Update: Why Were The States in the Streets Named After States in Redlands Chosen?

By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law.

As an update to this post: I saw retired A.K. Smiley Public Library Director Larry Burgess at Eureka Burger last night, and I decided to ask him how the state-named streets in Redlands got their name.

Mr. Burgess was kind enough to tell me that they were named by the developer, and at least one of them was after his home state. He subdivided the land into roughly 25 acre parcels for orange groves, the remnants of which still exist in the area.  He said the information was not easy to find; he had run across it in years past.

A search of newspapers gives these references to the streets:

Iowa Street: San Bernardino Daily Sun, August 14, 1912, Pg. 9 (crop mortgage)

Alabama Street and California Street: San Bernardino Courier, April 25, 1894, Page 8 (Notice of Sheriff’s Sale on Execution).

New Jersey Street: San Bernardino Daily Sun, December 11, 1906, Page 6 (Resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the County of San Bernardino responding to a petition of property owners requesting a protection district consisting of the Redlands Storm Water Channel (what appears to be known now as the Mill Creek Zanja).

Kansas Street: San Bernardino Daily Sun, July 9, 1914, Pg. 3 (Boy arrested for sandbagging).

Tennessee Street: San Bernardino Daily Sun, January 31, 1897, Pg. 3 (Petition for Mission School District to the Board of Supervisors)

Nevada Street: San Bernardino Daily Sun, May 2, 1903, Pg. 2 (Petition to have Nevada accepted as a public road to the Board of Supervisors)

New York Street: Daily Sun, January 31, 1897, Pg. 1 (House building permit).

Texas Street: Daily Courier, September 26, 1888, Pg. 3 (Redlands Cannery to be constructed)

He agreed that some were added later to keep up the theme.

 

 

Copyright 2014 Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law

Milligan, Beswick, Levine & Knox, LLP

A: 1447 Ford St. #201

      Redlands, CA 92374

T: (909) 296-6708

E: mreiter@mblklaw.org

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Friday Aside: Why Were The States in the Streets Named After States in Redlands Chosen?

By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law.

I have yet to find an answer.  Some clues are found in the archives of the Fortnightly Club of Redlands, Streets in Redlands, by Dr. Lawrence E. Nelson, January 1974 at the Assembly Room of the A.K. Smiley Public Library.  The best take-away, completely non-related to the subject of this post,  from 1974:

Philip Merlan, the scholarly refugee professor at the University of Redlands and later at Scripps, once remarked that when he came to Redlands he was amazed to find how religious the people were; they even had a patron saint for torn-up streets. Everywhere he went he saw signs set up honoring St. Closed.

What states have streets named after them in Redlands?  Of the north-south streets, from west to east: California Street, New Jersey Street, a very tiny Oregon Street off of Orange Tree Lane, Nevada Street, Idaho Street connecting Plum Lane and Orange Tree Lane,  the solely-south-of-the-10 Iowa Street, Alabama Street, the rump Arizona Street off the anachronistic Coulston Street, Missouri Court (a cul-de-sac off of Park Avenue), Indiana Court, the cul-de-sac off of West Lugonia Avenue, Kansas Street (home of the Animal Shelter), which runs from Barton to Redlands Boulevard, Tennessee Street, the carved-up New York Street, Texas Street,  the somewhat north-south Michigan Avenue, Colorado Street north of Pioneer Avenue, the northside Ohio Street, the probably-not-named after the state Washington Street, and the probably-named-after-the-daughter-of-a-developer Georgia Street.  As far as east-west streets, Pennsylvania Avenue, Delaware Avenue, the way-out-east-may-technically-be-in-Yucaipa Florida Street.

I once answered an interrogatory speaking about Illinois Court (meaning Indiana Court), the location of a fatal motorcycle accident (outside the City limits), and the then-Public Works Director, Ron Mutter, informed me that there was no Illinois Court within the City, despite the fact that a variety of really old streets are named after Chicago streets (such as State Street) in Redlands.

The state-named streets are on the Lugonia grid, and that the original ones were California, New Jersey, Nevada, Iowa, Alabama, Tennessee, Kansas Street, New York Street, and Texas Street.  California is an easy one, but why Alabama and Tennessee?

Looking at a 1939 topographical map online, we see California Street, New Jersey Street, Nevada Street, Iowa Street, Alabama Street, Kansas Street, Tennessee Street, New York Street, and Texas Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue.  On the 1899 Redlands Quadrangle map, you can clearly see California and Alabama (the former because of its proximity to Bryn Mawr, the latter because it goes across the Santa Ana wash to Highland, but it doesn’t give street names.  The same on the 1901 Redlands Quadrangle topographical map, available on the USGS website for download, and the Redlands Quadrangle Map of 1908 shows the same.  So for now, the mystery of why certain states and not others is still a mystery.

[2023 Update] I thought I updated this post years ago.  I was in the County Recorder’s Office in San Bernardino.  On the wall was the Barton Tract map and it showed that the North south streets in what would later be called the East Valley Corridor Specific Plan were named after the states (Alabama, Iowa, California, etc.  For more on this and other topics, visit your local library.

Copyright 2013 Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law

Michael Reiter is a partner with Cole Huber LLP

2855 E. Guasti Road, Suite 402

Ontario, CA 91761

How to Travel Between San Bernardino and Redlands . . . And Vice Versa

By Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law.

Redlands and San Bernardino share a border, but it can sometimes be difficult to travel between the two cities.   San Bernardino is the older of the two cities, even if you are talking about San Bernardino’s second incorporation.  San Bernardino was laid out first, on mostly a straight north, south, east, west grid.  Part of Redlands is on a north, south, east, west, grid, the former Lugonia.  Most of south Redlands lies in opposition to San Bernardino’s grid.

Interstate 10 connects the two cities.  Redlands Boulevard, the former Highway 99, enters Loma Linda before it goes through San Bernardino. The same is true for State Route 210:  You have to enter the City of Highland before it connects to San Bernardino.  Though San Bernardino International Airport (formerly Norton AFB) is the border between a large swath of the two cities, the Santa Ana Wash currently prohibits direct access without going to Tippecanoe or Alabama/Palm.

The major streets with a border between San Bernardino and Redlands are Mountain View Avenue and San Bernardino Avenue; Victoria Avenue and Almond Avenue also work.  Lugonia Avenue used to connect to Mountain View, but a development turned it into a cul-de-sac in the 2000s.  While I was at the City of Redlands, there was some talk about a Mountain View Avenue extension across the river, but I have no idea about the status of such plans.

[2023 update: Mountain View Avenue is now accessible through the City of San Bernardino, thanks to Amazon.com]

Copyright 2013 Michael Reiter, Attorney at Law

Michael Reiter is a partner with Cole Huber LLP

2855 E. Guasti Road, Suite 402

Ontario, CA 91761