Sign In

Manuscript Plat Map of Downtown San Diego With Horton Plaza

This handsome late-19th-century manuscript map, neatly rendered in pen and ink, shows the street grid for the heart of downtown San Diego. Horton Plaza appears as a green-tinted circular park, between 3rd and 4th Streets just south of D Street (present-day Broadway). The area shown on the map is bounded by D Street to the north; Union Street to the west; 7th Street to the east; and H Street to the south. The map includes two now defunct street names:

• D Street, which is now Broadway
• H Street, which is now Market

The blocks, each of which is divided into 12 rectangular lots lettered A-G, are numbered (non-sequentially).

Horton's Dream Nearly Realized

The late 19th century witnessed the culmination of Alonso Horton's vision for downtown San Diego. Positioned near San Diego Bay, we can see on the present map that Horton's idea of San Diego's urban center was clearly taking form, with the framework of streets and blocks that would define the city's future layout. This map encapsulates that vision, revealing the foundational skeleton of what would become a vibrant metropolis. Horton Plaza, here labeled simply "Plaza," is an apt symbol for the dream, serving as a communal centerpiece for the developing downtown area.

While Horton was not a direct participant in the San Diego real estate boom of the 1880s, which was sparked by the California Southern railroad connection to the city and fueled by rampant speculation, he did set the stage as the outstanding early town promoter. Glenn S. Dumke summarized the San Diego situation in his classic book on the Southern California boom years of the 1880s:

...the achievement of a certain amount of rail communication and the promise of more, with the activities of vigorous enthusiasts like Horton and his followers, and, most of all, with the stimulus of the Los Angeles boom before it, San Diego was enjoying a realty flurry by 1886... The early progress of the boom is disclosed by a succession of "firsts" in local improvement: the first transcontinental train from the East arrived in San Diego November 21, 1885; the first horsecars and electric lights came in 1886; the first electric-streetcar line started in 1887; and the first modern dam, the Sweetwater, was built in 1888... Construction proceeded apace; more than 1,000 buildings were then reported being erected...More than 18,000,000 feet of lumber arrived in November 1887 - Dumke, The Boom of the Eighties in Southern California, pages 139-140.

This map offers a wonderful cartographic snapshot of downtown San Diego at a transformative moment in city's history, reflecting how Alonso Horton's aspirations for downtown San Diego were crystallizing into reality.

Rarity

Manuscript plat maps of 19th-century San Diego are rare in the market. The present example is a unique map made as an exhibit for an early land case.