This Month in La Jolla Historical past: South Molton Mansion Constructed, Lincoln Memorial Flagstaff, More

This Month in History is a recurring feature at La Jolla Light that sheds light on local events from a bygone era. If you are aware of events from a year in the history of La Jolla that deserve recognition, email [email protected].

February 8, 1897: Ellen Browning Scripps begins building her home on Prospect Street in La Jolla and names the house South Molton Villa (sometimes called South Moulton Villa) after the street of London where she was born in 1836, day in history from San Diego ”by Linda Pequegnat.

Scripps also built two huts on the property, one for their library and the other for visitors. Another cottage nearby, built in 1904, belonged to her half-sister, Eliza Virginia Scripps. This cottage called Wisteria Cottage is the current home of the La Jolla Historical Society.

The South Molton mansion burned down in 1915 and Ellen Browning Scripps hired San Diego architect Irving Gill to build a new home, which was completed in 1916 and which now houses the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Pequegnat wrote.

Other events in February

February 27, 1869: According to Pequegnat, two of the first properties sold in La Jolla went to the brothers Samuel and Daniel Sizer. La Joya, as it was spelled at the time and means “the jewel” in Spanish, was part of the pueblo land of San Diego.

The Sizer brothers bought two 80 acre lots for $ 1.25 an acre – $ 100 for each lot. The lots were a few blocks south of what is now The Village in an area that now includes La Jolla High School.

The brothers started a vineyard of 5,000 vines and a large vegetable garden on their land, Pequegnat wrote. Daniel fell into a well and died in 1870, and Samuel left San Diego shortly afterwards.

The Sizers land was part of a large piece of land in La Jolla that was later acquired by a railroad company, Pequegnat wrote, although it would be the 1880s before real development in the area began.

February 12, 1909: La Jolla celebrated the centenary of former President Abraham Lincoln by erecting a flagpole in what would later become known as Ellen Browning Scripps Park. Howard Randolph wrote “La Jolla Year by Year” in his 1955 book.

The flag staff of the Abraham Lincoln Centennial Memorial is celebrated in La Jolla in 1909.

(Courtesy of the La Jolla Historical Society)

One ceremony included a reading of the Gettysburg address, wrote Randolph. The plaque at the base of the flagpole reads “Abraham Lincoln Centennial Memorial … erected by the people of La Jolla”.

The flagpole at the Abraham Lincoln Centennial Memorial has been removed, but the plaque at its base remains.

(Elisabeth Frausto)

The flagpole has disappeared, but the plaque, which lies in the place in a boulder, remains. San Diego City officials could not tell when the flagpole was removed.

February 28, 1916: A “colonial evening” was being held at La Jolla Woman’s Club, wrote Randolph. Men and women dressed up as George and Martha Washington, John and Abigail Adams, John Hancock, the wife of Alexander Hamilton, and more. “The photos … have shown that this is the most charming tableau,” wrote Randolph.

La Jolla Shores, pictured around 1920, celebrated the opening day of its residential development in 1926.

(Courtesy of the La Jolla Historical Society)

February 21, 1926: The La Jolla Shores housing estate celebrated its opening day with a “well-advertised proposition,” wrote Pequegnat. Nearly 10,000 people attended The Shores’ opening, and about 120 lots were sold for a total of $ 240,000, or about $ 2,000 per lot.

February 26, 1943: The Windansea Hotel, built in 1909 on the corner of Neptune Place and Playa del Sur, burns down, Pequegnat wrote. All but one of the guests escaped.

The fire started in the kitchen around 1 a.m. The kitchen and all 22 guest rooms were destroyed and the dining room and lounge were badly damaged.

The name of the hotel comes from a competition in which “Mrs. Montgomery Brackett won the Six Dinners Award at the [hotel’s] Restaurant “for the development of Windansea, wrote Pequegnat. It is believed that Windansea Beach took its name from the hotel.

The hotel was never rebuilt after the fire. ◆