About the Escondido History Center
The Escondido History Center is a nonprofit museum and archive in Grape Day Park, in the heart of Escondido in northern San Diego County. It was founded as the Escondido Historical Society on February 3, 1956, and incorporated that June. The organization describes itself as the second-largest history museum in San Diego County, and it took its current name in 2006.
Rather than a single museum building, the center is a complex of relocated and restored structures along what it calls Heritage Walk. The walk was established in 1975 with a barn, a windmill, a wagon and a blacksmith shop. A Victorian house moved from Ivy Street in 1978 was lost to arson the following year, and in 1980 the Hoffman House was donated to take its place. The campus today includes five buildings plus a Pullman railroad car.
The city the center documents was laid out by the Escondido Land & Town Company, which bought the old Rancho Rincon del Diablo in 1886, used its first land sales to attract a Santa Fe branch line, and saw Escondido incorporated on October 8, 1888 with about 500 residents. Grapes, citrus and later avocados sustained the "Hidden Valley" for decades before groves gave way to housing after World War II. The center's staff and a local historian have published Escondido, A Pictorial History of the Hidden Valley drawing on this story.
What to See on the Grounds
- Santa Fe Depot — the restored depot office and waiting room, displays of Escondido artifacts, a replica of early mail service, and an HO-scale model of the Santa Fe route between Escondido and Oceanside. The adjacent Pullman car is closed until further notice.
- Victorian House — an 1890 home with a refurbished interior that recreates domestic life in the early twentieth century.
- Tom Bandy General Blacksmith and Wheelwright Shop — a working shop where blacksmithing and wheelwright demonstrations run most Tuesday and Saturday mornings, with classes offered.
- Rotating exhibits, recently including the Cassou pioneer-family exhibit, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," and a vintage hand-fan display.
Collections and Research Services
The center's collections include thousands of photographs, ephemera, artifacts, city directories and books about Escondido and the surrounding area. Its photograph holdings are organized around buildings, historic Grand Avenue, people, the Grape Day Festival, Grape Day Park and agriculture. The center no longer maintains a public online catalog; instead it accepts photograph search requests through its website, and staff ask for up to two weeks to respond because the organization is a small nonprofit. The research center in the museum office keeps the same Thursday-to-Saturday schedule as the office, and the center is also an active participant in local preservation, including the city's 1992 historic preservation program and the Old Escondido Neighborhood Historic District. The Escondido Public Library's Pioneer Room holds a separate local-history collection worth checking alongside the center.
If you are tracing a family that lived in the Hidden Valley, our guides to free family history research and finding old photos of a house or neighborhood explain how to make the most of a visit like this one.
Planning Your Visit
The center sits at 321 North Broadway inside Grape Day Park, with mail directed to P.O. Box 263, Escondido, CA 92033. According to the official website, the museum office and research center are open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with occasional irregular hours, so call (760) 743-8207 before you go. The Santa Fe Depot opens Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m., the Victorian House on the first and third Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the blacksmith shop Tuesday and Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to noon. Confirm current schedules, admission and events at escondidohistory.org. For more North County history, the San Dieguito Heritage Museum in Encinitas is a short drive west.
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