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The “Father” of San Diego successfully established the city’s present location in 1867.

Horton realized an investment opportunity to develop a city closer to the water than Old Town. He bought 960 acres for $265, then sold and gave lots to anyone who could build a brick house. Property values soared, especially after a fire in 1872 in Old Town. “New Town” became today’s San Diego.

In 1542, while Kumeyaay Indians waited on a beach at Ballast Point, Juan Cabrillo (see Point Loma) stepped ashore and claimed the land for Spain. In 1803, the “Battle of San Diego Bay” took place here, after Spanish Fort Guijarros fired on an American brig in a smuggling incident.

The Mexican-American War concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (see California Becomes a State (1850)) on February 2, 1848. A US and Mexican Boundary Commission then determined the new international border between the two countries, with California divided into Alta and Baja. A marker placed in 1851 on a bluff in this park (see Border Field State Park) marks the farthest western point of the new border.

The Mexican era only lasted until 1848. One bloody battle between the Americans and Californios (see Mission San Diego de Alcalá) was fought at San Pasqual (see San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park). With a payment of $15 million and the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California became part of the US and then later its 31st state.

A new Balboa Park exposition was launched to help alleviate effects of the Great Depression. The architect Richard Requa designed buildings inspired by Aztec, Mayan, and Pueblo Indian themes.

The first to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1927 (see Naval Air Station North Island & the US Naval Amphibious Base).

Cabrillo (see Cabrillo Statue) was the first European to arrive at San Diego Bay. The Spanish believed that Baja and Alta California were part of a larger island, “Isla California,” named after a legendary land in a popular Spanish 15th-century romance. California became part of the Spanish Empire for the next 279 years.

California’s first martyr died in an Indian attack (see Mission San Diego de Alcalá).