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A Timeline of
San Luis Obispo County History
This timeline is extremely brief, and intentionally so.
However,
if you wish to suggest changes or additions,
please e-mail
lelandwehr @ yahoo.com
(but with no spaces in the address)
and please include the phrase "Obispo History" in your e-mail's
subject line.
Thank you.
Click here
for a Timeline of
WOMEN'S
HISTORY
in San Luis Obispo County.
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1542
Cabrillo and party enter Morro Bay, name Morro Rock
(Click here for a timeline of Morro Bay's history, provided
courtesy of Jane H. Bailey.) |
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1769 Portolá expedition passes through the area
1772 Fages leads Spanish expedition to area to secure bear meat for settlements
at Monterey and San Antonio
1772
Junípero Serra founds Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, 5th in the
coastal chain of 21 missions
1797 Mission San Miguel Arcangel founded (16th mission)
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1821-22 California becomes Mexican as Mexico gains independence from Spain
1837-1846 Mexican land grants are made
to settlers in area which will become SLO County
1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; California
becomes territory of United States
1850 U.S. statehood for California;
San Luis Obispo becomes one of California's original 27 counties
1857 Cholame Valley (in SLO County) is epicenter of the historic Fort
Tejón
earthquake
1858 Vigilante committee formed
1860 County population is 1,782
1862-64 Severe
drought kills off most of the cattle on the great ranchos
1864 Portuguese sea captain Joe Clark
establishes San Simeon whaling station
1866 Steele brothers commence dairying
operations in "cow heaven"
1867 Captain James Cass to Cayucos
1870 County population is 4,772
1873 Construction begins on Harford's
Wharf (now Port San Luis) and narrow gauge railway; County Courthouse completed
1874 Ah Louis opens wooden store on
Palm Street, City of SLO; Piedras Blancas Lighthouse completed
1875 Developer C. H. Phillips subdivides
Rancho Morro y Cayucos into town lots
1878 Beginning of gold rush in the La Panza area
1879 Establishment of County Hospital
and Farm
1880 County population is 9,142
1886 Southern Pacific Railroad line arrives
in San Miguel, then Paso Robles
1889 El Paso de Robles Hot Springs Hotel
replaces early thermal center; Southern Pacific service is extended
to Santa Margarita
1890s Quarrying begins at Morro Rock
1890 County population is 16,072; Point San Luis Lighthouse
completed
1894 Southern Pacific service is
extended to San Luis Obispo, ending stage service over the Cuesta Grade;
U.S. requires
registration of Chinese residents, who
must carry Certificates of Residence or be deported
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1900 County population is 16,637
1901 The "gap" in railroad service between
SLO and Los Angeles is finally closed; California Polytechnic School
founded
1903 California Polytechnic School
holds first classes
1906 Union Oil builds first oil pipeline
to Avila Beach
1907 Oilport, at site of present
Shell Beach, completed in November,
then destroyed by heavy surf in December
1910 First flight of an airplane over
city of SLO, in a July 4 demonstration
1911 Legal daily limit for Pismo
clams set
at 200
1913
E.G. Lewis founds Atascadero colony
1922 Construction of Blue Star Memorial
Temple in Halcyon
1923 Anderson Hotel opens in city of SLO
(July)
1925 Milestone Inn, later known as the
Mo-Tel Inn, opens as the country's first "motel"
1926 Union Oil Tank Farm Fire
(April 7)
1928 SLO High School built on Murray Hill
1920s-30s: Colony of "Dunites" flourishes in Oceano/Nipomo dunes
1936 W.P.A. begins work on north
breakwater, making causeway to Morro Rock;
"Migrant Mother" photographed in
Nipomo by Dorothea Lange
1938 Small colony of sea otters spotted
in remote area off Big Sur Coast; their recovery will re-extend their
range south along SLO coast
1939
Hoover brothers and Art Thompson establish San Luis Obispo
airport
1940 County population is 33,246
1941 Camp San Luis is expanded to meet
wartime training needs; Union Oil tanker Montebello sunk by
Japanese submarine off coast near Cambria
(December 23)
1942 U.S. Executive Order 9066 forces relocation
of 800 County residents of Japanese ethnicity
1946 First Pismo Beach Clam Festival
1950 County population is 51,417
1958 Hearst Castle opens as state park;
Alex and Phyllis Madonna open the Madonna Inn
1960 County population is 81,004
1962
SLO High School building condemned as seismically unsafe; new high
school building completed 1963
1965 County population is 102,486
1970s Ongoing protests re licensing of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant
1985
Las Pilitas fire burns 75,000 acres
1988 FAA control
tower added to San Luis Obispo County airport
1990 Elephant seals establish new
colony on beach near Piedras Blancas
1990 (August 2) City of San Luis
Obispo becomes first place in U.S. to ban smoking in bars.
1993
Chapel Hill at Shandon completed by Judge William P. Clark and
his wife Joan Clark
1997 Record grape harvest focuses
attention on development of local wine industry
1998 Unocal agrees to $18 million
clean-up of oil seepage under Avila Beach
1999
Beginning of Cal Trans project to widen
Cuesta Grade portion of Hiway 101
2000 County population is 246,681
(U.S. Census)
2001
Cal Poly celebrates 100th anniversary of its founding
2003 (June) Closure of SLO County
General Hospital (est. 1879)
2004
Voters defeat library funding measure and measure to ban
modified crops; inroads made by "big box" stores;
housing prices continue upwards
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