Lakeside Hotel.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Martha Swycaffer (maiden name Ward) entered California via the Donner Pass with her family, the Ward party, arriving in San Diego in 1854. Martha married her husband, Joseph Swycaffer, in Old Town on April 27, 1857, becoming the second recorded American couple to be married in San Diego County.

The Lakeside Hotel, built by Martha Swycaffer in 1887, sat on the south side of Sycamore Street behind the Old Lakeside Store. The Hotel has also been refered to as the Lindo Hotel and the Lakeside Inn, which often causes confusion. The two story building originally served as a boarding house for construction workers on the Cuyamaca and Eastern Railroad. Martha had previously run a boarding house in Santee, but moved to Lakeside to be in the hustle and bustle of the railroad construction. The hotel had four bedrooms upstairs and one large bedroom, a kitchen and dining room downstairs. She also had a Chinese cook.

In 1893, the building moved to another location on Sycamore (Lakeshore Drive) and River Streets. In 1900 the Hotel was leased to the Martin family who ran it as a grocery store and post office for approximately five years. Charles Greenleaf also used it for headquarters to run his stagecoach to Alpine, Descanso, and Cuyamaca.

Martha Swycaffer and daughter Nettie returned to the hotel and used it as their residence in 1905. A year later, Nettie passed away. Nettie’s sister, Beatrice Price, also known as “Beaty” or “Aunt Beaty,” took over the hotel in 1908. Beatrice made many improvements to the hotel, building a two story addition with six bedrooms upstairs, three bedrooms downstairs, a parlor, and an office. After Martha Swycaffer passed away in 1924, her sister, Frances Corona or Fanny “Mother” Corona, inherited the property and ran it until 1941. She sold the hotel to Clark H. Thompson and Eldon G. “Curley” Petzoldt in 1941, ending the 54 years of Swycaffer family ownership.

From the guide to the Lakeside Hotel Register, 1888 May 29–1889 September 21, (San Diego History Center Document Collection)