The Highland Area Historical Society
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The Highland Area Historical Society was formed in 1980 to foster an awareness of the history in the Highland/East Highland area of San Bernardino County in Southern California, which includes the area bounded by Victoria Ave. on the west, the Santa Ana River Canyon on the east, the National Forest boundary on the north, and the Santa Ana River on the south.
The Society also endeavors to expand the involvement of the public in collecting artifacts and preserving local history. The Society takes an active part in the Highland Citrus Harvest Festival in March.
Established in 1980,the Highland Area Historical Society was originally named The East Highlands Historical Society. It was formed after serveral Cram School reunions, but specifically the 110th reunion.
On April 16, 1980, meeting in the historic Rock House on the East Highlands Ranch (formerly the East Highlands Orange Company) a group of fifty residents dedicated to preserving the area's history, formed the East Highalnds Historical Society. Carol Hamilton was the first president.
When Highalnd became an incorporated city in 1987, the name of the society was changed to the Highland-East Highlands Historical Society. The name has since changed to The Highland Area Historical Society.
The meeting place has also changed over the years. The first was the historic Rock House, then the historic Knights of Pythias Hall, and it currently meets at the Highland Senior Center.
Historic Rock House at East Highlands Ranch
Upcoming Meetings And Events
Highland Area Historical Society meeting
Thursday, September 2, 2010 7:00pm at the Highland Senior Center
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION
Britt W. Wilson will be giving a presentation on Indians of the Highland-Redlands-Yucaipa area, including a site he has recently been working on in the Santa Ana river canyon above Highland.
Britt W. Wilson BIO
Mr. Wilson is an archaeological technician conducting surveys throughout southern California and Nevada. He has a deep interest in native cultures particularly the Apache, Cahuilla and Serrano people. Previous to working as an archaeological technician, he was the Cultural Resources Coordinator for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
Britt is also a volunteer archaeological surveyor for the Bureau of Land Management. As a volunteer, he has recorded close to 300 new sites throughout the southern California region including village sites, rock art sites, rock shelters, milling sites, etc. He has worked in Anza Borrego State Park, the San Bernardino National Forest, and BLM lands across southern California in addition to his work on Indian reservations.
Mr. Wilson has a master’s degree in Public Administration and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration but clearly loves archaeology. He is a member of the San Bernardino County Museum Association, the Society for California Archaeology, the Coachella Valley Archaeological Society, the Malki Museum, the Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, the Mayflower Society and the Sons of the Revolution. He lives in Redlands with his adult son and his two dogs that serve as his survey companions.
Highland Area Historical Society meeting
Thursday, November 4, 2010 7:00pm at the Highland Senior Center
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTION
David Harkey will be presenting our November program. Dave will speak on the Vapor-Kool Engine Cooler that was invented and marketed by long time Highland resident Jerry Duns. It was a simple device that sprayed water on a car's radiator to keep the car from overheating especially while towing a trailer......."It stops overheating with the pull of a switch" was the slogan.
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Resent Meetings And Events(See more)
April 17, 2010
The Highland Area Historical Society celebrated its 30th Anniversary with an open house from 11am to 4pm at the Rock House.
The Highland Area Historical Society celebrated its 30th Anniversary with an open house from 11am to 4pm at the Rock House.
We were pleased to be able to have this 30th Anniversary celebration in the place where it started.
Tom Atchley, Redlands Area Historical Society president and historian, who spoke at our first meeting, November 13, 1980, returned to speak on James S. Edwards and the East Highlands Orange Company and how it became the East Highland Ranch development.
Also speaking was Nick Cataldo author of: The Earp Clan: The Southern California Years. Nick devoted nearly 20 years of research prior to publishing this book. He spoke on Wyatt Earp’s connection to Highland and the Highland area. Copies of Nick’s book were available for purchase at the meeting.
There were displays, photos and artifacts tracing the history of the Ranch and the Historical Society and light refreshments will be provided.
The "Rock House." or "Stone House" is at 7151 Club View Drive ( North of Baseline Rd )Highland, CA 92346
Business
Highland Area Historical Society marks 30 years
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| Highland Community News photo by Charles Roberts - Now and Then - Nancy Alexander, left, president of the Highland Area Historical Society, is pictured with Carol Hamilton at the 30th anniversary of the Society. Hamilton was the first president of the Society in 1980. |
By Charles Roberts, Editor, Highland Community News
Many of the first members were in attendance, including the first president, Carol Hamilton, who now lives in Yucaipa.
The first speaker at that initial meeting 30 years ago was historian Tom Ashley, who reported on pioneer J.S. Edwards.
Ashley said Edwards came here in 1881 at age 21 for his health and developed an orange empire that included water supply, groves, packing houses, recycling for citrus refuse and cooling for picked oranges.
He met Frank Brown and together they built the North Fork to bring irrigation to local crops.
He bought 10 acres from Brown in Redlands and for the first time, became a land owner. That is now the home of Plymouth Village, so named for Edwards’ home town of Plymouth, Mass.
When Brown built his home, he had to bring in boarders to help make the payments on the $10,000 Victorian. In 1885 he added Highland property to his holdings.
In 1886 he planted 5,000 citrus trees, but shipped his first crop (celery) from East Highlands because vegetable crops were a quick profit and it took about five years for the citrus trees to mature and become profitable.
In 1887, he decided to pick navels in December when most of the country had no fresh fruit. He also pioneered cooling the oranges.
In 1893, he founded the Gold Buckle name; gold because of its value and buckle because buckle holds things together.
He paid his workers on Monday because he figured if he paid them on Friday, they would get drunk and spend all their money and come back to work wasted on Monday. If he paid them on Monday, they would be broke by the weekend and couldn’t go out and party all weekend.
He first worked Native Americans until they were confined to the reservation. In 1893, he hired Chinese workers until they were deported; in 1909, Japanese workers were available until they were excluded by federal law. It was Filipinos who worked in the 1930s until World War II when he was instrumental in forming the bracero program.
The first schools were Arroyo Verde for Hispanic children and Cram Elementary for whites.
He built houses for his workers, a big incentive, and he was considered a good boss. He also made significant donations, including to Pomona College, and in 1933, donated half of his money to charity.
Edwards ran for state and federal offices on a prohibition platform, but never won. He was a Congregationalist, and attended a church in Redlands on what became Church Street, which stretched across the Santa Ana River into Highland and what is still Church Street in both Redlands and Highland today.
He also built Hillside Cemetery in Redlands, and that’s where he is buried.
The Edwards Mansion was moved to an orange grove on the west side of Redlands where it serves as a specialty restaurant.
Announcing the publication of the first volume of Kay Beattie's A Look Back columns, (originally published in the Highland Community News), as part of a fund raising project.
Kay spent many, many hours pouring over old newspapers, visiting the Highland Library, the Smiley Library in Redlands, the San Bernardino Feldhym Library and the San Bernardino Historic Archives, as well as her father-in-law's, George W. Beattie, work, to find information for her "stories".
This body of work is an invaluable resource for the history of Highland and the surrounding area, and is deserving of being preserved in enduring and readily available format. It would be impossible to include all her columns in a single volume, so they have been divided into several.
The collection was compiled, edited and indexed by Nancy Alexander, President of the Highland Area Historical Society and City Historian.
The first volume is available now and will make great gift for anyone who is interested in Highland's rich history.
The cost is $40 and can be ordered by contacting Nancy Alexander at
Highland Community News
photo by Charles Roberts
Library addition
Alexander compiled the Beattie stories from copies of the Highland Community News, and added an index for reference purposes. Beattie wrote weekly Highland history articles for the Highland Community News for many years.
A Pictorial History of Highland, by Bill Calvert
Bill Calvert has been collecting Highland photos and artifacts for 25 years. An idea began to take shape to chronicle the history of Highland from its early days, when it was known as Messina, to 1987 when Highland was incorporated as a city, through the use of photographs.
The late Kay Beattie, who wrote the Looking Back articles for the Highland Community News, was to collaborate with Bill on this project, but it became too much for her. With her encouragement, Bill pressed on with the project.
The Historical Society offered to "self-publish" this one-of-a-kind book consisting of 207 pages of photos and historical narrative.
Copies are available by contacting Bill Calvert at (909)862-5492, or writing to the Highland Area Historical Society: P.O. Box 353, Highland, CA 92346-0353.
Highland Area Historical Society Blog:
http://www.blog.highlandhistory.org/
Officers and Board Members
President: Nancy Alexander
909-862-7868
Vice President: Dwayne Anthony
Secretary: Pam Beachtel Bible
Treasurer: Open (Nancy Alexander acting treasurer)
Board Members: Robert Moore, Jose Tacal and Charles Kiel
Contact Information
Highland Area Historical SocietyP.O. Box P.O. Box 353
Highland, CA 92346-0353
www.HighlandHistory.org
Email Webmaster
Meetings:
1st. Thursday
of Jan, March, May, Sept, Nov. at 7:00 PM
Meetings are held at the Highland Senior Center, 3102 E. Highland Avenue.
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Tired of seeing all of the orange groves
disappearing?
Support the Inland Orange Conservancy
in saving groves in our neighborhood.
To learn more
go to :
http://www.inlandorange.org/
P.O. Box 188
Mentone, CA 92359
909-794-4484 * inlandorange@hotmail.com
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