San Diego and the Union-Tribune: Our past, our future

Recently, The San Diego Union-Tribune celebrated its return to the heart of the nation’s eighth largest city, internationally known for its port, military bases, research centers, universities, theater, beaches and beers.

This news organization has been covering these institutions, this city and much more for nearly 150 years.

San Diego may retain a small town feel, but it is home to twice as many people as Boston, and our population exceeds world capitals like Brussels and Buenos Aires.

In the beginning, though – in our beginning -- this was a dusty flyspeck.

The San Diego Union’s first front page was published on Oct. 10, 1868. You’ll find ads for doctors and merchants, poems and fiction, even jokes that betray a 19^th century sensibility: “An Eastern editor says that a man got himself into trouble by marrying two wives. A Western editor replies by assuring his contemporary that a good many had done the same thing by marrying one.” That’s what you would find. What you don’t find is any local news. There was nothing to report.

So how did we get from there to here? Let’s soar through the last century and a half, charting the forces that shaped our nation and brought us here:

In 1860, the decade of our company’s founding, San Diego’s population is 731. The East Coast -- New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Baltimore -- is home to America’s people and industries. But the great western migration is starting. St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati are on the Top 10 list as is one southern city, New Orleans.

Now watch: In the 1870s, ‘80s and ‘90s, new technology – railroads, telegraphs – plus the end of the Civil War and the Indian wars spurs migration. Chicago – Carl Sandburg’s “hog butcher to the world” – soars. San Francisco, then the gateway to the Pacific, begins its ascent.

The post-Reconstruction backlash against African-Americans spurs the Great Migration from the South – watch as New Orleans drops to the bottom of the Top 10 by 1880, disappearing in 1890.

San Diego is still tiny. Our 1890 population is roughly 1 percent of New York City’s. Yet this western outpost is preparing for a vibrant future, surveying Balboa Park’s site and building a new wharf. The city’s economic and cultural heart moves from Old Town to Alonzo Horton’s “New Town.” The Union moves, too, into two-story offices at Broadway and Fourth, just to the southwest of us. By 1895 there’s even enough news here to support an afternoon paper, The Evening Tribune.

As the 20^th century dawns, Chicago is poised to become the city of the future. Buoyed by the 1893 Columbian Exposition; rail shipments of beef, crops and manufactured goods; plus the ongoing Great Migration of African-Americans, Chicago becomes America’s Second City.

For many, though, the Midwest is only a way station on the journey to the West Coast. Los Angeles makes its debut on the Top 10 in 1920. L.A. grows as two new industries, movies and aeronautics, thrive in a congenial climate for filming and flying.

Aviators flock to San Diego, too, as do sailors. The Navy and Marine Corps establish bases on and near our harbor. World War II causes a population explosion and paves the way for a post-war boom in scientific research, further fueling San Diego’s growth.

In 1980, our city finally ranks among the nation’s largest.

While our population rises, some giants fall with the decline of domestic manufacturing. Watch what happens to Detroit, the U.S. auto industry’s capital; Cleveland, once Detroit’s rival; Baltimore, a bustling 19^th century seaport; and Pittsburgh, once the white-hot core of U.S. steel.

Today, seven of the nation’s 10 largest cities are west of the Mississippi River. Americans have opted out of harsh winters – watch Phoenix and San Jose grow -- and into cities like Dallas and Houston that slake the world’s thirst for oil.

San Diego is also among the top 10 American cities. But for how long?

Being in the news business, not the predictions trade, we can’t say with certainty. But our reporting has identified some qualities shared by the successful cities of tomorrow.

1. They will be powered by intellectual resources – and San Diego is long on universities and research centers.
2. They will rise on the strength of tomorrow’s innovations. As it happens, the next chapter in San Diego’s story is being written by biotech, robotics, cyber security.
3. Their economies will be diverse, buffered from recessions. San Diego is a hub for military, tourism, life sciences, oceanography, communications, computer science and more.
4. They will engage the world. Sitting on both the U.S.-Mexico border and the Pacific Rim, San Diego is ideally situated to exchange goods, services and ideas.
5. Finally, the cities of the future will be more than 9-to-5 workshops. Instead, they will offer arenas where people can work, play and thrive 24/7. San Diego has parks, museums, beaches, mountains, deserts and a sparkling climate – with or without the Chargers.

We have all this, plus a history. In the past 149 years, The San Diego Union-Tribune and its predecessors have been headquartered in Old Town, downtown, Mission Valley and back downtown again.

Our home city bears little resemblance to the dusty hamlet we first encountered.

Fortunately for us, now there’s plenty to report on.

Twitter: @NewsCruz