1917   Louis J. Wilde defeats George Marston in "smokestacks vs. geraniums" mayoralty race, April.

1917   United States declares war on Germany, April 6.

1917   Camp Kearny established; Marine Base and Naval Hospital approved; Rockwell Field and Naval Aviation Station set up on North Island.

1918   Influenza epidemics strike; more than 300 deaths in San Diego.

1918   Armistice signed in Europe, Nov. 11.

1919   Groundbreaking for Marine Base.

1919   All-American Canal proposed in Congress.

1919   Pacific Fleet enters harbor; naval era begins.

1919   Woodrow Wilson speaks at San Diego Stadium, Sept. 19.

1919   Spreckels drives golden spike in San Diego & Arizona Railway, Nov. 15.