No. 43 - Garrettson-Frank House

642 Second Avenue

Garrett A. Garrettson, a wealthy man from Muscatine, Iowa, purchased a five-acre lot from the San Diego Land and Town Company on December 6, 1888. He paid $1,500 for lot 26, quarter section 136. He built this house on the site and sold the property for $5,000 to Elizabeth L. and C.E. Frank of Santa Barbara in August 1891. Garrettson lived in National City and became well known in San Diego as director and vice president of the First National Bank.

The Franks lived in this house in 1892 and 1893, but soon ran into financial difficulties. The house was sold to the highest bidder in a court-ordered auction in 1899 when the Garrettson Investment Company acquired the property for $3,600.

In 1983, Corrine McCall rescued the house from a wrecking crew by purchasing it for $1 and moving it from F Street to a site adjacent to her parents' home on Second Avenue.