Johnny McDonald | Downtown News

The military’s long association in San Diego County is a story that will be told and retold many times through 2015 at 10 service facilities from Coronado to Camp Pendleton. The military has been everywhere, even an observation tower atop Mt. Laguna. Reviews will stress the economic impact in the region over 100 years when civic and military leaders made things happen.

A major part of the framework was the land now occupied by Balboa Park and the Zoo. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps headquartered there at various times. It was used as training centers, an artillery base, a supply depot and a Naval hospital.

The San Diego Historical Center and the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center in Balboa Park will feature rare artifacts and photos.

The Center has erected a 6,000 – square – foot gallery that will unfurl military adjustments in the county. It encompasses political, economic, land use, social and cultural issues over the years.

Veterans Museum CEO Rod Melendez, RADM, USN, Ret., explained the Park’s remarkable troop transitions and its usefulness.

“The Marines took up residence in the old (Panama-California Exposition) fairgrounds buildings before MCRD was completed in 1921,” he said. “The Navy used the same locations for an auxiliary hospital during World War II.

“Most may know about the Marines and Navy, but few know that the Army set up camp here, too, During the 1915 fair they sent in the cavalry and a few years later had [tent] camps where the Zoo is now located.

“They had battery emplacements for artillery practice.”

The Veterans Museum, located on Superstition Point, is focusing on military use of the buildings and surroundings that spanned two World Wars.

“We’ll also cover the evolution of the Naval Hospital,” Melendez added.

During World War I, the Navy established a War Dispensary from tents to care for the sick before it became a Naval Hospital in 1919.

“The Park was closed to civilians during World War II when the Palisades was used for Navy Corpsman training,” Melendez noted. “The nurses’ quarters occupied almost all of the central area.

“The Marines’ Fourth Battalion was brought up to headwater in the fair buildings until civic leaders and the military could work out plans for the construction of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot,” he said. “The same architect [Bertram Goodhue] who designed the Exposition designed the Spanish style buildings at MCRD.”

In 1916 Congressman William Kettner, who was also a member of the local Chamber of Commerce, proposed a Naval Training Station in Balboa Park. He gained the support of Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to establish the temporary base in 1917.

Civic-military maneuvers — In the fall of 1915, San Diegans embraced the military by voting overwhelmingly — 40,188 to 305 — to transfer 500 acres of tidelands to the Navy. On Jan. 15, 1916, Kettner authored a bill to provide $250,000 for the purchase of the land and joined Col. Joseph Pendleton to push for a permanent location. Kettner secured $249,000 in federal funds to deepen San Diego’s harbor, another $95,000 for the completion of a coal wharf and fuel oil station on the east side of Point Loma, and $300,000 for a Navy radio station.

Elsewhere in the Park —El Centro de Ciencias Reuben H. Fleet is embarking on bringing new learning programs to unexpected places, so if you can’t make it to the museum, the Fleet is expanding across the county. This month and beyond, the Fleet will offer a range of new programs for science learning outside the museum walls, from stargazing to casual Q&A sessions with local scientists at neighborhood bars … mark your calendars because the fourth annual Art in Bloom, combining the talents of area artists and floral designers, is scheduled to take place July 18-20, at Centro de Arte Pueblo Español. El San Diego Floral Association is taking part in this presentation.

—After an award winning, 38-year sports-writing career with the San Diego Union and authoring three books, Johnny McDonald now considers writing a hobby. He enjoys covering aspects of the port district, convention center, Balboa Park, zoo, and stories with a historical bent. You can reach him at [email protected].