EL CAJON CENTENNIAL MOMENTS: SHARING A PIECE OF CITY HISTORY AT HISTORIC HOME TOUR MAY 4

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April 25, 2013 (El Cajon) – In celebration of El Cajon’s Centennial, the El Cajon Historical Society will sponsor a tour of the Historic JPR Hall Ranch House in El Cajon on Saturday, May 4, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Lemonade and iced tea will be available in the garden. Admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Reserve space by mailing checks to ECHS, P.O. Box 1973, El Cajon, CA 92022.

This home is rarely open to the public. Proceeds benefit the El Cajon Historical Society.

Below is an excerpt from Bus and Auto Tour of Historical El Cajon by the El Cajon Historical Society. The excerpt describes the Historic JPR Hall Ranch House, which was the focal point of a 60-acre ranch with wheat, hay, an orchard and a vineyard planted by the parents and siblings of W.D. Hall.

Jesse Phillip Rexford and his wife Charlotte arrived in San Diego in 1886 and not finding the city to their liking, bought land in the east end of the El Cajon Valley.  After working on the Hotel Del Coronado (now 125 years old), Wilson Dana Hall, eldest son, helped his father build the current home out of redwood.  The family gave up the home in the 1930s and after various owners, remodeling in the 1940s, and sale of much of the land, the home is now surrounded by tract housing. The home was purchased in 1959 by former City Councilman and Mayor Albert Van Zanten and his wife June.  It is now owned by their daughter Jonna Waite and her husband Ken.

Centennial Moment: J.P.R. Hall House Built in 1890s

J.P.R. Hall house: In 1898 on what is now a cul de sac, settler J.P.R. Hall built this Victorian house for his wife and ten children. For the previous 13 years they’d lived in a much smaller house on what was their 60 acre-ranch. The front of this notable house reveals high-pitched, double-cross gables with double-sashed windows surrounded by narrow side-by-side boards on the bias. After building it, Hall joked that he had a 10-room house with 12 Halls in it. One of those children, W.D. Hall, grew up to own the popular hardware store and lumberyard where City Hall now stands. Privately owned, this home has been often used for fundraising luncheons benefitting the Society.

Visit www.elcajonhistory.org to learn more or call (619) 444-3800.


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