South San Diego - History

History

Before the arrival of the Spanish explorers, area of South San Diego was largely inhabited by the Diegueño people. The Diegueño, also known as the Kumeyaay, traveled the region this is evidenced by the shallow depressions in boulders that were used for grinding acorn into meal, that are found throughout the area.

John J. Montgomery achieved the first controlled flight when he successfully flew his glider aircraft from "Wheeler Hill" in Otay Mesa on August 28, 1883. A monument to his historic flights is known as Silver Wing Park, located on Coronado Avenue, just east of Beyer Boulevard., The Interstate 5 freeway in this region was later named the John J. Montgomery Freeway in his honor.

In 1957, the area comprising South San Diego was annexed by San Diego from San Diego County.

On July 18, 1984, in an event known as the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, James Oliver Huberty, a 41-year old former welder from Canton, Ohio, committed a mass-murder of 21 people inside of a McDonalds restaurant in San Ysidro. The McDonalds site was razed in 1985. The site is now home to a Southwestern College satellite campus.

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Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “There is a history in all men’s lives,
    Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
    The which observed, a man may prophesy,
    With a near aim, of the main chance of things
    As yet not come to life.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
    —Albert Camus (1913–1960)