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George W. Marston and the San Diego Public Library
The Marstons: A California Family - Part 18
By Robin Lakin
May/June 2025
 George W. Marston, c. 1880, at 30, when he established the San Diego Free Reading Room Association with Charles S. Hamilton. Courtesy SOHO collection |
 George Marston provided space in his store’s fourth floor for the city’s first branch library, seen here in 1917. In 1921, the branch moved into the newly built Mission Hills branch, which alleviated cramped quarters at the Carnegie building. Courtesy Calisphere |
 The Consolidated Bank Building (photographed in 1882) at Fifth and G Streets hosted the first San Diego Public Library in five rent-free rooms on the second floor. The economic depression of 1893 necessitated the library’s move to the St. James Hotel. Courtesy San Diego History Center |
 The St. James Hotel, housed the library’s third iteration for five years in rented rooms on the second floor. Courtesy San Diego History Center |
As we celebrate the Marston House’s 120th anniversary, let’s peek into the exquisite one-room library that George and Anna Lee Marston hired Irving J. Gill of Hebbard & Gill to design for their family home. The old growth redwood shelves lining the walls house hundreds of books. One can imagine sitting next to a snapping fire on a cool evening, immersed in a book whilst enveloped in the comfort of the plush velvet armchairs selected for this room in 1905.
A library was an essential part of George’s life. Not having the opportunity to attend college, he set out to educate himself after arriving in San Diego. He noted the lack of self-improvement and educational opportunities for those who could not afford the subscription fees of the newly formed San Diego Library Association.
To alleviate this problem, George and his business partner, Charles S. Hamilton, established the San Diego Free Reading Room Association on March 1, 1872, welcoming and encouraging female participation equal to that of males. No fees were charged to delve into a vast selection of newspapers, magazines, books, and board games.
As a result, the San Diego Library Association’s subscriptions dwindled; the organization languished, then merged with the San Diego Free Reading Room Association to operate as a public service. It would not become a lending library for another decade.
The newly named San Diego Public Library officially opened its doors on July 15, 1882 in five rent-free rooms on the Consolidated Bank Building’s second floor.
The 1893 economic depression necessitated the library’s move to the St. James Hotel at 7th and F Streets. Five years later, the library moved to the fourth floor of the new Keating Building at 5th and F Streets.
Library board member Lydia Knapp Horton appealed to the renowned library philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1899 for funds to build a spacious, new San Diego library building tailored to its civic purpose. Carnegie’s $50,000 gift was the first Carnegie library endowment in California and west of the Mississippi.
Certain of impending city growth, George strongly recommended that the city of San Diego purchase an entire block to accommodate future library expansion. Unfortunately, the city purchased only one half-block at 8th and E Streets for the Classical Revival style building. Designed by Ackerman & Ross of New York with construction supervision by Hebbard & Gill, the library was completed in April 1902.
George contributed $1,000 for the land and additional funds for the landscaping, sidewalks, and iron hitching posts. San Diego could now boast a magnificent library building which, for the first time, offered “open stacks,” enabling patrons to browse among the books without requiring a librarian’s assistance.
As George had predicted when he warned that “the city will regret for all time its error” in not purchasing the entire block, the library had outgrown its capacity by 1917. George, coming to the rescue again, made room on the Marston Store’s fourth floor for a branch library until 1921, when the Mission Hills branch opened.
The main library, replaced with a larger building on the E Street site in 1954, once again became problematic: too small for the growing collection and patronage and outdated. After decades of delays and controversies, a new, domed central library rose high above 330 Park Boulevard, an architectural centerpiece among downtown skyscrapers.
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Left Librarian Lillian Whaley at work at the fourth library’s main check-out desk in the top floor of the Keating Building. San Diegans came here for books and other resources until the Carnegie-funded library was finished in 1902. Courtesy SOHO collection. Right Andrew Carnegie’s gift of $50,000 made possible the professionally designed, Classical Revival style San Diego Public Library at Eighth and E Streets. Marston funded the landscaping, sidewalks, and hitching posts, which were no longer in general use at the time of this 1915 photo. Courtesy Calisphere |
“Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, are a substantial world, both pure and good…,” William Wordsworth wrote in his 1815 poem I am not One who much or oft delight.
Let us heed the very real potential for the loss or reduction of collections and services of our public library that George Marston and so many others valued and nurtured for themselves and future San Diegans. Let’s be sure not to squander our dreams, our books, and our opportunities for self-growth, as libraries are threatened by local, state, and national budget cuts and shifting priorities.
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Read the rest of the ongoing The Marstons: A California Story History Series.
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