San Diego, California's cornerstone, occupies a site originally populated by Kumeyaay Indians. Europeans first discovered the area in 1542 with the arrival of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. Sailing for Spain, Rodriguez Cabrillo named the harbor San Miguel. On November 12, 1602, a later Spanish explorer, Sebastian Vizcaino, renamed the port San Diego de Alcala to honor the saint whose feast day was celebrated on that date.
Almost one hundred and seventy years later, Spain consolidated her claim to the region under the Franciscan Father Jurnipero Serra and Governor Gaspar de Portola. Accompanied by soldiers and Indians, they planted the cross on Presidio Hill. On July 16, 1769, the Serra party christened Alta California's first mission San Diego de Alcala.
For several years Spanish soldiers lived within the presidio and protected the nearby mission. As their numbers slowly increased, the soldiers began moving out to cultivate fields and orchards in the flatlands. The mission itself was moved in 1774 to a place roughly six miles inland to be nearer better water and grazing. By 1822, when California carne under Mexican rule, the beginning of what became known as Old Town could be seen Just below Presidio Hill. One observer described San Diego in 1829 as a "collection of thirty small houses" mostly occupied by retired soldiers and their families.
For the next forty years San Diego remained a small Mexican village and served as a center for nearby ranches. Hide and tallow traders from New England frequented the port and sorne married into Old Town families. When American rule came in 1847, following the war with Mexico, little changed. The great Gold Rush of 1849 brought some new residents as people stopped or passed through on their way to the diggings in northern California.
In 1850, the year California was admitted to the Union, an American surveyor, Lt. Andrew B. Gray, recognized that a better town site for San Diego lay on the bay. Together with several local residents and San Francisco merchant, William Heath Davis, he organized "New Town." The men laid out streets, put up several frame buildings and constructed a wharf. Residents of Old Town, however, would have none of it. Calling the venture "Davis' Folly," New Town failed.
Not until 1867 was a second attempt made to develop modern San Diego. In that year another merchant from San Francisco, Alonzo E. Horton. bought what is now downtown Sail Diego for 26 cents an acre and laid out "Horton's Addition." A better promoter than Gray or Davis, Horton succeeded in having his New Town accepted - San Diego's first real estate boom was underway. In 1871 the county records were moved from Old Town to New Town.
San Diego's first surge of growth resulted from the "Boom of the Eighties" after completion of the California Southern Railroad in 1885. The city finally had its first rail connection with the East. A flurry of construction took place as San Diego's population rose to 40,000 in 1887. Promoters cited the healthful climate as a cure for most ailments.
Subsequent booms have come and gone as San Diego's history has merged with the twentieth century. Balboa Park's spectacular world's fair, the Panama-California Exposition in 1915-1916 and the California Pacific Exposition in 1935, helped to publicize the area's pristine beauty to the rest of the nation. Men such as millionaire sugar magnate John D. Spreckels were important at this time for efforts in revitalizing the city's economy.
World War II brought military personnel and aircraft workers from around the country. Various other industries and individuals continued to make San Diego their home and the second largest city in California. Louis Agassiz, the famed naturalist in a visit to San Diego once remarked, "This is one of the most favored spots of the earth, and people will come to you from all quarters to live in your genial and healthful atmosphere." Many of San Diego's thousands of tourists each year, as well as permanent residents, agree.
(the above "Welcome" was written by Thomas L. Scharf)
The first unit of the liberal arts division - the San Diego College for Women - opened in 1952. The College for Men, sponsored by the Diocese of San Diego, began classes in 1954. The School of Law, inaugurated in 1954 in temporary quarters, opened on campus in Thomas More Hall in December 1957. The university received many of its elegant tapestries, painting, silver and furnishing through a bequest from the James Flood estate in San Francisco to the Sacred Heart.
The colleges functioned separately until the late 1960s when joint academic operations began. Plans for a merger were completed in 1972, and the College of Arts and Sciences, and Schools of Education and Business Administration were established to meet increased enrollment. In 1974 the Philip Y. Hahn School of Nursing was initiated. During the 1980s, the School of Law developed an enviable record throughout the West because of the services of its legal clinics to the community. The modern Katherine M. and George M. Pardee Jr. Legal Research Center was dedicated in 1990.
The University of San Diego is liberal in its outlook and encourages students of all denominations to participate in its programs. Its major goal is to help individuals develop a positive set of values and a sense of personal integrity to enable them to have fulfilling lives.