As a pioneering merchant, public official and civic leader in Escondido's earliest days, Sigmund “Sig” Steiner left his mark on the community.
Steiner was the co-founder of Escondido's first store in 1886, served as mayor for 12 years and still is remembered as “The Father of Grape Day.”
Steiner was born in 1865 in the Placer County town of Auburn, the son of European Jewish immigrants. He was called Sig at an early age by his friends, according to a 1983 article in The Journal of San Diego History.
Sig Steiner came to San Diego around 1879 and clerked for five years with Steiner, Klauber & Co., a mercantile firm in which his uncle Samuel was a partner. Then he headed north to start a business of his own. In 1886, he partnered with P.A. Graham to open a store in Escondido.
In his 1988 book, “Hidden Valley Heritage: Escondido's First 100 Years,” Alan McGrew stated that “most early accounts of the commercial activity of Escondido relate that Sigmund 'Sig' Steiner and P.A. Graham established the first Escondido grocery store and that the partners, by the addition of a wide variety of stock, converted it into a department store-type of business shortly after Escondido was incorporated.”
The first Graham and Steiner store was a one-story, wood-frame building at Grand Avenue and Lime Street, which now is Broadway. This was the crossroads for a community that in 1886 had 32 houses, according to Frances Bevan Ryan's essay on Steiner in the July 1976 edition of the Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly.
In 1895, the store was replaced with a two-story brick structure. The lower floor held the department store, the upper a 500-seat auditorium that hosted lodge meetings, talent contests and high school graduations, according to Ryan.
Steiner bought out Graham in 1903 and continued the business as Steiner and Co.
“Sig took all kinds of produce in lieu of cash,” Ryan wrote. “A farmer with a case of fresh eggs, a crate of live chickens or a bushel basket of ripe tomatoes got paid in equal exchange of goods or store money to be spent later. Store money was the early day credit system.”
The civic-minded Steiner was elected to the city's board of trustees, predecessor to the city council, in 1894. Steiner's colleagues elected him board president, the de facto mayor of the town. He also helped found the Escondido Chamber of Commerce and the First National Bank.
Steiner served as board president for 12 years before stepping down in 1906. In that role, he presided over the burning of the water bonds in September 1905, a milestone in Escondido history.
About 3,000 people gathered to witness the burning of canceled bonds from the Escondido Irrigation District. The celebration was so significant that residents returned to the site for at least the next couple of years to picnic and commemorate what many called “Freedom Day.”
This commemoration evolved in 1908 into Grape Day, a name Steiner encouraged to honor the crop of muscat grapes that a horticultural report had praised for sweetness.
Around 1912, Steiner married Luna Kies Andrews and later sold his store to move to Los Angeles.
Steiner died in September 1945 at the age of 80. In its front-page obituary, the Times-Advocate included portions of a letter from another former Escondidan, Dr. Ralph Alexander.
“Mr. Steiner's influence in a large way brought to Escondido such civic improvements as electricity and gas, the paving of Grand Avenue and (the) sewer system,” Alexander wrote.
He closed by adding, “Everyone knows he was 'The Father of Grape Day.'”
Vincent Nicholas Rossi is a freelance writer who lives in Rancho Bernardo.
