Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MISSION INN
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The Spanish missions built along the coast in the mid and late 1700s were expected to be self-suf-
ficient. They all claimed lands around them and used the fields to raise livestock and crops. No
mission was built in the Riverside area, but the San Gabriel Mission, fifty miles away, used the land
in this area for its ranching. The fertile valleys, lakes, and sub-desert climate in the area would even-
tually attract many settlers. Over the years, the Riverside area experienced the land-grant boom, the
challenges of new statehood, and the developments of the railroad.
After the Civil War, Judge John Wesley North and a group of abolitionists came to Riverside
to establish a community that did not suffer from the moral degradation of the big cities on the East
Coast. They also hoped to prosper in the real estate boom that California promised.
North and his group laid out a one-mile-square plot of land on the Jurupa Rancho that would
become the center of modern Riverside. Referred to now as Mile Square, this new community was
known to take a very dim view of anyone who drank liquor or partook of other common vices.
It didn't take long for the settlers to discover that citrus crops grew quite nicely in this rich val-
ley. Soon the countryside was covered with naval orange trees and the owners prospered beyond
their wildest dreams. By the time Riverside County was created by the California Legislature in
1893, it was thought that the town had become the wealthiest city per capita in the country.
One of the settlers was a civil engineer. Christopher Columbus Miller did some work for the
new town and was compensated with part of the town's land in 1876. He immediately set out to
build a 12-room, two-story adobe boarding house that he called the Glenwood. In 1880, his son
Frank purchased both the hotel and the surrounding property.
Attracted to the area by the prosperity of the citrus farmers, wealthy easterners and tourists
flooded the area. They became so numerous that Frank decided he needed a bigger hotel. In 1902,
he constructed a much larger four-story hotel enclosing a large central courtyard. The next thirty
years saw three wings added to accommodate even more growth in tourism: The Cloister Wing was
erected in 1910, the Spanish Wing in 1914, and the International Rotunda Wing in 1931. Also, in
the 1920s, the Spanish Wing was expanded to include Author's Row and Miller's own private suite.
Designed with reclusive writers in mind, Author's Row offers a secluded setting for your next great
novel, whether you are writing it or just reading it.
The third wing filled out the original city block. It included the St. Francis Chapel, designed
specifically to accommodate a massive eighteenth-century gold-leafed cedar altar from Mexico and
seven equally impressive Louis C. Tiffany stained glass windows.
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