William H. Carlson
| William H. Carlson | |
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Carlson c. late 1880s
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| 7th Mayor of San Diego | |
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In office May 1, 1893 – May 3, 1897 |
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| Preceded by | Matthew Sherman |
| Succeeded by | Daniel C. Reed |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 11, 1864 Sweden |
| Died | July 7, 1937 (aged 73) Los Angeles, California |
| Political party | Independent |
William H. "Billy" Carlson (April 11, 1864–July 7, 1937) was an American land developer and Independent politician from California. He served in the state legislature and served two terms as Mayor of San Diego. He was the first developer of the San Diego neighborhood of Ocean Beach.
William "Billy" Carlson was born 1864 in Sweden. He immigrated to the U.S. by 1870 and grew up in San Francisco. Carlson, a fast-talker, would later often deny he was an immigrant. By 1885 he had moved to San Diego. On October 3, 1887 Carlson married Carmen Ferrer, of the wealthy Estudillo family.
In San Diego he became editor for the San Diego Sun. Then, with San Francisco associate Frank Higgins, he opened a real estate firm, Carlson & Higgins, just when the real estate boom of 1886–88 took off. Carlson and Higgins developed Ocean Beach in 1887. They bought 600 acres (2.4 km2) of pueblo land and gave it the name Ocean Beach. They laid out and named the streets, sold lots, and constructed a fancy Victorian-style hotel called the Cliff House. They sold 2,200 lots in the first few weeks. To lure buyers they promised to build a rail line to downtown, since the development was 2½ hours from downtown by carriage.
Carlson and Higgins actually did develop a short rail line from [[Roseville, San Diego}Roseville]], a then-independent town on the San Diego Bay side of Point Loma, to Ocean Beach in 1888. They also attempted to build a rail line from Old Town to Roseville, but the project foundered in legal troubles after less than a mile of construction. Meanwhile San Diego's real estate boom had ended and the development was in financial trouble. The Cliff House Hotel burned down in 1898. His partner Higgins committed suicide in 1889. Carlson sold the Ocean Beach development to an Eastern financier, and its development would wait until 1909, when D. C. Collier built a permanent railroad line.
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