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The present day City Guard Band stands
as a memorial to one of the first San
Diego bands. In the 1800s, the City of
San Diego supported a volunteer
community militia as protection against
the risks associated with
life in the early days of the city. The
group was referred to as the City Guard,
later included in the California
National Guard. One auxiliary unit was
the City Guard Band.
The City Guard Band served the needs of
the city and as its emissary, around the
state and across the nation. The Band
gradually disintegrated in the wake of
World War I, with many of the musicians
moving to other local groups.
In 1980, one hundred years after
the initial formation of the City Guard
Band, a group of local musicians who
were interested in preserving
"turn-of-the-century" band music formed
the Heritage Band Society, a California
not-for-profit corporation. The Society
re-established the City Guard Band to
keep alive the musical heritage by
performing period music (1880 to 1950)
in its library of nearly 3,000
compositions for band. The
Society's library also has a comparable
number of orchestral works.
Watch - The Heritage
Band Society Featured in Ken Kramer's
"About San Diego"
This extensive library includes works
written specifically for the Band or the
City. In 1887, T.H. Rollinson
wrote "The San Diego March" in
commemoration of the Band's national
tour the fall of that year. Over
the years, additional compositions were
contributed to the Band, including "San
Diego Exposition March" (1915
Panama-Pacific Exposition), "San
Diego, I'm Coming Home to You", and "San
Diego – Finest City" to name a few.
Meet Our
Conductors – past and present
Acknowledgements
– a thank-you to those who support the
San Diego City Guard Band.
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