private trust that provided for this Memorial Park to be maintained and used for enjoyment by the people of San Diego County and the public in general. Placing of the Park in the private trust for public use was commemorated at an Easter Sunrise Service on Mt. Helix, this time on March 31, 1929.
THE HISTORY OF MT. HELIX
Did You Know? MT. HELIX PARK CONSISTS OF PRIVATE PROPERTY PLACED IN A PERPETUAL TRUST Mt. Helix Park was constructed as a memorial to Mary Carpenter Yawkey, by her children Cyrus Yawkey and Mary Yawkey White. Started in 1924 and completed in 1925, the Park was formally dedicated as a memorial to Mary Yawkey at the Easter Sunrise Service on April 12, 1925. A few years later the Park, consisting of the amphitheater and Cross at the top of the mountain, along with the large parking lot at the foot of the mountain, was placed in the Yawkey
1902 Late 19th Century Captain Rufus Porter was commissioned to chart San Diego’s East County region. He named Mt. Helix after a rare snail called the Helix Aspersa, which inhabited the mountain.
The post office shown was located at Campo Road & Conrad. Mt.Helix is in the background.
The Alta Ranch (Southwest El Cajon) was purchased from the Hervey Park estate by Ed Fletcher and William Gross. Fletcher had a vision for how this part of the county would one day be dotted with neighborhoods surrounded by lush landscaping. In order for his vision to take root, it needed a seed. William Gross, who had an illustrious career in the theater helped provide the financing. Gross dreamed of filling the first neighborhood on and around Grossmont Summit with people from the arts and he went to work recruiting famous friends interested in living and vacationing in the artist colony. That same year James Parks McClurken purchased 1200 acres of Mt. Helix for $1.20 an acre. His plan was to plant vegetable plots and experimental fruit-avocados. Although McClurken's plans never fully materialized, over the next several decades, the area became the home to several large avocado orchards.
San Diego County was specified as the first Trustee for the private Yawkey Trust, and remained as such until November 24, 1999. As a result of the legal battle to remove the Cross from a public park operated by a governmental agency (San Diego County), the Superior Court finally ruled that the Cross could not be removed since it is situated
1906 William Gross began construction of the first home (cabin) on Grossmont.
1909 The first home sites on Grossmont were sold to Carrie Jacobs Bond, Havrah Hubbard and opera singer Madam Ernestine Schumann-Heink
on private property in a private Trust. However, the Superior Court 2007 also ruled that San Diego County could be replaced as the Trustee, Under the leadership of the Park Foundation’s President and thus relieve any perceived conflict between a government Robert A. Ball the parcel adjacent and to the east of the entity and a park containing a religious symbol. Thus, the Mt. Helix upper Park property was purchased. The acquisition Park Foundation was formed in April 1999, as a private non-profit preserved the unobstructed view to the east and gave the park options for future improvements including an corporation, to serve as Successor Trustee to the County of San upper parking lot, restrooms and a visitor’s center. Diego for the Yawkey Trust. The Foundation was formally designated Successor Trustee for the Yawkey Trust by 1998 Probate Court Order on November 24, 1999. The Mt. Helix Park Foundation was formed and successThe Mt. Helix Park Foundation, as Successor fully petitioned to Court to become the Successor Trustee of the Yawkey Trust, now Trustee of the Park, thus placing the Park and its Cross operates and maintains back into private control, thus ending the lawsuit. Two of Mt. Helix Park. the Foundations early Directors were Alice Smith (Great Grand Daughter of Cyrus Yawkey) and Eric Fletcher (Great Grandson of Col. Ed Fletcher). Alice and Eric’s dedication and service is a testament to the dedication of the Yawkey’s and Fletchers for four generations.
1923
1906 Fletcher purchased land on Mt. Helix including the summit. Fletcher friends Fredrick and Mary Yawkey White, also purchase property on the mountain around this time.
1909 The first home sites on Grossmont were sold to Carrie Jacobs Bond, Havrah Hubbard and opera singer Madam Ernestine Schumann-Heink
1916 Fletcher purchased land on Mt. Helix including the summit. Fletcher friends Fredrick and Mary Yawkey White, also purchase property on the mountain around this time.
The Fletcher’s give the summit property to their good friends Fredrick and Mary Yawkey Whites and Mary’s brother Cyrus Carpenter Yawkey, a lumber magnet from Wausau, Wisconsin. Their dream was to build a wonderful memorial in honor of their mother, Mary Carpenter Yawkey. In her later years, Mrs. Yawkey had moved from Wisconsin to live with her daughter. She loved the peace and natural beauty of Mt. Helix and would regularly climb to the summit to take in the view and spend time in prayer and contemplation.
1924 Construction on the memorial began. San Francisco landscape architect, Emerson Knight and the renowned local architect Richard Requa, who gained fame for his work on the 1915 Panama-California Exposition buildings in Balboa Park, were the designers. A 25-year-old Ed Fletcher, Jr. was the job foreman. Machinery powered by mules performed the excavation and concrete lifted up wooden scaffolding by a Model T Ford, filled the Cross form one wheelbarrow at a time. The Mt. Helix Nature Theater was completed just before Easter in 1925 at a cost of $100,000.
1989 1933 The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began construction of the roadway and rugged native stonewalls leading to the park. In the tradition of folk craftsmanship the workers hand shaped and fitted stones in such a way to minimize the amount of mortar.
1917 Easter Sunrise Services were moved from La Mesa’s Mt. Nebo to the summit of Mt. Helix.
1928 Ed Fletcher
Cyrus Yawkey
Mother Yawkey & Mary White
Shortly after Mary Yawkey White’s death, Cyrus created a trust making San Diego County the Trustee and presented the County with a $30,000 endowment to provide for the Park’s maintenance. Thus, the Yawkey’s, Whites and Fletcher families together gave to the people of San Diego County a unique, wonderful and lasting gift.
Saddened by the thought that the Mt. Helix Cross and possibly the park was threatened, 12-year old El Cajon resident Sean Carroll set out on a quest to protect the place he loved by making it an Historical Landmark. His hard work paid off in August 1991 when the State of California declared the Mt. Helix Nature Theatre a Point of Historical Interest. This designation shined a light of honor on the Park and helped San Diegans understand the importance of preserving the park in a way that honored the original gift.
1988 The Park and its memorial cross became the center of a lawsuit and controversy. The County of San Diego fought the suit that called for the removal of the Cross. Once again a Fletcher came to the rescue. Ed Fletcher, Jr., Former La Mesa Mayor and County Supervisor George Bailey and the GMIA led the effort help the County find a solution to the problem and raise funds to keep the Cross lit and the Park maintained.
1938
In response to a lack of zoning ordinances and planning, Ed Fletcher, Jr. led the founding of the Grossmont-Mt. Helix Improvement Association (GMIA) to help guide residential growth.