 1850
In an effort to establish a town on San Diego's waterfront, San Franciscan William Heath Davis begins developing land near what is now the foot of Market Street. For his own family, Davis builds a pre-framed lumber "salt box" house, one of the first residences in town. After an economic depression causes Davis' venture to fail, his town becomes known as Rabbitville after its principal inhabitants..
William Heath Davis House 1850
The Oldest surviving structure in San Diego's New Town was actually built on the East Coast and shipped around Cape Horn
 1867
A stout and bearded Alonzo Horton, 54, arrives in San Diego from San Francisco. After looking over Old Town, he decides the best place for the city to develop is down by the waterfront. Determined to build a new downtown on the site of Davis' failure, Horton purchases at auction some 800 acres of land on the waterfront for approximately 33 cents an acre (some historians credit Horton with paying 27 cents an acre). Two years later, he pays $4,000 for a 160-acre parcel needed to sew up the section known as the Horton Addition.
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Alonzo Horton and the Gaslamp Quarter Renaissance
Alonzo Horton
1869
Horton spends about $50,000 to build a wharf at the end of 5th Avenue which makes this and adjacent streets the backbone of the fast-developing city. On March 24, Horton sells $5,500 worth of commercial and residential lots in one day. His new town begins to boom.
1870
After building Horton Hall at 6th and F -- the first public theater, with 400 seats for lectures -- Horton opens the town's first bank, the course, is named bank president.
 1880's
San Diego's booming prosperity attracts prostitutes and gamblers, including Wyatt Earp, who runs three gambling halls. Gradually, San Diego commerce begins moving north of Market Street. The abandoned area to the south becomes a redlight district known as the Stingaree, a name probably derived from the fierce stingray fish in San Diego Bay. It is said you could be stung as badly in the Stingaree as in the bay.
Read more about Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
1885
The original Chinese Mission School opens in rented facilities at the First Presbyterian Church at 8th and D (now Broadway). The Mission becomes a social center and a catalyst for interaction between Caucasians and Asians in San Diego. It also provides an opportunity for Chinese, and later Japanese, immigrants to learn English and receive religious instruction.
1887
Feisty, red-haired call girl Ida Bailey takes up residence at a house of ill repute in the Stingaree. Here you can find 350 prostitutes working in 120 bordellos. The Stingaree's 71 saloons boast names such as the Turf, Oasis, First and Last Chance, Saloon, Old Tub of Blood and Legal Tender
1888
San Diego's 1880s real estate boom ends. By the end of the decade the population has dropped from 40,000 to 16,000.
1894
Alonza Horton makes a deal city fathers can't refuse: He sells them a valuable half-block of land for $10,000, stipulating that it must remain a park forever. Under the agreement, the city agrees to pay Horton $100 a month with no interest and no down payment. In the event of Horton's death, the city would acquire the property outright. The city fathers underestimated Horton's endurance. In April 1903 a spry, 89-year-old Horton cashed the final payment. Today Horton's park fronts Horton Plaza and has been renamed Horton Plaza Park.
Gaslamp Quarter Today -- The Historic Heart of San Diego.
1903
Madam Ida bailey opens up her own fancy parlor house, the Canary Cottage, at 530 4th Avenue. In the pale yellow house set behind a white picket fence, she and her girls "entertain" downtown's well-groomed gentlemen with fat wallets, including the mayor and chief of police.
1909
Having lost most of his properties through tax sales and foreclosures, Alonzo Horton dies at the Agnew Sanitarium. On his 95th birthday he tells a newspaper reporter, "It's the most beautiful place in the world to me, and I had rather have the affection and friendly greeting of the people of San Diego than all the rulers in the world."
Read more about Alonzo Horton and the Gaslamp Quarter Renaissance
Ironically, the same year in San Leandro, California, William Heath Davis also dies financially impoverished.
1912
Influenced by a wave of citizen morality, police raid the Stingaree and arrest 138 prostitutes operating out of sleeping rooms on the upper floors of the district's buildings. One hundred thirty-six promise to leave the city; two agree to reform their ways. The next morning, however, one changes her mind. The other was found to be insane.
1913
With the red lights of the Stingaree officially turned off, San Diego becomes unpopular as a liberty port for the Navy. Seven hundred ninety-seven men aboard several warships vote for San Francisco as their favorite liberty port. San Diego wins only 17 votes.
Ah Quin
Labor contractor for the California Southern Railroad
1914
Ah Quin's life comes to a tragic end when he is struck and killed by a motorcycle at 3rd and J. he dies one of the wealthiest Chinese in Southern California.
1920
The Chinese Benevolent Society is founded to protect the interests of all Chinese citizens in San Diego. The Society is housed in the building at 428 3rd Avenue, in front of which Chinese holidays are traditionally celebrated.
For more information about the history of the Gaslamp Quarter visit the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation's web site at www.gaslampquarter.org
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