This El Camino Real Bell Marker was installed in Coronado in 2008.
The inscriptions on the bell say:
"Loreto
Oct 25 1697
Solano
July 4 1823"
and
"El Camino Real"
The article reads:
"In February the city of Coronado, working with the Coronado Woman's Club and supported by the California Federation of Women's Clubs and County of San Diego Board of Supervisors, installed a historic El Camino Real bell marker at the intersection of RH Dana Place and Churchill Place, with the backdrop of the Point Lomaand Pacific Ocean skylines.
“It just kind of fell into our laps.” said former Coronado Woman's Club president Linda Stanton, “We're very happy about it.”
“Linda led the effort to get the bell here to Coronado” said club Member Patricia Cooley. In 2006 Linda answered the call of the California Federation of Women's Clubs who were seeking to place El Camino Real bell markers in San Diego County. San Diego is connected via the Interstate 5 highway, as part of an ongoing effort to re-mark and restore bell markers along the historic route. She presented the idea at a club meeting and once it was approved by the city, we went about the process of bringing one to Coronado.
Stanton, who at the time was also president of Coronado's Public Art Committee as well as a representative of the woman's club, worked in conjunction with city public services director Scott Huth to get the bell to its current location from the Public Services maintenance yard.
In 1999, the board of supervisors approved first district supervisor Greg Cox's request for funding through the First District Community Projects for the purchase of 10 El Camino Real bell markers as gifts to the county for $7,500. The first bell marker in San Diego was erected in September 2000 in front of National City's Historic Railcar Plaza. Bells have since been placed in Chula Vista, downtown San Diego, San Ysidro, Imperial Beach and here in Coronado.
"l’ve lived in San Diego all my life," said Cox. “I grew up seeing the bell markers in places like Santa Barbara along the highway, but never remembered seeing any in the south county. Since the El Camino Real is a part of our city’s history, I wanted to bring a piece of that home. There are currently about 45 bell markers in the county. A number that comes as a result of “an intern we had go around the county with a camera and a GPS locator." said Cox, chuckling.
Coronado's bell joins more than 550 markers of the El Camino Real also known as the Kings Highway, in California. The stretch of road references, in part, the historical 600-mile California Mission Trail which connects California's 21 missions, four presidios and various pueblos. The route spans from Mission San Diego de Alcala in San Diego to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma.
A large portion of El Camino Real encapsulates California Highway 101. As one of the first state highways in California and due to a lack of consistent road signage, distinctive bell-shaped markers were created to mark the route and denote predominate towns. The bells were originally hung from a high shepherd’s crook said to resemble a Franciscan walking stick.
The first bell was placed at the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angles in 1906, the result of preservation efforts begun in 1892 by Anna Pitcher, director of the Pasadena Art Exhibition Association to the Women’s Club of Los Angeles. Initially unsuccessful, she tried again with a pitch to the California Federation of Woman’s Clubs and the Native Daughters of the Golden West in 1902. The proposal was approved by both organizations and in 1904, the El Camino Real Association was established, leading to the installation of many bell markers.
The bells were inscribed. ‘El Camino Real 1769-1906,” the dates reflecting the founding of the first mission and the 1906 dedication of the first bell in Los Angeles. Many bell markers along El Camino Real have fallen victim to vandalism, deterioration and theft over the years.
According to the California Department of Transportation, in 1959 the Division of Highways was legislatively mandated to maintain the markers. Legislation in 1974 provided further backing of the mandate, appointing Caltrans as bell guardian. In 1996, Caltrans developed the Adopt-A-Bell program.
The California Federation of Women’s Clubs obliged and adopted numerous bells through 1998. After 1998, adoption guidelines were written in a way that anyone could adopt a bell and maintain it under the Adopt-A-Highway program. According to the California Highways Web site, in 2000, Keith Robinson a Caltrans architect applied for and received a federal grant, to restore El Camino Real Mission bell markers on the state highways. The grant allowed Caltrans to install bells every one to two miles along El Camino Real.
Up until 2006, the California Federation of Woman’s Clubs continued working with women’s clubs throughout the state, encouraging them to adopt bells for their cities in placement bells along El Camino Real. The club holds an exclusive copyright on the design of the bell markers and maintains guidelines for bell placement which state that; markers must be placed on public properly, must not be altered or modified from original specifications, must be painted according to the original specifications and once placed, be paired with a commemorative brass plaque placed in conjunction with the California Federation of Women's Clubs.
Many bells are manufactured by California Bell Company, self proclaimed originators of the El Camino Real bell and are cast from a mold made from an original bell installed before 1910. According to the company, as of June 2006, 555 new bells were added to the El Camino Real Mission Bell Marker System." (
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