In 2007, the Museum of Redlands welcomed a set of opera glasses and an accompanying monogrammed pouch into the collection.

The Bear Valley 1884 Dam that created Big Bear Lake was the culmination of Frank Brown’s dream of creating an irrigation colony in the far west since leaving Connecticut in 1877.

The city of Redlands is constructing new “Welcome” signposts at entrances to Our Town. The metal organizational signs, which had hung for years on the old structures, were retrieved and replaced with new updated signs.

Frank Brown and Edward Judson embraced new agricultural ideas, new hydraulic engineering, practical inventions and the motivation to risk all for success.  

The Museum of Redlands recently received from Daniel Bracy, a Redlands resident since 1960, this Toledo-brand scales, which for years stood outside the Gairs menswear store on East State Street as a service allowing customers to weigh themselves free.

Hillside Cemetery is the location of a new, unique monument to migrant workers — a plaque given by Jean Belmont Ford on a lot she owns adjacent to the graves of her father and mother, Harold and Florence Ford. Harold Ford was a major grower of apples and citrus. The marker states: “In memory…

In Redlands, there is no shortage of historic houses and historian Tom Atchley is always ready to share his plethora of fun facts and knowledge.

Last summer, the Museum of Redlands accepted a selection of Railroader Restaurant menus.

The Museum of Redlands recently received this Woman’s Relief Corps sign.

When October rolls around in Redlands, it is time to put on those hiking shoes.

A.K. Smiley Public Library Director Don McCue and artist Tom Fontanes hold a framed and commissioned pyrograph titled “The Shrine, the Library and the Smileys.” The wood-burned piece is by Fontanes, a veteran who lives in Redlands and writes occasional columns for the Redlands Community News.

In 1885, a steam locomotive pulled into the old San Timoteo Canyon station.

The Museum of Redlands recently received a framed photograph from 1915. On the far left, a young girl wearing a white dress and headband sits with knees tucked, her eyes casting an inquisitive gaze at the camera from under trimmed bangs.

The Redlands Area Historical Society will conduct the 10th annual walking tour of Hillside Memorial Park 1540 Alessandro Road at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, beginning near the Egyptian Mausoleum and finishing before sundown.  

Nathan Gonzales will be the Redlands Area Historical Society speaker at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, at the A.K. Smiley Public Library Contemporary Clubhouse.

The Museum of Redlands recently received a box of records and ephemera from Serr’s Stationery Store. Edward J. and Donna Serr moved to Redlands in 1928 when they opened their store at 208 E. State Street where Daryl’s Pet Shop is now located. For many decades, Serr’s was the go-to place for …

The Museum of Redlands recently received a Redlands Fire Department badge owned by Howard Fletcher. Sometimes an item from the past raises more questions than it answers. This is one of those.

When Redlands celebrates a birthday, many come forward with ideas to celebrate the occasion.

1866: First Mill Creek Zanja water suit pits Old San Bernardino settlers vs. Upper Settlement farmers.  Compromise is met.  

Redlands usually counts Edward G. Judson and Frank E. Brown as the founders of Redlands. Certainly the Smiley brothers are esteemed for giving Redlands a cultural soul.  

In 1819, Serrano Indians dug a ditch that ran for 12 miles. Today through what is now Redlands, it is a symbol of history and nostalgia.

 When the Burrage Mansion was sold in 1924, who was the buyer? Most will answer Edgar Pratt or Arthur Gregory after whom Lake Gregory was named. Although both are cited in various magazines, books and records about Redlands as the second owner both are incorrect. The right answer is an inter…

Writing the Mill Creek Zanja Driving Tour in 2009 and serving on the Redlands Conservancy Zanja Committee, the pronunciation and spelling of the Mill Creek Zanja came up at each meeting with advocates for each side aligned in friendly disagreement. Zanja is the Spanish word for ditch.

The Museum of Redlands recently received four stitcheries of Redlands and Yucaipa scenes, held here by donor Kathy Presnell-Best.

Phase II of the Packinghouse District shopping center led to the excavation of China Town in Redlands.  

Tom Fontanes of Redlands has donated a wood-burned portrait of Albert Cameron Burrage, the copper magnate who built the mansion in 1901.

The Redlands Horticultural and Improvement Society was founded in 1889. The founders of the town and its early leaders understood that trees and other plantings would add value and beauty to the new city.

The Redlands Area Historical Society, Contemporary Club and Redlands Conservancy wish to invite the public, City Council members and history lovers to Sylvan Park from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Mill Creek Zanja.

Larry E. Burgess, director emeritus of the A.K. Smiley Public Library and a local historian, will discuss the “the perceptions and realities in the history and present-day of Redlands, at a Chamber of Commerce meeting at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at CalWest Bank, 408 E. State St., Redlands.

The Museum of Redlands continues to receive Redlands posters from Al Hernandez, co-owner of the Citrograph on State Street.

Civil aviation took off in Redlands in 1911 — eight years after the Wright brothers’ famous flight on Dec. 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina — when the first known “air meet” was held at the University of Redlands.  

Redlands architect Clare Day has donated his many architectural drawings he has donated to the A.K. Smiley Public Library Heritage Room, sharing specific historical information and experiences involved with these buildings

1858: Ben Barton builds his first home in the future Redlands on Barton hill.  He builds a winery and expands the vineyard to 80 acres.

Even before the city took shape, Redlanders often created service clubs, political associations and hobby groups.    

Brochures, water bottles, and pottery pieces from Crystal Springs Ranch are recent donations to the Museum of Redlands collection.

    Larry Burgess and Tom Atchley will offer their Redlands local history clas from 7 to 9 p.m. beginning Sept. 17, for eight consecutive Tuesdays ending on Nov. 5 and is held in the Assembly Room of the Smiley Library.    

On Saturday, Oct. 5, guests will gather at the beautiful and historic Asistencia on Barton Road in Redlands to enjoy twilight at the Asistencia, Redlands Conservancy’s 2019 Annual Social.

A “Perry Mason” episode, “The Case of the Brazen Bequest” was filmed on location in Redlands.

  G. M. Anderson, manager of the Essanay Film Co., arrived in Redlands in January 1911. He sought out film locations for the Chicago-based film company to produce one 10-minute to 15-minute film western per day.

One by one, the names of almost 7,000 deceased people were digitized at Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands by a handful of volunteers, a painstaking task that took two-and-a-half years to complete.

Downtown Redlands grew from three separate locations and one had a saloon. Both Edward Judson and Frank Brown, Redlands co-founders, opposed the introduction of saloons in the East San Bernardino Valley. In one of the early temperance meetings the Riverside Press and Horticulturalist reporte…

Just before the groundbreaking for the Redlands Passenger Rail Project on Friday, July 19, former state Sen. Bill Emmerson, a member of the Museum of Redlands board, asked Rep. Pete Aguilar for the shovel he used in the ceremony. City videographer Cheryl Williams arranged for three former Re…

To demolish and build new, or not to demolish: that is the question faced by owners of some old buildings in historic Redlands where many old buildings still grace the downtown streets.

The Arrowhead Valley chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)  gathered on July 2, at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery to recognize Laura Baker Strong and Malvina Jerusha Chapin Rowell as Real Daughters.  

The Museum of Redlands has received the 1943 Redlands Fox Theater metal Employee Badge No. 1, which was worn by Ruby Kruse (later Pigott) when she was cashier there from 1943-45.