No.8 - Seaman Haines House

671 Fourth Avenue

In 1888, William Wilson came to California and purchased Lot 9 QS 139 from the San Diego Land and Town Company and had this house constructed. Wilson was a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, and for many years was a merchant in Toronto, Canada. After Wilson died in 1893, Seaman Haines purchased the property from the Wilson estate in 1895.

Haines and his wife, Evelyn, also bought 10 acres adjacent to the north side of the property. A citrus rancher, Haines was well known locally as an orchardist. He was a native of New York and died in Chula Vista in 1913 at the age of 59.

This house has special significance as an orchard home from the 1890s and as one of the few remaining Victorian houses in Chula Vista.