The Spruce Street Suspension Bridge (Photo by Frank Sabatini Jr.)
Bankers Hill

‘Did You Know…’

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

…that the popular Spruce Street Suspension Bridge in Bankers Hill was designed in 1912 by former San Diego Mayor Edwin M. Capps? The engineer-turned-politician served two mayoral terms, from 1899 to 1901 and from 1915 to 1917.

Edwin M. Capps (Wikipedia)

Prior to serving office, Capps was the city engineer for San Diego. He viewed the area as a potential hotbed for tourism and often advocated for new hotels and building projects. (How prophetic!) As a result, he became involved in some of our city’s earliest road and landscape improvements along the downtown harbor to accommodate a slow but steady influx of visitors at the time.

As for the bouncy Spruce Street footbridge, it hovers 70 feet above a lush canyon that was brown and barren when Capps oversaw its construction.