Kate Sessions (San Diego History Center)
History, Balboa Park

Did You Know…

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

…that Balboa Park’s earliest beginnings were little more than an undeveloped mesa stretching about 1,400 acres—and named at the time City Park? It sat relatively barren for more than 20 years, from 1868 to 1892. Afterwards, flora such as queen palms, birds of paradise, and green shrubbery were introduced to the land by horticulturist Kate Sessions, known otherwise as “the mother of Balboa Park.”

By the turn of that century, a city tax earmarked for the beautification of the park would soon result in the installation of irrigation systems and continued plantings. By the time the land was renamed Balboa Park, it had become a lush and beautiful destination that was ready to host the 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition and future generations.

Today the park spans 1,200 acres, due in part to the city and developers acquiring some of the land back then. In addition, 32 acres had been given to Sessions in exchange for her honorable commitment of “planting 100 trees a year” within the park. Sessions died in 1940, although many of her trees still stand.