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 1969: A Year of Change B y L E S L I E C R AW F O R D
1969 was a defining year, not only for Coronado, but for the country as a whole. For anyone old enough to remember 1969, it’s hard to recall all the historic events that occurred that year. Coronado, the sleepy little military town, was undergoing one of the biggest shifts ever with the opening of the San Diego-Coronado Bridge and the development that followed. The world was changing, and so was the Crown City. Here is a snapshot of Coronado a half century ago.
Population • Census records show that a third of the population was under 18 years old, with the average age 25. The total population was 25,500, including officers and enlisted men living on Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, Naval Air Station North Island and on ships. The city of Coronado’s population was about 16,000. Three years old when her family came to Coronado in 1886, Maude Mathewson Messner was thought to be the oldest living resident and property owner.
Development • The year started with the first traffic light at Orange Avenue and Dana Place. • The San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway had its final run through the streets of Coronado, halting a service that had been in place since 1888. The last few years, the train had been used to transport supplies to North Island. • Development was growing dramatically. The city approved an astonishing $12.8 million in construction, compared with $2 million 1968.
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Coronado Hospital was under construction and at three stories high, seemed massive. The only other building of that height was the Hotel del Coronado. • A fresh-water pipeline with a capacity of 10 million gallons per day was laid across San Diego Bay by California American Water to connect City of San Diego sources to Coronado. The new line would supplement the original 8-inch cast iron pipeline, constructed and laid across the bay in 1886. The new pipe was forecast to provide ample water to Coronado until the year 2000. • In May, the new post office was dedicated on Ynez Place. M. Larry Lawrence was the general contractor for the building. Guest speaker Karl Koehler, from the U.S. Postal Service’s regional office in San Francisco, stressed the importance of using the new zip code system to help move the mail more efficiently.
