The Creole Cafe/Witfeld Drug Store Museum

In preparation for an upcoming paranormal investigation at this location I began researching these intriguing old buildings, and felt compelled to share some of my preliminary findings with our PPI Blog readers. I can see this turning into a full blown research project in the near future, because there is no definitive compilation regarding the history of these buildings, and what little information is available is contradictory. I have an affinity with these buildings going back 30 years when I did volunteer work for the Historical Shrine Foundation of San Diego, who, under the leadership of June Reading, relocated these buildings to the Whaley House grounds in Old Town, and secured funding to restore the buildings from the County of San Diego. Therefore, there should be documents in the San Diego County Archives that address the many questions surrounding their origins, and action taken by the County Supervisors should be reflected in their minutes. Additional information may also be available through the San Diego Historical Society because June Reading wrote extensively of her Foundation's work at the Whaley House. But for time being, the following will have to suffice.  

I have been unable to find any information about the the building that currently serves as the kitchen for the Creole Cafe, but in the late 1970's through the late 1980's the building was used as a coffee shop. It was called "The Spice of Life", and it was a great place to grab a cup of coffee on a cold winter day while investigating the grounds of the Whaley House Museum. June Reading told me that both buildings were moved to the Whaley House property from another location and restored sometime after the Whaley House was restored and opened to the public in 1960 and the San Diego Bicentennial Celebration of 1969. The buildings were pre-fabs that were shipped around Cape Horn to the west coast in the late 1850's or early 1860's. They were basically "kit" buildings that were ordered from a catalog and assembled on site. This type of false front pre-fab building was very common in Old Town in the late 1800's.  

The building which now serves as the dining room of the Creole Cafe was dedicated as the San Diego Drugstore Museum in 1969, and bears a bronze plaque commemorating the occasion. From 1969 through the late 1990's it housed displays assembled by June Reading and the Southern California Pharmaceutical Association. When June passed away in 1998, the Historical Shrine Foundation was disbanded, and responsibility of the buildings was transferred to SOHO. The Creole Cafe opened for business in 2004. 

The following is a brief description of the Drug Store Museum during the time:

Witfeld Old Town Drug Store
The Whaley House
2482 San Diego Avenue
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 298-2482

Owned and operated by the Historical Shrine Foundation of San Diego County, June Reading, Director.
Spring/Summer: Tuesday - Sunday 10:00 am - 400 pm
Fall/Winter: Wednesday - Sunday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Admission - Free

The Witfeld Old Town Drug Store Museum was inaugurated in 1969 under the direction of Mrs. James Reading in cooperation with the County of San Diego and Southern California Pharmaceutical Association. The restoration is named after the pharmaceutical-chemist Gustavus Witfeld, who was born near Cologne, Germany, on January 27, 1825. He became the city pharmacists in 1868 and died there on September 15, 1894.

The original building was restored on the Whaley House grounds and displays furnishings, pharmaceutical implements; glass and ceramic containers; pill, suppository and tablet machines; and percolators of the 1850's to the 1880's. 

A physician's clinic with period equipment and tools is also attached to the pharmacy. Adjacent to the museum is a botanical garden with herbal spices reminiscent of a bygone era. 

source: A Guide to Pharmacy Museums and Historical Collections in the United States and Canada by George Griffenhagen, Ernst W. Stieb, Beth D. Fisher (American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, 1999) 

http://pharmacy.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/content/american-institute-history-pharmacy/historical-sources-pharmacy-faq/museumguide.pdf

I found this brief biography of Gustavus Witfeld online. It's worth noting that his last name was misspelled in the biography. Small errors like this are common in historical research:

San Diego County Biographies

Gustavus Witfield

This file is part of the California Genealogy Archives

source:  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Gustavus Witfield, the pioneer druggist of San Diego, was born near Cologne, Prussia, January 27, 1825; was carefully educated and studied chemistry at the University of Bonn. He emigrated to America in 1848, first visiting Paris and Havre, and landing at New York in April of that year. He then went to New Orleans, where he was employed in a drug store for one year. In 1849, he started for California, induced by the gold excitement of that year, going by the Isthmus of Panama, and arriving at Monterey, by a sailing vessel from Panama in March, 1850. With great enthusiasm started for the mines, visiting Mariposa County, Calavera County, Tuolomne County, and going as far north as the Fraser river, always led on by enthusiastic reports, but never realizing the great bonanzas which were ever reported to be awaiting enthusiastic miners.

After ten years of prospecting, he returned to San Francisco, to resume the profession which he had learned in his youth. He entered a large wholesale drug house, remaining until 1862, when he went to Panama and opened a large commission house in drugs and chemicals, for several English houses, trading very extensively in indigo. In 1866, he made a business trip to London, and in 1867 severed his connection to Panama and returned to San Francisco. He then journeyed south, stopping at Los Angeles two months and then going to Old Town, where he located and started in business. In 1869, he came to New Town, and as the present city was established he bought a lot on Fifth street between E and F. He then built and established the first drug store in San Diego. In 1878, he removed his entire stock of drugs to Tucson, Arizona, moving by three wagons across the desert. He stopped there six years, doing a good business. In 1884, he sold out his entire business and returned to Germany to see his family and friends. After an absence of six months he returned to San Diego, but has never resumed active business except in the care of his several interests. Dr. Witfield is a member of the San Diego Lodge of Masons, No. 35; also lodge of Perfection, Scottish rite thirty-second degree at Tucson, and of the society of San Diego pioneers.

Source: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. pp 112-113  

An interesting fact turned up while conducting this research. A few days before his death, Gustavus Witfeld willed his entire estate in trust to the Free and Accepted Masonic Lodge #35. Witfeld's heirs filed suit against the Masonic Lodge and the case was decided in San Diego Superior Court in May 1899 (5 years after his death). Witfeld's heirs prevailed in the law suit.

Source: Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of California - pages 418 through 422.

http://books.google.com/books?id=VnoWAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA419&lpg=PA419&dq=Gustavus+Witfeld+San+Diego+obituary&source=bl&ots=dR93dWk6qY&sig=YxZTV9tWEBS7A8OyUq-UEu-sVZU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6543UsvkF-r3iwLfm4GwDw&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Gustavus%20Witfeld%20San%20Diego%20obituary&f=false

Gustavus Witfeld is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery. His marker was installed by Masonic Lodge #35. His marker reads as follows: Gustavus Witfeld. Birth: Jan. 27, 1825 Death: Sep. 15, 1894, California, USA. Naturalized June 5, 1854 in Tuolumne, CA. Plot: Masonic, Section C. San Diego's First Druggist. 

Source: http://www.findagrave.com/

It has been difficult to determine the original location of the building prior to its relocation and restoration on the Whaley House grounds. A map of Old Town San Diego compiled by a member of the Historical Society, with the assistance of Old Town residents, including Lillian Whaley, identifies the location of Witfeld's store but the description of the building is inconsistent with the actual building that has been restored. Ms. Whaley recalled Witfeld's Drug Store being located on the Plaza across from the Cosmopolitan Hotel. The annotated map can be seen by following the link below. The annotated map describes the location of the building as follows:

58. GUSTAVUS WITFELD'S DRUG STORE

One story adobe. Early day drug store, established in 1868. Ad in San Diego Union, October 31, 1868 announced:

"San Diego Drug Store - On North side of Plaza Old Town, San Diego. G. Wittfield, Druggist and chemist. Keeps on hand a well assorted stock of fresh drugs, chemicals and patent medicines, carefully compounded." The building he occupied was next door to Llucia's "French Bakery." Witfeld is the correct way to spell the druggist's name.

When he moved from Old Town, Llucia bought out his stock of drugs and moved them to his store. The drug store was never occupied again and crumbled away.

Gustavus Witfeld was a pioneer druggist of both San Diego and Tucson, Arizona. On June 15, 1946, Druggists and Masons of San Diego placed a marker on his grave at Mt. Hope cemetery. (Llucia - Zink)

Source: SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY

Winter 1969, Volume 15, Number 1

Part I - Places in Old Town

By Orion M. Zink

Rita Larkin, Editor

http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/69winter/part1.htm

Could Lillian Whaley's recollection of the fate of this building be incorrect?

An early photograph of the Plaza shows the Cosmopolitan Hotel and a pre-fab building identical to Witfeld's Drug Store Museum:

Source: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/79spring/images/p96b.jpg

This photograph from the 1909 restoration of the Casa de Estudillo also shows the same building in the same location:

When I first began exploring Old Town in 1980 the corner where the Drug Store may have once stood was a vacant lot. in 1989 a replica of the original building was built, and it was designated as the Johnson House. It is worth noting that the replica building is an exact duplicate of the pre-fab buildings that now stand on the Whaley House grounds:

Here's some background on the replica of the Johnson House:

Johnson House

Location: 2706 San Diego Avenue

Old Town State Historic Park

Old Town San Diego, CA (map)

Phone:(619) 220-5422

More info: Website

George Alonzo Johnson, a wealthy Colorado River steamboat operator, bought this vacant lot on the plaza from his mother-in-law, Tomasa Pico de Alvarado, in 1869.

Captain Johnson, who lived with his wife Estefana at Rancho Los Penasquitos, built a modest, wood-frame office building on the lot. The building was rented out as a grocery store and later bookkeeping business. Typical of many American buildings, it had a false front and full-length wooden porch.

In 1880, the Johnsons lost their rancho to creditors and within several years moved to this building on the plaza, where the captain died in 1903. Reconstructed in 1989 by California State Parks, the building operates as a park concession.

Source: San Diego Coast Life web site http://www.sandiegocoastlife.com/attractions/historic-johnson-house.html

Many questions surrounding these building remain unanswered. Was the Witfeld Drug Store and the Johnson House the same pre fabricated building? Was the historical description of the building by Lillian Whaley as "a one story adobe" incorrect? Was the date the lot was purchased and the building constructed that later became known as the Johnson House incorrect? Was this building moved from its original location on the Plaza to the Whaley House grounds, where it was restored and rededicated as the Witfeld Drug Store Museum in 1969, or was this building moved from downtown San Diego. Where did the other building which now serves as the kitchen originate? Only a thorough search of county records will answer these questions, and shed some light on the reports of paranormal activity at these locations.