George Marston

George White Marston (October 22, 1850 – May 31, 1946) was an American politician, community leader, department store owner and philanthropist.

Marston was involved with establishing Balboa Park, 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."

Business and personal

He was born in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. 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.

In 1878, he married Anna Lee Gunn, a teacher and sister of Douglas Gunn. They had five children. Gunn's uncle was the editor of San Diego "Union", Douglas Gunn.

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 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. It has since closed.

His business trips took him to major cities such as San Francisco and New York, where he saw great urban parks. This developed a desire to see San Diego's Balboa Park 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 to develop the first plan for Balboa 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

In 1907, Marston bought Presidio Hill with an interest to preserve the old Presidio of San Diego. 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 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 and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

George Marston's Residence on 7th Avenue and Upas Street was designed by Irving Gill and William S. Hebbard architects in 1904/1905.cite book | last =McCoy | first =Esther | authorlink =Esther McCoy | title =Five California Architects | publisher =Reinhold Publishing Corporation | year =1960 | location =New York | pages =87 | id =ASIN B000I3Z52W] The residence initially was planned to be built in English Tudor style, but was completed in the Arts and crafts style, which was becoming in vogue. It was donated to the city of San Diego by Marston's daughter Mary in 1987 and is now the Marston House Museum at the northwest corner of Balboa Park.

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 Party in the 1910s and early 1920s. Marston ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 1913 (against Charles F. O'Neall) and 1917 (against Louis J. Wilde). 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.

George Marston died at age 96 at his home in San Diego. He is interred in Mount Hope Cemetery.

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.

ee 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

References

External links

* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/bio/marston/marston.htm George White Marston biography]
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/90summer/marston.htm "George White & Anna Gunn Marston: A Sketch", "The Journal of San Diego History 36:2 & 3 (Spring/Summer 1990) by Gregg R. Hennessey]
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/69summer/index.htm "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"
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/86fall/marston.htm "George White Marston and Conservative Reform in San Diego", "The Journal of San Diego History 32:4 (Fall 1986) by Gregg R. Hennessey]
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/75summer/geraniums.htm "Geraniums vs. Smokestacks: San Diego's Mayoralty Campaign of 1917", "The Journal of San Diego History" 21:3 (Summer 1975) by Uldis Ports]
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/97summer/lilla.htm "'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]
* [http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/79summer/serra.htm "Junípero Serra Museum Architectural, Cultural, and Urban Landmark", "The Journal of San Diego History 25:3 (Summer 1979) by Gregg R. Hennessey]