After we’ve recovered from whatever havoc Y2K will wreak, we still have to live through the 21st century. Curious to know what’s going to happen? Forget the predictions. The best place to look is the past, so here is San Diego’s 20th century in a nutshell. 1900-1909 1902 - A Park Improvement Committee plans a park for 1,400 acres of dry scrub and snakes on high ground behind Downtown. Pioneer nurserywoman Kate O. Sessions has been planting 100 trees per year on the site for more than a decade. 1903 - The Marine Biological Association, later known as the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, is formed. 1905 - Voters incorporate progressive reforms into the city charter, including the referendum, initiative and recall. The U. S. Bennington explodes at the H Street Pier, killing 60, injuring 46. The dead are buried in a mass grave at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. The value of tourmaline, topaz, beryl and kunzite gem production from local mines peaks at $2 million. 1907 - A Navy coal station opens on Point Loma, beginning the era of permanent Navy installations in San Diego. Imperial County secedes from San Diego County. 1908 - The Great White Fleet comes to San Diego, part of President Teddy Roosevelt's plan to project American military might around the globe. The fleet stays for four days, to the delight of San Diegans. 1909 - Planning begins for the Panama-California Exposition. City Park is renamed Balboa Park. Alonzo Horton dies. 1910-1919 1910 - Voters approve a $1 million bond to construct buildings for the upcoming Exposition. 1911 - Speed limits are set for autos: 11 mph. Glenn Curtiss pilots the first successful seaplane flight on Jan. 26. 1912 - The Navy sends three pilots to train with Curtiss at his flight school on North Island, ending forever calm, quiet mornings on San Diego Bay. A coalition of unionists and others from around California come to San Diego to turn back the city's new restrictions on free speech. The demonstrations are brutally put down by police and vigilantes, whose techniques included using ax handles, tarring and feathering. 1913 - In the original "smokestacks v. geraniums" campaign, the mayoral election pits Louis Wilde, banker and industrialist, against George Marston, advocate of the "City Beautiful" movement. Wilde won. "Tarzan" creator Edgar Rice Burroughs visits San Diego to escape a Chicago winter. 1914 - The Laurel Street Bridge opens. Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt is in the first auto to drive across. John D. and Adolphus Spreckels donate a huge outdoor organ pavilion to the city on the eve of the Panama California Exposition. 1915 - The Exposition opens. It highlights San Diego as the first American port of call past the newly opened Panama Canal. Its Spanish Revival motif becomes the dominant form for California public architecture in the 20th century. 1916 - After four years of drought, the city hires Charles Hatfield to make rain. He promises 30 inches of rain in Morena Reservoir. The downpour that followed ruptured Lower Otay Lake Dam. Twelve died when 13 billion gallons of water thundered down the valley. Dr. Harry Wegeforth dreams up a plan for a zoo in San Diego, using animals from the Exposition as its nucleus. The Zoological Society holds its first meeting a month later. 1917 - With war afoot, Camp Kearny opens on a mesa north of Mission Valley. Rockwell Field and Naval Aviation Station are established on North Island. 1919 - A marine base is created. 1920-1929 1920 - Edward, Prince of Wales, meets his future wife Wallis at the Hotel del Coronado. 1921 - The city gives 100 acres of Balboa Park for a permanent zoo. 1922 - The Naval Training Center and a naval hospital open. San Diego becomes headquarters of the 11th Naval District a year later. Two army pilots make the first transcontinental flight, New York to San Diego, in 26 hours and 50 minutes. 1926 - Pioneer developer John D. Spreckels and newspaper tycoon E. W. Scripps die. 1927 - Ryan Aeronautics builds Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis." It is test-flown on the site of the Midway Post Office. The El Cortez Hotel is built. Voters approve bond funds to build Lindbergh Field. 1928 - Ira Copley buys the San Diego Union from the Spreckels estate. 1930-1939 1931 - Alvarez vs. Lemon Grove School District is the first successful legal challenge to segregation in American schools. Mexican American parents sue for the rights of their children to attend the same schools as Anglo children. 1932 - The State Normal School for teacher training moves from central San Diego to "Montezuma Mesa" east of town. It becomes San Diego State College in 1935. 1933 - Local unemployment tops 33,000. 1935 - The California-Pacific Exposition opens. Although it reuses many of the buildings from the 1915 event, its construction, along with the building of the Del Mar fairgrounds, alleviates some joblessness. The fair itself gives locals a psychic lift. The Old Globe Theatre opens. El Capitan Dam is completed. As it fills, the pastures of El Cajon, Lakeside and Santee become parched, slashing their value for agriculture. Reuben Fleet relocates his Consolidated Aircraft to San Diego. He renames it Consair. 1938 - The bayside City-County Administration Center is dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1939 - Miramar Naval Air Station develops on the site of Camp Kearny. It becomes the site of the "Top Gun" school in 1973. 1940-1949 1940s - Isolationism abruptly ends as San Diego becomes a major training and staging area of American forces in the Pacific. 1941 - Belle Benchley becomes director of the San Diego Zoo. She began as a bookkeeper in 1925. 1942 - Barrage balloons rise above the city and the Point Loma lighthouse is painted in camouflage. Submarine nets block the bay. In April, 300 Japanese-American families are sent to indefinite confinement in internment camps. Marines acquire Rancho Santa Margarita and rename it Camp Pendleton. 1943 - War-related employment peaks at 90,000. Fleet's Consair merges with Vultee to become Convair. 1944 - The San Diego County Water Authority is formed. After the war, it merges into the Metropolitan Water District. 1945 - With the end of the war in sight, San Diegans approve a $2 million bond to dredge Mission Bay for expanded tourism and recreation. 1947 - Colorado River water arrives via the San Diego Aqueduct. 1948 - The skies above San Diego get clearer as Palomar Observatory receives its 200-inch, six-ton telescope lens. The Cabrillo Highway cuts north through Balboa Park. KFMB-TV goes on the air. A local monopoly, it airs programs from all three networks. San Diego’s Willie Steele wins a gold medal in long jump at the Olympics in London. 1949 - The last electric streetcar makes it final run. San Diego becomes the first city in the southwest to abandon its mass transit system. 1950-1959 1950 - San Diegan Florence Chadwick swims the English Channel in world record time of 13 hours, 20 minutes. Six local canneries process the cargo of the 200-boat tuna fleet. America's first drive-through restaurant, Jack in the Box, opens at 63rd and El Cajon. 1952 - California Western University opens on the old site of the Theosophical Society on Pt. Loma. 1953 - The local TV monopoly is broken as KFSD-TV (later KOGO, then KGTV) and XETV, sign on. 1954 - The Downtown public library opens. Like Lindbergh Field, its expansion and relocation have been debated ever since. 1955 - C. Arnholt Smith buys the Padres of the Pacific Coast League for $30,000. 1956 - General Dynamics takes over Convair. 1957 - Convair's Atlas missile is successfully fired. Atlas rockets will go on to launch America's first satellites, and to power the Mercury astronauts into space. Padres begin play in the new Westgate Park. 1958 - A freeway, later named Interstate 8, is laid through Mission Valley. It follows the routes of ancient Indians. Voters agree to donate 450 acres on Torrey Pines Mesa to the University of California. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis make the film "Some Like it Hot" at the Hotel del Coronado. Marilyn Monroe stars. 1959 - San Diego’s first suburban mall, College Grove, opens. 1960-1969 1960 - Planning begins for the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. The State Legislature appropriates funds for an undergraduate program at UCSD. The Salk Institute opens in La Jolla. County population tops one million. The number of local tuna canneries drops to one. 1961 - The AFL Chargers begin play at Balboa Stadium. Mission Valley Shopping Center opens. Four members of the City Council lose office after a furor over increased parking meter rates. San Diego Zoo officials begin planning for the "Back Country Zoo," later known as the Wild Animal Park, to be located about 50 miles north of the city. 1962 - The Unified Port District is created. 1963 - San Diego’s first "skyscraper," the 20-story Home Federal building, opens Downtown. Twelve more high-rises will be built in the next four years. Ground is broken for the Community Concourse. 1964 - UCSD opens to undergraduates. Sea World opens. 1965 - Voters approve $27 million in bonds to build San Diego Stadium. No opposing arguments appear in the voters' pamphlet. The Beatles perform at Balboa Stadium. Mexico approves maquiladora factories. Herbert Marcuse, political philosopher and Nazi refugee, comes to UCSD. Although he is an avowed Marxist in a red-white-and-blue town, he attracts little attention until two of his more notorious graduate students, including Angela Davis, draw public fire. The Ku Klux Klan threatens Marcuse with death. 1967 - San Diego Stadium opens, home of the Chargers and Aztec football. The Committee of 100 is formed to preserve the ornate but crumbling architecture of the 1915 Exposition. Voters eventually approve a $3.5 million bond to help out. 1968 - The Padres go big-time when owner C. Arnholt Smith wins a major league baseball franchise. Fast food tycoon Robert O. Peterson sells Foodmaker, parent of the Jack in the Box chain, to Ralston Purina. UCSD Medical school opens. 1969 - Fashion Valley opens, developed by Ernest hahn, who would develop Horton Plaza some 15 years later. Old Town becomes a state park. The San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge opens, making obsolete one of America's prettiest ferry commutes. A group of Downtown professional women storm the Grant Grill, formerly a boys-only club until 3 pm. They demand the house specialty, mock turtle soup. The grill is officially sexually desegregated. San Diego State opens the nation's first department of Mexican-American studies, now known as the Dept. of Chicana and Chicano Studies. UCSD's Central Library opens. It is now named for campus benefactors Theodore and Audrey Geisel. The Hilton Hotel on Mission Bay begins to rise, the last multistory structure built before voters approve the area's 30-foot height limit. 1970-1979 1970 - The West Coast's first underwater nature preserve, off the La Jolla coast, is established. Mayor Frank Curran and seven other local officials are indicted in the Yellow Cab scandal. Charges are dropped for all but one defendant. 1971 - Curran is denied re-election, to be replaced by State Assemblyman Pete Wilson. Future Mayor Maureen O'Connor is elected to the City Council. The University of San Diego is established upon the merger of the Colleges for Women and Men. San Diego State gains university status and changes its name. 1972 - Republican officials abruptly pull the plug on the party's national convention. A furious Pete Wilson lambastes his own party's decision, declares San Diego "America's Finest City," and has a week-long civic celebration anyway. 1973 - C. Arnholt Smith's empire, including U. S. National Bank and the Westgate Hotel, collapses in bankruptcy and charges of fraud. 1974 - A "swimsuit optional" zone is established at Black's Beach. C. Arnholt Smith sells the Padres to Ray Kroc for $8.2 million, preventing a team move to Washington, D. C. 1975 - The Centre City Development Corp. (CCDC) is established, charged with remaking the face of Downtown. 1976 - The Star of India sails again in honor of the Bicentennial. Future congressman Brian Bilbray, 25, is elected mayor of Imperial Beach. Sol Price of Fed-Mart fame opens his first Price Club on Morena Blvd. He sells the chain in 1993 to Costco, and socks a large slice of his fortune into local philanthropy. 1977 - UTC opens. 1978 - California voters approve Prop. 13. Local government finances are thrown into turmoil. Local voters approve North City West, a mega-plan for 40,000 people on 4,200 acres between Miramar NAS and UCSD. Fire destroys the Old Globe Theatre, Aerospace Museum and Hall of Fame. In September, PSA Flight 182 plunges from the sky into a North Park neighborhood, killing 144 people. 1979 - After an embarrassing failed run for governor, Pete Wilson is re-elected mayor of San Diego with 61.5 percent of the vote. 1980-1989 1980 - Seaport Village opens. 1981 - Activists force Mayor Wilson's convention center bond proposal to a vote. It loses, but a more modest proposal is okayed two years later. Future mayor Susan Golding is appointed to the City Council. 1982 - Developer Ernest Hahn, who had been in the vanguard of developers in Mission Valley, reverses direction to break ground on the centerpiece of Downtown redevelopment, Horton Plaza. Tony Gwynn joins the Padres. Pete Wilson wins election as U. S. senator. 1983 - Roger Hedgecock bests Maureen O'Connor for the right to finish the 18 months on Pete Wilson's mayoral term. 1984 - Roger Hedgecock is indicted for perjury and conspiracy. He resigns in 1985 after two trials, and minutes before being sentenced. After an appeal, a plea bargain precludes a third trial. His post-conviction career as a radio talk show host is uninterrupted. The J. David investment empire is exposed as a Ponzi scheme. Principals Jerry Dominelli and Nancy Hoover get 10 years. James Huberty kills 21 in the San Ysidro McDonald's. Padres win the National League pennant, then lose World Series to Detroit Tigers. Padres owner Ray Kroc dies. His widow, Joan Kroc, begins a legendary career as a low-profile philanthropist. 1985 - After more than 10 years of legal wrangling, Mr. San Diego, C. Arnholt Smith, serves a brief sentence in county jail at age 85. Horton Plaza and the restored U. S. Grant Hotel open downtown. UCSD professor Irwin Jacobs founds Qualcomm. 1986 - Maureen O'Connor is elected mayor. She serves two terms. UCSD opens the San Diego Supercomputer Center. 1988 - Washington beats Denver 42-10 in San Diego’s first Super Bowl. City voters approve a plan to elect city council members by district. A California condor chick is hatched at the Wild Animal Park. The population in the wild has dwindled to fewer than 30 birds. 1989 - The Soviet Arts Festival is held in Balboa Park. USAir buys hometown airline PSA and retires the name. Richard Silberman, San Diego mover and shaker, is busted by the FBI for laundering what he believed to be drug money. Sentenced to 46 months in prison, he and wife Susan Golding divorce. 1990-1999 1990 - Cal State San Marcos and the San Diego Convention Center open. Pete Wilson is elected governor of California. Federal regulators seize Imperial Savings, the first of three local thrifts to collapse in the widening national savings and loan debacle. 1991 - Great American Bank falls. The Evening tribune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, is closed and folded into The Union. 1992 - HomeFed Bank collapses. Convair begins shutting down as its parent, General Dynamics, sells its missile business. 1993 - Washington announces that the Naval Training Center will be closed. 1995 - The Chargers lose 49-26 to the San Francisco '49ers in Super Bowl XXIX. The saga of stadium expansion begins when Mayor Susan Golding announces a $60 million expansion project (later increased to $78 million). The city's seat guarantee is part of the package, which assures the Chargers a minimum of 60,000 seats will be sold for every game. The Chargers agree to remain in town until 2020. 1996 - San Diego Symphony files for bankruptcy. The city hosts the GOP national convention. The final Clinton-Dole debate is held at the University of San Diego. 1997 - Point Loma's Naval Training Center closes after 75 years of training recruits. In a Rancho Santa Fe mansion, 39 people are found dead. Officials explain it as a cult suicide. 1998 - The New York Yankees sweep the Padres in the World Series. Denver beats Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII, held in the expanded, renamed Qualcomm Stadium. Voters in a generous mood approve a new ballpark for the Padres, a $1 billion-plus school bond and a convention center expansion. The Symphony resumes making music. 1999 - Legoland opens in Carlsbad. The ruins of the Spanish Presidio, one of California's most fruitful archeological sites, are recovered with dirt to preserve them for future digs. The site was the first European settlement on the West Coast, founded in 1769. Sources: "San Diego Firsts" by Lucinda Eddy and Richard Crawford (First Interstate Bank, 1995); "A Short History of San Diego" by Michael McKeever (Lexikos, 1985); "San Diego: Where California Began" by James R. Mills (San Diego Historical Society, 1985); San Diego Historical Society; San Diego Magazine; "Mission to Metropolis" by Don Shannon (Bayport Press, 1981); "Material Dreams" by Kevin Starr (Oxford, 1990); "Endangered Dreams" by Kevin Starr (Oxford, 1996).

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