Founded by Colonel Jeff Gatewood on October 10, 1868, The San Diego Union was one of the pioneering newspapers of California. Bringing with him a hand press and an assortment of type, Gatewood arrived in San Diego, where he successfully established The San Diego Union eight years after the city’s first newspaper, The San Diego Herald, folded in 1860. A simple wood-frame structure in the city’s Old Town served as the original headquarters for Gatewood’s newspaper, although it eventually outgrew the building and was relocated downtown, which at the time was known as “New Town.” Commemorating the site of The San Diego Union’s first headquarters and printing office, a historical marker was erected by the San Diego Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in conjunction with the California Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. The marker appears to the left of the steps leading to the entrance.

The history of print journalism in San Diego begins with its first official newspaper, the San Diego Herald, a short-lived weekly periodical that began in 1851 and folded by 1860. At the time, the well-established Sacramento Union commented on the lack of newspapers in San Diego, reporting that:

“A number of young but well-defined interests called for the publication of [a newspaper] in this end of the Western American seaboard, though San Diego at that early day, no less than in later times, offered very little encouragement of the quality of local support to a newspaper. Any person who was willing to accept the chances of an easy living, and endure the dull routine of a little out of the way place, holding on for advantages that must certainly come by and by, might publish a newspaper in San Diego successfully…. To him belongs the merit of establishing the press on that lonely shore.”

On October 10, 1868, Colonel Jeff Gatewood arrived in San Diego, where he set out to establish a newspaper eight years after the collapse of the city’s first publication, the San Diego Herald. An attorney and entrepreneur, Gatewood was already the founder and publisher of the San Andreas Register. Upon his arrival in San Diego, Gatewood brought with him a hand press and “a very good assortment of type,” with which he launched The San Diego Union. A prefabricated wood-frame structure was shipped from the East Coast to serve as the headquarters and printing offices for the newspaper in Old Town San Diego.

By 1870, The Union had outgrown its original building and was relocated to downtown San Diego, then referred to as ‘New Town,” where it continued to serve its readership. In 1928, James S. Copley acquired both The San Diego Union and The San Diego Tribune. Compared with the staunchly conservative San Diego Union, The San Diego Tribune was considered the more progressive publication, and it received Pulitzer Prizes in 1979 and 1987 for excellence in journalism. Eventually, the Union and the Tribune were merged in 1992 to form The San Diego Union-Tribune, while still under the continued ownership of the Copley family.

Today, The San Diego Union building sits at the heart of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. A historical marker was erected at the site by the San Diego Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the California Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. The marker appears to the left of the steps leading to the building’s entrance.

Anderson, Hilmer . "San Diego Tribune to merge with Union", UPI Archives. September 11th, 1991. Accessed September 17th, 2024. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/09/11/San-Diego-Tribune-to-merge-with-Union/1821684561600/.

Fogerson, Nathan. "Newspapers on the Frontier: The San Diego Union", "California State Parks". Accessed September 16th, 2024. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=30581.

"History of San Diego, 1542-1908", San Diego History Center. Accessed September 16th, 2024. https://sandiegohistory.org/archives/books/smythe/part2-13/.

Whittle, Syd. "Birthplace of The San Diego Union", Historical Marker Database. September 21st, 2008. Accessed September 16th, 2024. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=11661.