This prefabricated wood-frame structure probably arrived from the East Coast by ship in 1851. The building was reassembled in Old Town San Diego. In 1868, this building was used by Colonel William Jefferson “Jeff” Gatewood, Edward “Ned” Bushyhead, and José Narciso Briseño to start The San Diego Union newspaper. The first edition was printed in October and they printed the Union in this building until 1870 when they moved to “New Town,” which is now called Downtown San Diego. The newspaper managed to survive and is still printed today, more than 150 years later, though it is now called The San Diego Union-Tribune.
In 1967, James S. Copley, the publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune, had the building restored to look as it did in 1868 when the first edition of the newspaper came off the press. The interior represents a newsroom layout and editor’s office. The Washington Hand Press in the museum is the same type of model press that printed the first edition of the San Diego Union in 1868.
Learn More from the San Diego History Center
