Crown City History I N C O L L A B O R AT I O N W I T H H O T E L D E L C O R O N A D O & C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N
Coronado’s Gardener B y V I C K I E S T O N E , C U R AT O R O F C O L L E C T I O N S , C O R O N A D O H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N
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CROWN CITY MAGAZINE
CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
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t’s hard to imagine Coronado without the greenery of the tree-lined streets and public parks. Much of the plant and tree life we enjoy today is the result of Coronado city gardener Louis Bandel, who devoted his life to enriching the town with horticulture in the first part of the 20th century. Louis C. Bandel was born in 1870 in Missouri. He married Ida Mae Dennison in Kansas, and the couple visited San Diego in 1900. Ida Bandel found the climate to be beneficial to her health, so the two stayed and settled in Coronado. They purchased a home and had it moved to 1050 Isabella Ave. to be closer to the ocean. It remained their home for 59 years. In 1901, Louis Bandel became the city’s park superintendent, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1947. He helped plan parkland and was responsible for planting most of the older trees we see today in the parks and along streets. His daughter-in-law Lucille Sexton Bandel shared a story in the book Coronado We Remember: “When the city couldn’t afford grass in the parks, he obtained a donation of grass seed and then coordinated watering with firemen’s
Coronado park superintendent Louis Bandel and his wife, Ida, moved to the island in 1900. They had two children, Dorothy and Kenneth.
practice use of their new hose and equipment.” Bandel had a soft spot for the local schoolchildren. For years, he grew a wall of sweet peas in front of the library between Sixth and Seventh streets. After multiple re-
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quests from children for a bouquet, the Coronado Journal reported that in 1920 “Mr. Bandel preferred not to play any favorites, so decided to give each of the 400 kiddies a nice bunch of the flowers.” He also donated bouquets of his sought-af-
