marks the original site of the Presidio and Mission Before European contact, the
Kumeyaay established the village of
Kosa'aay in the
Kumeyaay language, which consisted of thirty to forty families living in pyramid-shaped housing structures. The Kumeyaay people were the original inhabitants of San Diego County and played a significant role in the region’s history. For over 10,000 years, they thrived as horticulturists, hunters, and gatherers. They were the first to encounter Europeans when the Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo expedition sailed into San Diego Harbor in 1542. The
San Diego Presidio and
Mission San Diego de Alcalá were founded in 1769 by
Gaspar de Portolá and
Junípero Serra on a bluff at the western end of the
San Diego River valley adjacent to the village of Cosoy after the villagers had provided resources to the
Portolá expedition. In 1834 the Mexican government granted San Diego the status of a
pueblo, or chartered town. However, the population of
the town declined so much that in 1838 its pueblo status was revoked. One problem was the town's location far from navigable water. All imports and exports had to be brought ashore in
Point Loma and carried several miles over the
La Playa Trail to the town. When California was admitted to the United States in 1850, San Diego (still largely limited to the Old Town area) was made the
seat of government of
San Diego County, though the town's population was only 650. The Old Town area remained the heart of the city of San Diego until the 1860s, when a newcomer to San Diego named
Alonzo Horton began to promote development at the site of present-day
downtown San Diego. Residents and businesses quickly abandoned "Old Town" for Horton's "New Town" because of New Town's proximity to shipping. In 1871, government records were moved from Old Town to a new county courthouse in New Town, and downtown permanently eclipsed Old Town as the focal point of San Diego. In the 1910s, Old Town became one of the many San Diego neighborhoods connected by
the Class 1 streetcars and an extensive San Diego public transit system that was spurred by the
Panama–California Exposition of 1915 and built by
John D. Spreckels. These streetcars became a fixture of this neighborhood until their retirement in 1939. ==Economy==