George Marston
Encyclopedia
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
owner, and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
. Marston was involved with establishing Balboa Park
Balboa Park (San Diego)
Balboa Park is a urban cultural park in San Diego, California. The park is named after the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa...
, the San Diego Public Library System, and the Serra Museum. His contributions to San Diego earned him the affectionate title of "San Diego's First Citizen."
Early life and career
Marston was born in Fort Atkinson, WisconsinFort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the Rock River, a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. In 1996, Money Magazine named Fort Atkinson "One of America's Hottest Little Boomtowns." The population was 11,621 at the 2000 census.- History :Fort...
. As a boy, Marston learned to ice skate, which he continued to enjoy throughout his life. His father had a chronic respiratory ailment and wanted to live in a better climate for his health, so the family moved to San Diego in 1870.
Marston was initially a clerk in the Horton House Hotel, then entered the mercantile business as a bookkeeper with the firm of Aaron Pauly & Sons general merchandise store and warehouse merchants. Pauly was the founder of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. Marston was its secretary and later its president.
In 1872, Marston clerked for storekeeper Joseph Nash. He and partner Charles Hamilton bought Nash out and ran the store. After Marston's marriage, he split the store business with his partner Hamilton, with Hamilton taking the grocery side and Marston taking the dry goods. The Marston Company became the only major department store in San Diego, and was located downtown. Its success was due to exclusive business arrangements Marston made with several suppliers. He became quite wealthy and was a generous philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
in the city. The Marston department store, at 5th Avenue and C Street, was owned by the family until they sold it in 1961 to Broadway
The Broadway
The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Founded in 1896 by English born Arthur Letts, Sr., who later went on to develop Holmby Hills, The Broadway became one of the dominant retailers in Southern California and the...
. It has since closed.
His business trips took him to major cities such as San Francisco and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, where he saw great urban parks. This developed a desire to see San Diego's Balboa Park
Balboa Park (San Diego)
Balboa Park is a urban cultural park in San Diego, California. The park is named after the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa...
become as great. As a result of his efforts in park development and planning, Marston helped make Balboa Park a local landmark. Marston hired architect John Nolen
John Nolen
John Nolen was an American landscape architect. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John Nolen was orphaned as a child and placed in the Girard School for Orphaned Boys by the Children's Aid Society...
to develop the first plan for the park in 1908 and a more-detailed plan in 1926.
Marston served as chairman of the Buildings and Grounds Committee for the 1915 Panama–California Exposition in Balboa Park. The Exposition established an infrastructure of museums and attractions for the park that still exists today.
Philanthropy
Presidio of San Diego
El Presidio Reál de San Diego is an historical fort established on May 14, 1769, by Commandant Pedro Fages for Spain. It was the first permanent European settlement on the Pacific Coast of the United States. As the first of the presidios and Spanish missions in California, it was the base of...
. He couldn't get anyone interested in the project so he built Presidio Park in 1925, hiring Nolen to plan the park. He commissioned the Serra Museum, designed by architect William Templeton Johnson
William Templeton Johnson
William Templeton Johnson was a notable San Diego architect. He was a fellow to the American Institute of Architects in 1939.Johnson is known for his Spanish Revival buildings, all in San Diego unless otherwise noted:...
in Presidio Park, and donated the Park to the city in 1929.
Marston served on the first board of trustees for the San Diego Public Library in 1882 and founded the San Diego YMCA serving as its president for 22 years. He was on the city council from 1887–1889. In 1928, he founded and became the San Diego Historical Society's first president. Marston also raised funds and donated his own money to buy land for present-day Torrey Pines State Reserve
Torrey Pines State Reserve
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park located in the California community of La Jolla, San Diego, California, off North Torrey Pines Road . Although it is located within San Diego city limits, it remains one of the wildest stretches of land on the Southern California coast...
and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a state park located within the Colorado Desert of Southern California. The park takes its name from 18th century, Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and borrego, the Spanish word for bighorn sheep...
.
George Marston's Residence
George W. Marston House
The George W. Marston House, or George Marston House and Gardens, also referred to as the George and Anna Marston House or the Marston House, is a museum and historic landmark located in San Diego and currently maintained by Save Our Heritage Organisation .- The House :The George W. Marston House...
at 3525 Seventh Avenue was designed by Irving Gill
Irving Gill
Irving John Gill , American architect, is considered a pioneer of the modern movement in architecture. He designed several buildings considered examples of San Diego's best architecture.-Biography:...
and William S. Hebbard
William S. Hebbard
William Sterling "Will" Hebbard was an American architect most noted for his work in San Diego County, California.Hebbard briefly worked as a draftsman and assistant for the firm, Burnham and Root in Chicago, and in 1888 for Curlett, Eisen and Cuthbertson in Los Angeles. By 1890 he was in private...
architects in 1904/1905. The residence initially was planned to be built in English Tudor style, but was completed in the Arts and Crafts style
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
, which was becoming in vogue.
The property, deemed the George W. Marston House
George W. Marston House
The George W. Marston House, or George Marston House and Gardens, also referred to as the George and Anna Marston House or the Marston House, is a museum and historic landmark located in San Diego and currently maintained by Save Our Heritage Organisation .- The House :The George W. Marston House...
, was donated to the City of San Diego by Marston's daughter Mary in 1987 and is now the Marston House Museum & Gardens at the northwest corner of Balboa Park. Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) took over operations in July 2009 and is in the process of restoring the gardens and furnishing the home in appropriate period style.
Politics
Marston was active politically and called himself an "independent". He was raised a Republican, but swung back and forth between Democrat and Republican, supporting the party or person most likely to push for reform. He supported California's reform-oriented Progressive PartyProgressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
in the 1910s and early 1920s.
Marston ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 1913 (against Charles F. O'Neall
Charles F. O'Neall
Charles F. O'Neall was a real estate agent and an American Democratic politician from California.O'Neall was born 1875 in Birdville, Texas to James E. and Annie E...
) and 1917 (against Louis J. Wilde
Louis J. Wilde
Louis J. Wilde was an American banker and Republican politician from California. Wilde was born in Iowa City, Iowa in 1865. After living in Rochester, NY, Philadelphia, and St...
). The 1917 race was a classic "Smokestacks vs. Geraniums" debate, with Wilde calling his opponent "Geranium George", unfairly painting businessman Marston as unfriendly to business. Wilde's campaign slogan was "More Smokestacks", demonstrated during the campaign when he drew a great smokestack belching smoke on a truck through the city streets. Wilde won.
Personal life
In 1878, he married Anna Lee Gunn, a teacher and sister of Douglas GunnDouglas Gunn
Douglas Gunn was an American scholar, publisher, pioneer and Republican politician from California....
. They had five children. Gunn's uncle was the editor of San Diego Union, Douglas Gunn
Douglas Gunn
Douglas Gunn was an American scholar, publisher, pioneer and Republican politician from California....
.
Marston died at age 95 at his home in San Diego. He is interred in Mount Hope Cemetery
Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego
Mount Hope Cemetery is a municipal cemetery located at 3751 Market Street, San Diego, California, and gives its name to the neighborhood of Mount Hope. The cemetery is adjacent to Greenwood Memorial Park....
. For the eulogy at his funeral, James A. Blaisdell spoke of Marston's impact on Balboa Park, "Just around the corner lies the central Balboa Park of the city — walks that he laid out — flowers that he planted — trees that he loved — vistas that he foresaw — beautiful buildings that he envisioned. ... This paradise was not here when George Marston came [in 1870]. In this park he speaks to thousands whose lives have been made happier through him."
Quote
- I feel the development of the city's beauty and civic welfare can go along with the industrial development ... I am in favor of all things that make for commerce, manufacturing, for all business activity . . . It is absurd to say that I am not in favor of industrial development. I believe in a Greater San Diego—everything that makes for a bigger city. Let us build a great city on a good foundation. Let us have our industries as large as possible. Let us build a complete city.
See also
- George White Marston: A Family Chronicle (1956), compiled by his daughter Mary Gilman Marston
- George White Marston and the San Diego Progressives, 1913-1917, San Diego State University thesis, 1976, by Uldis A. Ports.
- City Planning, Progressivism, and the Development of San Diego, 1908–1926, San Diego State University thesis, 1977 by Gregg R. Hennessey.
- George White Marston Collection, Papers and records, 1870–1946, MS 219, San Diego Historical Society
External links
- George White Marston biography
- "George White & Anna Gunn Marston: A Sketch", The Journal of San Diego History 36:2 & 3 (Spring/Summer 1990) by Gregg R. Hennessey
- The Journal of San Diego History 15:3 (Summer 1969) contains articles on Presidio Park, Junípero Serra Museum and Library, including Marston's role: "Part II - A Young Man Comes to Town", by Wilmer Shields, and "Part VII - San Diego Acquires a Park and Museum"
- "George White Marston and Conservative Reform in San Diego", The Journal of San Diego History 32:4 (Fall 1986) by Gregg R. Hennessey
- "Geraniums vs. Smokestacks: San Diego's Mayoralty Campaign of 1917", The Journal of San Diego History 21:3 (Summer 1975) by Uldis Ports
- "'My Dear Lilla': Marston Family Letters from 1870s San Diego", The Journal of San Diego History 47:3 (Summer 1987) by George P. Marston and Harriett Marston
- "Junípero Serra Museum Architectural, Cultural, and Urban Landmark", The Journal of San Diego History 25:3 (Summer 1979) by Gregg R. Hennessey