El Museo Casa de Aguirre
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 32° 45.222 W 117° 11.760
11S E 481639 N 3623999
This very small History Museum is located in the very rear of one of the shops that now occupy Casa de Aguirre in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Waymark Code: WMJ5JN
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/27/2013
Views: 9
From the Old Town Market San Diego web page:
In 1853, Don Jose Antonio Aguirre builds one of the first houses in Old Town San Diego, the Casa De Aguirre. Don Antonio was a wealthy merchant and a successful rancher. His ships traded mostly with Peru and China, exchanging San Diego cow hides and tallow for goods. While focusing his efforts in ranching, he became one the largest land owners in California. Since he was born in Spain in 1799, he was both a Mexican citizen and American citizen during his lifetime. Don Antonio was known as a charitable man, and one of his original charitable works still stands in Old Town San Diego. The Old Adobe Church located on Conde Street is where Don Antonio was buried in 1860. After his death, the Aguirre family donated the home and land to the Catholic Church. Father Ubach used the home first as a rectory and then as Saint Anthony’s Industrial School for Indians. After years of disrepair, the original structure was torn down in 1914. In 2002, Historic Tours of America reconstructed the building as you see it today; it includes a free museum with artifacts from an on-site archeological dig.