Frank Kimball House

in 1868 brothers Warren, Levi and Frank Kimball, contractors and builders from San Francisco, purchased the 26,000-acre Rancho de la Nación to found National City. The Kimballs cleared lands, built roads, constructed the City’s first wharf and brought the railroad to the City. When Kimball built his personal residence, it included a bathtub as well as hot, running water – the first in the county. It was a lavish house of its time and is one of the few remaining structures of its era in San Diego County. It has been moved and extensively altered, but remains mostly intact and in its original colors. The house now serves as an historical museum with numerous furnishings, paintings, and other artifacts that belonged to the Kimball family.

National City, San Diego County
Photographer: John Bare