Carlsbad Time Lines
Q2 2025 Carlsbad, California, Historical Society
President's Letter
Happy Spring! Everywhere I look around town, my own home and in the Magee Park Rose Garden, flowers are blooming, birds are migrating and tourists are visiting. These guests are visiting our Museum in large numbers each weekend, many of them very complimentary, so interested in our history and our displays. It is not unusual for most of these visitors to stay for an hour, “ this is a wonderful place” ;”I learned so much”; “ this is so interesting”. One of my favorite experiences in the past month, a ten year boy visited with his mom. He is a history fan and reads everything. A few weeks later, I was passing through the museum and who was visiting a second time but this little guy, this time acting as a tour guide to his dad? Another historian in the making!
Of course as in all things, not everything is sunshine and roses. We’ve had a few complainers that question why we do not have certain subjects covered and on display. Our answer is simply we have on display those items that have been donated to us from Carlsbadians. We do not pick and choose what to display based on personal preferences, but on availability of items needed to create an interpretive display.
We also point out that as a non profit organization, we pay for staffing (“why aren’t you open more days?”). We pay for preservation materials, (check out Gaylord online for a shock in material costs) computers, display signage, and the list goes on. Our members offer free talks to community groups, volunteer their time for school tours, creation of displays, maintaining a website and generally continuing research and preservation of our history.
The museum is free, donations are accepted and used towards the above mentioned items.
Next time you have visitors, bring them by, you’ll be glad you did.
Sue
Marvin Sippel 1934-2025
It’s with deep sadness we say goodbye to our dear friend Marvin Sippel, Vice President of the Carlsbad Historical Society, and well respected friend.
Marvin, husband, father of 3, Doug, Andrea and Greg, grandfather of 9, and great grandfather of 3, he left a legacy to be envied.
As a much respected member of the community, Marvin was well known as a teacher, choir and band member. Marv was always eager to learn something new, to fly, long distance biking, doing incredible woodworking, using his skills set that varied from building owl houses for Carrillo Ranch, to building display cases at the Carlsbad Historical Society museum, and even hobby horses for school children to experience the thrill of ranching.
Marvin Howard Sippel
Marvin’s marriage to Lucia Kelly, a classmate from Whittier college began in 1956, and lasted 51 years, and started his path forward into the Kelly Family preservation of Carlsbad history. Marv’s many activities with Carlsbad Historical had his teaching skills contributing to the education of young Carlsbad children learning about the ranching history of our town.
Marvin will be remembered for his kindness, his interest in others, finding a way to teach and engage others regardless of their age and always willing to volunteer and lend a hand.
Marvin will be missed by all of us, his family and his wife Mary Scherr.
Below are a few memories listed from his former students.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OH NO! Mr. Sippel! I had him for Social Studies in our sophomore year. He was a great teacher and made his class so fun.
He was a wonderful teacher
I was his civics aide in my senior year. He was an awesome teacher. Sympathies to his family. He'll be missed.
He and his wife Lucia were one of the first couples we met when I moved to Carlsbad with my parents at age 15. They remained fantastic friends with our family throughout my parents lifetime.
The perfect example of what a real man is. 
He was one of my favorite teachers! Praying God's peace for his family.
My wife,Stephanie kept her horse on the Sippel ranch in the 90’s..Marvin and Lucia were always great gatekeepers
Great teacher who loved his students and brought out the best in them.
Mr Sippel was funny and kind.He will be missed. ❤️
Marv was a good man and a great friend.
Such a nice man. 💜
A great teacher and always kept learning fun. RIP Mr. Sippel and condolences to the family.
So sorry to hear. Great man , teacher and my freshman basketball coach🏀🏀🏀. Please let us know of his service 🙏🙏🙏
RIP. Marv Sippel, on-site at the pioneer Kelly Family adobe home in this video, is interviewed about the property. Marv was married to the late Lucia Kelly. https://koct.org/videosondemand/arnc-kelly-adobe
ARNC Kelly Adobe — KOCT TV - The Oceanside Channel for News, Arts and Culture
KOCT.ORG
ARNC Kelly Adobe — KOCT TV - The Oceanside Channel for News, Arts and Culture
ARNC Kelly Adobe — KOCT TV - The Oceanside Channel for News, Arts and Culture
We had our horses at Sippels Ranch and my daughter went to camp there one summer. I have great memories of Mr Sippel and his family💙
He was one of my favorite teachers ❤️
Mr. Sippel was the first teacher to expose me to the Henry Thomas Buckle quote, "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people". Then on a daily basis in his class he led us to think and exam ideas. The epitome of a great teacher.
Last year I was lucky enough to be able to give him a ride every week to concert band practice at the Museum of Making Music. He loved playing his French Horn! Such a nice man. We’ll miss you, Marvelous Marv!
Mr. Sippel was an incredible human being! RIP One of my favorite teachers. RIP
He was a fantastic teacher. He also had us up at the ranch and showed us how to care for bonsai. Impressive.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lucia Kelly Sippel and Marvin Sippel
Land titles after 1848
Little is known about the land titles after Carlsbad became part of the United States. Were they automatically honored? Did they need to be translated from Spanish? What about the Missions’ lands?
California was part of Spain for centuries, and some land titles in Los Angeles county, for example, date back to that period. Then Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, along with all of South and Central America. California was part of Mexico until 1848, for about 27 years. During this period most of the Missions were dissolved completely, and their lands were given to people of money and connections who wanted to develop them. “Ranchos” were thus formed. The northern half of Carlsbad was a Mexican Rancho by the name of Agua Hedionda (stinking water), and it was given to Juan Maria Marron. A small section of a land grant, Rancho Las Encinitas, issued in 1842 to Don Andrés Ybarra, also became part of Carlsbad. The remnants of Don Ybarra's adobe ranch house are located at Stagecoach Park in Carlsbad's southeast quadrant.
After Mexico lost over half of its territory in the Mexican-American war, some people came out west and became squatters, just taking possession of unoccupied lands. Some Americans became filibusters, people who disobeyed the laws and tried to take more land for the US. Some land titles were questionable. Then we had the gold rush of 1849, that brought people from all over the world, a lot of them greedy and in a fever for richness. Incredible abuses were done to the Native People in Northern California.
When California became a State in September 1850, its first Senators, Fremont and Gwin, petitioned the Federal Government to do something about verifying the land titles in the state. The “Land Act of 1851” was passed, and the process of verification started. It took until the early 1860s before this was completed. Some Californios lost property in the process. And the Native People certainly did not have any land titles at the time.
“Juan Maria Romouldo Marron died in 1853 while California was undergoing drastic changes. In his will the grantee, Juan Maria Romouldo Marron, left 362 acres on the northern border of his Rancho Agua Hedionda, the area known as Rinconada de Buena Vista y El Salto, to his younger brother and godson Sylvester Marron, along with grazing rights on the entire Rancho property. The remaining 12,000 acres of Rancho Agua Hedionda and a second Ranch in Baja California, Rancho Los Cueros de Venado, were left to his wife Felipa and four surviving children: Maria de la Luz, Jose Cayetano, Juan Nepomuceno and Ignacio de Jesus (Carron, October 2001). In the years immediately after Juan Maria Romouldos death, his family entered into a series of leases on Rancho Agua Hedionda. In 1860 Felipa Marron entered into an agreement with Francis J. Hinton, exchanging money for use of Rancho Agua Hedionda. Five years later in 1865 property title was transferred to Hinton. “ Windows on the Past”
Jack Hinton left it to his business partner Robert Kelly. This property title must have been verified by the Land Act of 1851. Roberts’ brother, Matthew Kelly homestead Los Quiotes, in what is now Leo Carrillo Ranch, the Federal Government must have already cleared that property as belonging to no one, before giving the land grant.
Some of the land that had belonged to the Missions was given back to them by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. This was following a request by the California Bishop. The museum in San Luis Rey Mission, in Oceanside, has a copy of the order signed by Lincoln.
To get an idea of the size of the local missions: San Diego Mission recorded 6522 baptisms between 1769 and secularization in 1832; San Luis Rey Mission recorded 5399 baptisms between 1798 and 1832.
From “Windows on the Past: An Illustrated History of Carlsbad, California”
Americanization
In 1846, America fulfilled its America's Manifest Destiny when it entered into a war with Mexico known as the Mexican American war. By 1848, the war had ended with Mexico losing almost one half of its total territory to the United States. After a brief twenty-one year period, Mexican rule over California ended. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed by the United States and Mexico 1848, the same rights were guaranteed to Mexican citizens living in the newly acquired US territories as if they were already United States citizens.
While recognition of property ownership was assured in the treaty, it was sometimes difficult to maintain. A variety of reasons were at fault; one difference was as simple as legal property description. When Mission land was partitioned and Mexican land grants were issued, property descriptions were based on the location of natural features such as trees, streams or hills. Diseños or drawings depicting these features were considered adequate as property descriptions. The United States based property titles on accurate surveys. In fact one of the first things the United States government did at the conclusion of the Mexican American war was to send out Survey teams that documented accurate boundary lines and grids throughout the Southwest.
Additional problems encountered in retaining property title were debts and how they were paid off. Under Mexican practice, a gentleman's agreement was reached and negotiated and hands were shaken: the deal was done. United States law had papers signed, liens issued and property confiscated if loans were not repaid.
Immediately after the war a flood of Americans arrived in California, mainly heading for the northern California gold fields. Those that came and settled in Southern California did so for ranching and farming. Settling on the ranches with their families, they intended to live there year round, unlike their Californio counterparts who lived in town as well as on their ranchos.
Sleeping Carlsbad Wakes Up
A few months ago the Julie Fish estate donated a photo album containing photos of the Save Hosp Grove movement in the late 1986s. For those whose memories need a little refreshing, the Hosp Grove movement was a ballot measure” Proposition A” supported by Julie Fish for the Neighborhood Alliance, O.B. Adams of the La Costa Community Awareness, Kay Christiansen from the Carlsbad City Historic Preservation Commission, and Dan Hammer of the Friends of Hosp Grove. Hosp Grove, an eucalyptus forest planted in 1907, was scheduled for development for proposed condominiums and a shopping center.
Those opposed to Proposition A, based on the cost of the $7 million purchase price , included former mayor Mary Casler, former council person Glenn McComas, Scott Wright, chair of the city Parks, and the Recreation Commission.
The measure to purchase and save Hosp Grove was on the ballot two times, first needing a two thirds vote, which narrowly missed and a second vote with a simple majority. As evident from the grove still standing, the second vote passed.
This photo donation raised the question about the history of citizen activism, and protests. A drive along Carlsbad Blvd recently emphasizes that both are alive and well in town, with residents exercising their first amendment rights for local as well as national issues.
Starting in 1952 with the incorporation fight, for and against held strong opinions, Charles Mansir was a weekend fixture on Carlsbad Blvd (101) holding opposition signs. Some opposition issues lost and some won. Costco (then known as Price Club) today a fixture in all of our lives was not a welcome addition to town, and led to Carlsbad’s zoning restrictions on big box stores being built. Legoland was opposed based on fears of increased traffic; while support came from those who felt it was a source of much needed employment for our youth.
The controversial “art installation” at Pine and Carlsbad Blvd, known as the “Bars” was an issue that unified many who felt the concept drawing was not accurately created in the final project. This pushback forced the removal of the art. A more recent No on Prop A defeated the development of a mall on the I-5 and Cannon Road. More recently residents have vocally opposed development of congested housing projects in old Carlsbad, Marj Acres and Poinsettia Plaza.
Historically speaking, we were a town born from activism, and continued through the years as Carlsbad residents volunteered their time and energies to advocate for change, hit the streets , protest, write letters, gather petition signatures, and let their concerns, and opinions be known.
Man Protesting City Incorporation
The Bars
Save Hosp Grove
No on A: mall on the lagoon
50501 Protest on Carlsbad Blvd.
Earlier this month, Carlsbad’s City Council expanded its public camping ban to include people living in their vehicles with no plans to create safe parking options.
Carlsbad Police Chief Christie Calderwood said at a March 18 Council meeting that the ordinance is another “tool” that officers can use to get people to accept the services they need. Residents and nonprofit leaders urged the Council to first start a safe parking program before implementing the ban. City leaders moved forward, anyway. The Voice of San Diego, March 26, 2025
Bup Kentner’s Picture Donation
The Kentner and Vaughn families visited Los Quiotes before it became Leo Carrillo Ranch.
Ed and Neva Kentner bought the old Schutte home and started that Twin Inns Restaurant in 1920. They are pictured above with their daughters DD and Toots, aunt Dot, and Bup “in utero”.
Roses Are In Bloom!
Starting now and for the next few weeks you can see the beautiful rose garden surrounding the Shipley Magee House in Full Bloom.
Carlsbad Historical Society
258 Beech Ave. Carlsbad CA 92008
(442) 500-4471
www.carlsbadhistoricalsociety.com
*Open Saturday and Sunday, 11 am to 3 pm
*Private Tours by appointment
*School, Scouts and Families welcome
