The Colonel Fletcher Building was built in 1908 and completely renovated in 2008. The building is named for Colonel Ed Fletcher (1872-1955). The following is excerpted from the San Diego History Center: Fletcher was born in Littleton, Massachusetts. He received his early education in Worcester and Boston.
Fletcher arrived in San Diego in the 1880s where he sold fresh produce. He covered his territory by train, horse-drawn wagon and on a bicycle. In 1908 he entered the real estate business in partnership with William Gross and developed Grossmont and Mt. Helix. He laid out the subdivision of Del Mar for the South Coast Land Company, and later became the agent for the F.W. Thum Company. In partnership with Frank Salmons. he erected the Thum Block at the northeast comer of Sixth and Broadway. In 1910 Colonel Fletcher laid out Pine Hills in the Julian district and erected the Pine Hills Lodge. He also was a co-owner and laid out some 400 acres of land adjoining Cuyamaca Lake.
Fletcher’s title “Colonel” stemmed from Governor George Cooper Pardee appointing him in 1907 as a Lieutenant-Colonel in the California National Guard. A newspaper decades later said, “The title stuck. It fitted his vigorous, dramatic kind of leadership.” For further reading, see Fletcher’s book “Memoirs of Ed Fletcher”, 750 pages long, published in 1952. It is sometimes available used at Amazon.com.