By Miriam Raftery

November 1, 2021 (El Cajon) --East County Magazine interviewed Rick Hall, President of the El Cajon Historical Society, via Zoom last week regarding the Society's efforts to preserve local history, funding challenges due to COVID-19, and encouraged residents including newcomers from around the world to share their stories as part of the city's ever-changing history.  The interview also aired on our radio show on KNSJ 89.1 FM.

Hall also talked about his own heritage as a descendant of one of El Cajon’s pioneering families and shared anecdotes from the city’s colorful past. 

Donations are needed to help sustain the Society’s efforts to keep history alive in our region, due to a loss of funds during the pandemic lockdowns.

PHOTO: Paul Barnes, president of Shea Homes in San Diego ,presents El Cajon historian and author Eldonna Lay with a check for his firm’s lifetime membership in the El Cajon Historical Society. The two stand behind a historic marker installed by Shea Homes to commemorate the adjacent ancient site of El Granito Springs that once flowed beside the high granite ridge along Avocado Blvd. Photographer: archivist Mike Kaszuba, El Cajon Historical Society.

East County News Service

April 16, 2015 (El Cajon )--The boulder and brass plaque requested by the El Cajon Historical Society honors the ten thousand years or more that El Granito’s spring waters were used by tribes of local and far-flung Indian nations traveling between the desert and the Pacific Ocean shores.

By: Janis Russell

May 3, 2014 (El Cajon)- Students, faculty, alumni of the schools in GUHSD, and the community turned out Thursday May 1 to celebrate the dedication of the district’s new district office.

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.

June 7, 2011 (El Cajon) -- Vintage objects from the archives of the El Cajon Historical Society not being used in the Knox House Museum or in public exhibits are being released for sale. This collection of post-Civil War through 1960s artifacts is available at Lynn Endicott’s Silvercreek Fine Arts Gallery at 120 East Main Street in El Cajon’s newly renovated redevelopment area for one month, beginning at 10 a.m. on June 17th.