Things about Bertha and her son DeWitt Mitchell
There were so many war and cultural things I didn’t know before this project. Some with only a surface level of an understanding, and so as a woman with a masters degree, I will blatantly tell you thing things I didn’t know:
A Gold Star can only be given to mothers who have lost a child in war.
Women (and men) fought harder than I ever imagined to achieve equality for women, like voting- Suffrage.
People in San Diego spoke and thought about about labor rights, municipal reforms and environmental issues, through the Progressive Party in the 1920s.
As an art major, I could only describe Cubism, Fauvism, and Expressionism as actual things in that time period.
That our government didn’t automatically take care of wounded veterans or their families in the event of the loss of the head of household. Soldiers needed the Paris Caucus to stand up for soldiers.
American Legion posts have done great things for communities- assisting children, fund raising, celebrations and community building by way of parties. I had only thought they were places to gather and imbibe- bars.
I couldn’t find a photograph of Bertha Mitchell. Her home, yes (through SOHO) not many words, but why no photos, not even a selfie!
I was, however, very excited to know about the unphotographed, behind the scene things she did to build San Diego. It all happened through parties. This is why there is a fancy hat and serving dishes in the bench display. Women’s work at its finest.
A few other things
DeWitt died during ww1 of the Spanish flu. My research was in the middle of Covid and I was stunned to find so many images of soldiers and civilians wearing masks, 100 years ago. DeWitt was in training in Texas. He had already completed his education as an attorney.
American Legions Posts can only be named after dead people.
Bertha Mitchell died in 1926 (before the post was opened in 1931), but had bequeathed $10,000 for the creation of post #201.
Founding member, Lester Olmstead had appealed to Bertha that they needed a Hall (and that he was the guy to build it). He later became the City Parks commissioner. He was part of the San Diego Zoo, but not the Olmstead who created Central Park in NYC.
——-An excerpt from Save Our Heritage Organization——-
Mrs. Mitchell and her son, Lt. Dewitt Mitchell, were progressive philanthropists, and are remembered most for their large donations used to originate and fund the Legal Aid Society Trust, which became our current Public Defender's Office. Lt. Mitchell died young, at the age of 27 years, but Mrs. Mitchell occupied the property until the mid-1920's.
In 1928, the Terpezone Clinic opened in the house. The clinic was billed as a place which treated many ails, among them tuberculosis, bronchitis, laryngitis, asthma, hay fever, and whooping cough. Subsequent to the clinic's occupation, the building served as two restaurants, then a boarding house and apartment before becoming the Elk's Lodge in the 1950's. Unfortunately, after more than 70 years of creative reuse, the noteworthy home met its destruction at the hands of a developer with limited imagination and desire.
SOHO obituary.
https://www.sohosandiego.org/reflections/2001-4/obituary.htm
There were so many war and cultural things I didn’t know before this project. Some with only a surface level of an understanding, and so as a woman with a masters degree, I will blatantly tell you thing things I didn’t know:
A Gold Star can only be given to mothers who have lost a child in war.
Women (and men) fought harder than I ever imagined to achieve equality for women, like voting- Suffrage.
People in San Diego spoke and thought about about labor rights, municipal reforms and environmental issues, through the Progressive Party in the 1920s.
As an art major, I could only describe Cubism, Fauvism, and Expressionism as actual things in that time period.
That our government didn’t automatically take care of wounded veterans or their families in the event of the loss of the head of household. Soldiers needed the Paris Caucus to stand up for soldiers.
American Legion posts have done great things for communities- assisting children, fund raising, celebrations and community building by way of parties. I had only thought they were places to gather and imbibe- bars.
I couldn’t find a photograph of Bertha Mitchell. Her home, yes (through SOHO) not many words, but why no photos, not even a selfie!
I was, however, very excited to know about the unphotographed, behind the scene things she did to build San Diego. It all happened through parties. This is why there is a fancy hat and serving dishes in the bench display. Women’s work at its finest.
A few other things
DeWitt died during ww1 of the Spanish flu. My research was in the middle of Covid and I was stunned to find so many images of soldiers and civilians wearing masks, 100 years ago. DeWitt was in training in Texas. He had already completed his education as an attorney.
American Legions Posts can only be named after dead people.
Bertha Mitchell died in 1926 (before the post was opened in 1931), but had bequeathed $10,000 for the creation of post #201.
Founding member, Lester Olmstead had appealed to Bertha that they needed a Hall (and that he was the guy to build it). He later became the City Parks commissioner. He was part of the San Diego Zoo, but not the Olmstead who created Central Park in NYC.
——-An excerpt from Save Our Heritage Organization——-
Mrs. Mitchell and her son, Lt. Dewitt Mitchell, were progressive philanthropists, and are remembered most for their large donations used to originate and fund the Legal Aid Society Trust, which became our current Public Defender's Office. Lt. Mitchell died young, at the age of 27 years, but Mrs. Mitchell occupied the property until the mid-1920's.
In 1928, the Terpezone Clinic opened in the house. The clinic was billed as a place which treated many ails, among them tuberculosis, bronchitis, laryngitis, asthma, hay fever, and whooping cough. Subsequent to the clinic's occupation, the building served as two restaurants, then a boarding house and apartment before becoming the Elk's Lodge in the 1950's. Unfortunately, after more than 70 years of creative reuse, the noteworthy home met its destruction at the hands of a developer with limited imagination and desire.
SOHO obituary.
https://www.sohosandiego.org/reflections/2001-4/obituary.htm
