The Exchange Hotel, also called Franklin House, is a historical building in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, California, built-in 1851 by
George P. Tebbetts and his partner Philip Hooff. It is first mentioned in the May 29 1851 issue of the ''San Diego Herald'' where the "Exchange Hotel and Billiard Saloon" is advertised to carry "the choicest wines, liquors, segars... (
sic
The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; ''thus'', ''so'', and ''in this manner'') inserted after a quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling ...
)." Soon after, on June 29, 1851, a group of
Freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
s met in the hotel to commemorate John the Baptist, their patron saint. This group began Freemasons San Diego Lodge No. 35, F. & A.M., the oldest lodge in Southern California.
Lewis Franklin, cousin of Selim Franklin who had built the Franklin House in San Francisco, had come to San Diego by 1851. On July 19, 1855 he bought the hotel.
In November of that year it was renamed Franklin House. Its ground floor was brick, fronted by a verandah that rose the entirety of the building's three stories. By 1858, the hotel had moved into the hands of Joseph Reiner, who renewed the bedding and furniture. Freemasons continued to hold meetings there and at some point Joseph Mannasse, an early mason in San Diego, subsequently owned Franklin House.
After Franklin House was lost in an April 1872 fire, the site was a vacant lot for some time.
The Exchange Hotel site became a
California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meetin ...
No. 491, listed on October 10, 1951.
See also
*
Mary Chase Walker (Walker Incident)
References
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California Historical Landmarks
History of San Diego County, California
1851 in California
1851 establishments in California