A Wells-Fargo stagecoach, Wyatt Earp’s signature and the story of Bum the town dog make for fascinating fun at the San Diego History Center, located in the heart of Balboa Park. The 1866 stagecoach could travel from San Diego to Los Angeles in just two days. Gambler Wyatt Earp had business dealings in San Diego properties and bet on prizefights and horse racing. Bum the St. Bernard/spaniel arrived in the city as a stowaway on a late-1800s steam ship and decided to stay.

But the birth of “America’s Finest City” and surrounding areas begins centuries earlier with the Kumeyaay culture, followed by 18-century Spanish settlements, the 19th-century Mexican era and California Gold Rush.

Luckily for visitors, the History Center chronicles it all, through a variety of mediums and subjects, including art, photographs, documents, historic clothing and objects.

Along with the area’s aforementioned indigenous beginnings exhibited in “Place of Promise,” the center also illustrates the initial development and transformation of today’s downtown beginning in the 1870s, when Alonzo Horton built his wharf at the foot of 5th Avenue, to the 1985 opening of Horton Plaza in the newly designed historic district, The Gaslamp Quarter.

For visitors researching the city, the center carries 2.5 million historic photographs and 45 million documents to view in the lower-level library and archives. The center also offers a many popular programs for kids and adults. An 80-seat Thornton Theatre shows exhibit-related films and is also available for rent for corporate meetings, movies and lectures. The center may also be rented for weddings and other occasions.

Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. The center offers free admission for San Diego residents on the second Tuesday of each month. Stop in for a lesson in the region’s dynamic past! For more information, call (619) 232-6203 or visit sandiegohistory.org/.