Visitors walking through Old Town San Diego today see adobe buildings, historic plazas, museums, restaurants and shops celebrating the city’s earliest chapters.
But one of the most surprising facts about Old Town is that San Diego’s first major settlement and early city center was eventually the part of the city that people left behind.
Before downtown San Diego’s skyline, before the waterfront became the region’s commercial center and before the city expanded into a modern metropolis, Old Town was where much of San Diego’s early history unfolded.
Heart of the community
Following the establishment of the Spanish presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá in 1769, the area around the presidio developed into the region’s first major civilian settlement. During the Mexican period and the early years of American rule, it served as San Diego’s civic, commercial, and social center.
Misión San Diego de Alcalá c. 1848. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego History Center)For decades, this was the heart of the community.
Adobe homes, businesses, government offices, and gathering places filled the small settlement near the San Diego River. Roads and trails connected Old Town with ranchos, missions, and other communities throughout the region.
View of Old Town in about 1868. The photograph is attributed to J. Henfield. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center) A view of Old Town in the early 1900s. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)San Diego’s early courthouse, businesses and much of its political activity were centered there. When San Diego County was created in 1850, Old Town became the county seat.
The courthouse was built in 1871 for the new seat of government at Union, Broadway and C Street. The land was donated by downtown founder Alonzo E. Horton, and the architect was Levi Goodrich of San Jose. The archives were moved here from the Whaley House in Old Town, which had served as the courthouse and other uses since 1856. Herve Friend took the photo for Douglas Gunn’s. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the City of San Diego Digital Archives)But the same location that helped Old Town grow eventually contributed to its decline.
Located away from the deep-water harbor, the settlement became less practical as maritime trade expanded during the 19th century. In 1867, businessman Alonzo Horton purchased land near San Diego Bay and began promoting a new development known as New Town, which became today’s downtown San Diego.
Alonzo Horton. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego History Center) Brick house. Back of print labeled: “Built by Alonzo Horton, c. 1869/The first brick house built in San Diego”. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego History Center)Businesses, government offices, and residents gradually relocated there. By the 1870s, San Diego’s center of activity had shifted from Old Town to the waterfront.
Old Town did not disappear, but it became a quieter neighborhood. The bustling civic center that had once defined San Diego gave way to aging adobe buildings, homes, small farms and reminders of an earlier era.
Then the story changed again.
An irreplaceable link
During the 20th century, historians, preservationists and community leaders recognized that Old Town represented an irreplaceable link to San Diego’s past. Efforts began to preserve its historic structures and interpret the many communities that shaped the region, including the Kumeyaay people, who lived in the area for thousands of years before European settlers arrived, as well as the Spanish, Mexican and early American periods.
In 1968, California established Old Town San Diego State Historic Park to preserve and interpret one of the state’s most significant collections of historic buildings.
Today, visitors experience a blend of original structures, restored buildings,s and historically accurate reconstructions that illustrate life during the Mexican and early American periods.
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park with various museums and buildings. (Photo by Brian Baer/courtesy of California State Parks, 2026)Among the park’s best-known landmarks is Casa de Estudillo, one of California’s finest surviving adobe homes. The house later became known as “Ramona’s Marriage Place” because of its connection to Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 novel Ramona, which helped spark interest in Southern California’s Spanish and Mexican-era history.
Varipous photos of Ramona’s, also known as the Casa de Estudillo. Left, a scene of workers constructing roof tiles. The men are standing by makeshift workbenches. Middle: View looking across courtyard/patio to Casa de Estudillo after restoration at Old Town in the 1910s. Right, Workers at the reconstruction of Casa de Estudillo. c 1909. (Photos courtesy San Diego History Center)Much to see
Other historic structures include Casa de Machado y Stewart, Casa de Machado y Silvas, the Pedrorena-Altamirano House, and Casa de Bandini, which later became the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
Reconstructed buildings, including the First San Diego Courthouse, Robinson-Rose Visitor Information Center, Colorado House and Seeley Stable, help visitors understand what the community looked like during the 19th century.
Photo of the current Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. (Photo by Brian Baer/courtesy of California State Parks, 2026) Left, a cannon in the plaza at Old Town with the Cosmopolitan Hotel, also known as the Casa de Bandini, in the background, c. 1870. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego History Center). Right, today the hotel still stands at the current Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. (Photo by Brian Baer/courtesy of California State Parks, 2026)That combination is what makes Old Town unique.
It is not simply a neighborhood preserved in time. It is a place where many layers of San Diego’s history visibly intersect: the homeland of the Kumeyaay people; the Spanish colonial era; Mexican California; the transition to American rule; and the preservation movement that saved many historic buildings from disappearing.
Today, Old Town remains one of San Diego’s most recognizable historic destinations. Visitors come to experience the city’s earliest chapters, but they are also walking through a place that tells a larger story about change.
Current Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. (Photo by Brian Baer/courtesy of California State Parks, 2026)Old Town’s history is not just about where San Diego began.
It is about how cities evolve, how neighborhoods change, and how communities choose to preserve the places that tell their story.
More than 150 years after San Diego’s center shifted toward the bay, Old Town remains a reminder that sometimes the places a city leaves behind become the places it values most.
Current Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. (Photo by Brian Baer/courtesy of California State Parks, 2026)Read more history stories here. Do you have a story to tell? Send an email to DebbieSklar@cox.net.
Sources:
California State Parks, Old Town San Diego State Historic ParkSan Diego History Center archives and historical essaysIris H.W. Engstrand, San Diego: California’s Cornerstone (Sunbelt Publications)Richard W. Amero, historical essays on Old Town San DiegoNational Park Service, Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
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