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San Diego Flag Girl, 1921

Everyone was in a patriotic mood 94 years ago...

Elizabeth Long Stalmer
Elizabeth Long Stalmer

My paternal grandmother Elizabeth Long was San Diego's Flag Girl in 1921 for a Daughters of the American Revolution event.

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San Diego had recently decided to preserve Balboa Park after the Panama–California Exposition of 1915. In January 1921, a San Diego Union editorial started the ball rolling by arguing: "Aside from all artistic or merely sentimental considerations, San Diego cannot afford to let this beautiful picture fade. Balboa Park is not a luxury to be maintained merely for the pleasure of San Diego; it is a necessary of our civic life and a profitable adjunct of our future metropolitan development. To keep this wonderful possession and to make the most of its limitless resources of beauty and pleasure is the main object of those who have organized the Mid-Winter exposition movement. Its purpose should appeal to every San Diegan, every public-spirited citizen and every lover of the beautiful in art and nature."

Everyone was also in a patriotic mood in 1921, what with WWI recently ending, the inauguration of the first American president whose election involved the women's vote, and the first Miss America was crowned. Sure, Prohibition was also in full swing, but according to my grandmother, that didn't get anybody's spirits down because everyone knew a bootlegger or two.

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Elizabeth Long Stalmer
Elizabeth Long Stalmer

My paternal grandmother Elizabeth Long was San Diego's Flag Girl in 1921 for a Daughters of the American Revolution event.

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San Diego had recently decided to preserve Balboa Park after the Panama–California Exposition of 1915. In January 1921, a San Diego Union editorial started the ball rolling by arguing: "Aside from all artistic or merely sentimental considerations, San Diego cannot afford to let this beautiful picture fade. Balboa Park is not a luxury to be maintained merely for the pleasure of San Diego; it is a necessary of our civic life and a profitable adjunct of our future metropolitan development. To keep this wonderful possession and to make the most of its limitless resources of beauty and pleasure is the main object of those who have organized the Mid-Winter exposition movement. Its purpose should appeal to every San Diegan, every public-spirited citizen and every lover of the beautiful in art and nature."

Everyone was also in a patriotic mood in 1921, what with WWI recently ending, the inauguration of the first American president whose election involved the women's vote, and the first Miss America was crowned. Sure, Prohibition was also in full swing, but according to my grandmother, that didn't get anybody's spirits down because everyone knew a bootlegger or two.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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