LOOKING BACK

LESLIE CRAWFORD COLLECTION The Silver Gate (upper left) was moored on Glorietta Bay and used as a dance hall and casino at Tent City after its decommisioning in 1890.

THIS MONTH IN CORONADO HISTORY

April 1, 1888

The ferry Silver Gate was launched on April Fools’ Day and was doomed from the beginning. It was poorly designed, too big and unwieldy, and it damaged docks on both sides of San Diego Bay. Decommissioned after two years, the Silver Gate found a new life at Tent City as a dance hall and casino until 1910 and later as a clubhouse for the San Diego Yacht Club.

April 2, 1942

The new Marine corps’ training camp on Rancho Margarita y Las Flores was named after Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Pendleton. The huge holding in North County was one of the last remaining Spanish land grants. Pendleton was affectionately known as Uncle Joe in Coronado, where he retired. He served on Coronado’s city council and school board and was mayor from 1928 to 1930. He died on Feb. 4, 1942, in his Coronado home at the age of 81.

WIKIMEDIA Maj. Gen. Joseph H. Pendleton

CORONADO PUBLIC LIBRARY COLLECTION The ferry Coronado plied between San Diego and Coronado from 1886 to 1922.

April 11, 1992

The 47-year-old aircraft carrier USS Midway was retired from active service in a ceremony at North Island Naval Air Station.

April 15, 1893

The federal government condemned 18.05 acres on the southwest corner of North Island to build a jetty to stop the flow of sand from the southern littoral current. A rail line was laid through Coronado to supply quarried rock for construction, which started in 1894. The jetty, which cost more than $550,000, jutts out from the corner of North Island, extending 7,500 feet into the ocean, parallel to Point Loma.

April 16, 1886

Elisha Babcock and Hampton Story filed articles of incorporation for the San Diego and Coronado Ferry Co., retaining the sole right to provide transportation from San Diego to Coronado. The first ferry was put into service on Aug. 19, 1886. The Coronado was a double-ender, meaning it had side paddle wheels so it did not need to turn around at each side of the bay. It operated in San Diego Bay from 1886 until 1922, when it was sold to a Hollywood film company and blown up for the 1924 silent movie “Captain Blood.”

April 21, 1955

All of the 707 first- and second-grade students in Coronado’s schools received their first Salk anti-polio vaccine. Four Coronado doctors volunteered their time and experience, including Dr. Charles Eaton, who contracted polio in 1951 while in the Navy.

April 19-20, 1947

More than 5,000 people attended the 21st annual Coronado Flower Show, admiring hundreds of beautiful displays at East Plaza Park, which is now Spreckels Park on Orange Avenue. The record-breaking attendance was 2,000 more than the 1946 show. ■