{"id":437155,"date":"2026-08-19T09:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437155\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:14:35","slug":"the-opera-star-the-castle-and-the-hill-grossmonts-early-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437155\/","title":{"rendered":"The opera star, the castle and the hill: Grossmont\u2019s early days"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>View of portrait of Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink standing in interior of room at Christmas 1918. Madame Schumann-Heink was a contralto opera star who lived at Grossmont in her later years. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Before La Mesa became official<\/a>, there was the neighborhood of Grossmont<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine the area without busy roads, shopping centers, schools and medical offices. But before the traffic, there were citrus trees, country roads, big dreams \u2014 and a hill that gave the community its name.<\/p>\n

The East County of the early 20th century was a very different place. Its story includes a theatrical agent, an internationally famous opera singer, an ambitious developer, a granite \u201cCastle\u201d and a community determined to build its own hospital.<\/p>\n

Here are seven chapters from La Mesa\u2019s early days that might make you look at the community a little differently.<\/p>\n

1. The \u2018gross\u2019 in Grossmont was a real person<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>William B. Gross. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia COmmons\/Public domain)<\/p>\n

Grossmont wasn\u2019t named because somebody thought the mountain was particularly, well, gross. The \u201cGross\u201d was William B. Gross, a Pennsylvania-born theatrical agent, actor, and \u201clifelong bachelor<\/a>\u201d who came to San Diego and became friends with Ed Fletcher.<\/p>\n

The two men met in Yellowstone National Park in 1901. A ride together in a six-horse tallyho helped solidify their friendship.<\/p>\n

Back in San Diego, their friendship turned into a business partnership. In 1902, Fletcher and Gross purchased the Villa Caro Ranch, a property that included citrus trees, a Victorian home and surrounding acreage.<\/p>\n

Fletcher eventually named the prominent hill Grossmont in honor of his partner \u2014 and that name stuck.<\/p>\n

2. Grossmont had an artists\u2019 colony in the making<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Group of people on a hill in Grossmont overlooking the El Cajon Valley in about 1905. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

This may be one of the biggest surprises in its history.<\/p>\n

Fletcher and Gross envisioned their hilltop development as a place that could attract artists, musicians, writers and performers, with Gross\u2019s theatrical connections helping draw people from the arts.<\/p>\n

Fletcher filed a subdivision map in 1910 naming the area Grossmont Park.<\/p>\n

The San Diego History Center describes the resulting development as the Grossmont Art Colony. It wasn\u2019t a formal artists\u2019 colony in the modern sense, but the idea attracted some impressive residents and gave Grossmont a distinctly artistic reputation in its early years.<\/p>\n

3. Grossmont had an inn \u2014 with white-gloved servants<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grossmont Inn in 1910. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Before shopping centers and medical complexes, Grossmont had the Grossmont Inn.<\/p>\n

Built by Fletcher in 1913 at 9680 Evans Place, the inn began as a commercial venture. Guests arriving by stagecoach from the train depot in El Cajon were greeted by white-gloved servants, while a French chef brought from New York prepared the meals.<\/p>\n

Wide porches looked over the countryside below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0View of the top of Grossmont in the 1910s showing Grossmont Inn and several residences on Grossmont.
View is looking west to San Diego. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

The inn eventually became the Fletcher family residence, but in its early days it was also part of Fletcher\u2019s effort to show visitors what life in his hilltop community could be like.<\/p>\n

Imagine trying to sell Grossmont today with that view \u2014 and no traffic.<\/p>\n

4. An opera superstar was one of Grossmont\u2019s early residents<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(Various views of Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink\u2019s home in Grossmont. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Grossmont\u2019s artistic ambitions attracted some serious star power.<\/p>\n

Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the internationally famous opera contralto, arrived in San Diego in 1910 to perform at the Garrick Theater. She decided to make San Diego her home and purchased property in Grossmont.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink sitting at a desk with a group of men standing nearby in Commonwealth Building in 1926.
Flowers on the top of the desk have a ribbon that reads: To Henry from Mother. Schumann-Heink had been a contralto opera singer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Her house, completed in 1913, became one of the early homes in the artists\u2019 colony being developed by Fletcher and Gross.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Charles Wakefield Cadman at his Grossmont residence \u2013 1920s. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Other figures associated with the colony included songwriter Carrie Jacobs Bond, composer Charles Wakefield Cadman and authors Owen Wister and John Vance Cheney.<\/p>\n

Schumann-Heink later sold her Grossmont house and made her primary home in Coronado, but her connection to the area remains one of the community\u2019s most colorful historical footnotes.<\/p>\n

5. Grossmont High School\u2019s \u2018Castle\u2019 has Fletcher\u2019s fingerprints all over it<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>View of Grossmont High School in El Cajon, aka the \u201cCastle\u201d across from Grossmont and Mount Helix in the 1920s. Two-story school building is made of stone. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

The imposing Grossmont High School \u201cCastle\u201d isn\u2019t just an old-looking school. It is a genuine survivor from Grossmont\u2019s formative years.<\/p>\n

In 1920, Ed Fletcher (as in \u201cFletcher Hills<\/a>\u201c) donated most of the land for the school for a $10 fee, while James and Mary Murray (as in \u201cLake Murray<\/a>\u201c) donated additional lots.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>View of Colonel Ed Fletcher leaning on rock overlooking El Cajon Valley from top of Grossmont c. 1915 (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Students first attended classes in the new building on Sept. 25, 1922. The building was completed in January 1923.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s one of the best details: the distinctive granite exterior came from Fletcher\u2019s nearby granite quarry.<\/p>\n

The original building served as a school until 2006 and later became the Grossmont Union High School District\u2019s administrative headquarters. It was renovated while retaining much of its historic character.<\/p>\n

So that \u201cCastle\u201d isn\u2019t simply an architectural curiosity. It is literally built into the story of the man who helped develop Grossmont.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Left: Grossmont Hospital c. 1955. Right: Grossmont Hospital aerial c. 1955. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

The idea of a hospital serving East County goes back to the 1920s, but it took decades \u2014 and a determined group of residents \u2014 to make it happen.<\/p>\n

In 1952, East County voters approved creation of the Grossmont Hospital District. The campaign was a genuine community effort. Volunteers staffed more than 40 polling places, and transportation and babysitting were offered to help residents vote.<\/p>\n

The hospital opened in August 1955.<\/p>\n

Its first patient was Randy George Callas, an eight-pound, three-ounce baby born just 30 minutes before opening day.<\/p>\n

On that first day, the hospital recorded 24 admissions, including four surgeries and five births.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one way to make an entrance.<\/p>\n

7. Grossmont Center opened to a crowd bigger than La Mesa<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Grossmont Shopping Center Marton Bldg before opening 1961. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Grossmont Shopping Center Marton Bldg before opening 1961. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0Grossmont Shopping Center architect\u2019s drawings 1961. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grossmont Shopping Center Wards store and parking lot 1961. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grossmont Shopping Center Wards store and parking lot 1961. (Photos and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

When Grossmont Center opened Oct. 5, 1961, it wasn\u2019t simply a new place to shop. It was a major event for the entire region.<\/p>\n

The 110-acre center was the third regional shopping mall in San Diego County and represented an investment of about $20 million.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grossmont Shopping Center Wards store and parking lot 1961. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Opening day drew approximately 50,000 people \u2014 roughly 20,000 more people than La Mesa\u2019s population at the time.<\/p>\n

The arrival of Grossmont Center helped cement the area as a regional commercial destination and marked another major step away from the rural landscape of Fletcher\u2019s early Grossmont.<\/p>\n

The hilltop artists\u2019 colony was long gone. The suburban age had arrived.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Grossmont Shopping Center architect\u2019s drawing 1961. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Before the traffic<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Automobile parked up the road in the distance at Grossmont in 1930.
Trees are growing on both sides of the highway, which is empty except for the parked car.
The railroad tracks are seen below the highway on the right. (Photo and caption info courtesy of the San Diego History Center)<\/p>\n

Grossmont\u2019s history is really a story of transformation.<\/p>\n

A theatrical agent\u2019s name became part of the local landscape. A real-estate development attracted artists and performers. An opera star built a home on the hill. A granite schoolhouse became a landmark. Residents fought for their own hospital. And then a huge shopping center helped usher the area into the suburban age.<\/p>\n

So the next time you\u2019re inching along La Mesa\u2019s busy roads, consider what you\u2019re driving through.<\/p>\n

Before the traffic, there was a very different East County \u2014 one built on hills, ambition, artistry and a cast of characters worthy of a movie.<\/p>\n

Read more history stories\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

San Diego History Center: Summer Furzer, \u201cGod\u2019s Garden,\u201d The Journal of San Diego History, Fall 1985; San Diego History Center materials on Ernestine Schumann-Heink and the Grossmont Art Colony.
La Mesa History Center: Historical information on Grossmont, Ed Fletcher, William Gross and the 1961 opening of Grossmont Center.
Grossmont High School Museum: History of the 1922 \u201cCastle,\u201d Ed Fletcher\u2019s land donation and the granite from his quarry.
Grossmont Healthcare District: History of the Grossmont Hospital District and the opening of Grossmont Hospital in 1955.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"View of portrait of Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink standing in interior of room at Christmas 1918. Madame Schumann-Heink was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[173476,173477,6570,418,6572,10239,74,76,75,11515],"class_list":["post-437155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-arts-colony","tag-grossmont","tag-grossmont-high-school","tag-history","tag-la-mesa","tag-opera","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}