DOWNTOWN ARCHWAY IN EL CAJON: NEW CITY LANDMARK TO BE DEDICATED JUNE 10th

June 1, 2009 (El Cajon) The public is invited to the official lighting of downtown El Cajon’s new archway, which is being installed this week. A lighting ceremony will be held at the closing of the Classic Car Show on Wednesday, June 10th at 8:00 p.m. The new City landmark will arch over West Main Street, just west of Magnolia Avenue.

The decorative arch, selected last year by a vote of the public, is held aloft by two metal standards with a dedication and historical plaque on each support column. The first will bear the names of the Mayor and City Councilmembers, the designer Graphic Solutions and the contractor LNI Custom Manufacturing, Inc. The second plaque will carry the name and likeness of town founder, New Englander Amaziah Lord Knox.

In 1869, Knox arrived in the newly opened-for-settlement El Cajon Valley, the same year gold was discovered in what would become Julian. By 1876, there were enough miners, drovers and others riding and walking from the wharf in San Diego that rough dirt roads were formed through Mission and Paradise valleys and over Grossmont and across the valley on their way to Julian. Where that road turned, at today’s East Main Street and Magnolia Avenue, Knox built a small hotel for those who could afford $1 a night for a room, dinner, and boarding their horse. Fittingly, this is where the welcoming arch will be installed.

"This landmark feature will provide visitors with location identity similar to those found in other successful revitalized areas of the region," a press release issued by the City states. "By making the area more attractive for both residents and visitors, new business opportunities are likely to occur, which will provide our residents with additional employment opportunities and places to shop and conduct business."

Funds for the archway are coming from the El Cajon Redevelopment Agency, which receives tax increment derived from property taxes. No general funds of the City are used for these types of redevelopment projects in the downtown area. The project has a $250,000 budget, including $177,160 in actual fabrication and installation costs,$40,000 estimated for the designer's fee, and approximately $35,000 for the engineering, testing and inspection process.

El Cajon's press release concludes, "Thanks to the arch, after 147 years, Amaziah Lord Knox is still in the middle of it all!"