Highland Area Historical Society Home Page

ESTABLISHED 1980

Our goal is to foster an awareness of the history in the Highland/East Highland area of San Bernardino County in Southern California, and to expand the involvement of the public in collecting artifacts and preserving local history.

The Highland Area Historical Society
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Upcoming Meetings And Events

Next Meeting

Meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the 4th. Thursday of Jan, March, May, & Sept. The November meeting will be held Dec. 6th because of Thanksgiving.

Meeting dates for 2012:

Jan. 26

March 22

May 24

Sept. 28

Dec. 6 Meetings are held at the
Highland Senior Center,
3102 E. Highland Avenue
and are free and open to the public.

Highland Area Historical Society meeting
Thursday, May 24th, 2012 7:00pm at the Highland Senior Center
3102 Highland Ave. at the entrance to Patton.

May 24^th meeting -

Roundtable of founders including:

Ross Jones, Dennis Johnson, Jim Rissmiller and Jody Scott.

As part of our celebration of the 25^th Anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Highland, we will hold a roundtable discussion with some of the people that made the dream of Highland Cityhood become a reality. This round table will be an excellent opportunity to hear “straight from the horse’s mouth” about the inception of the idea for cityhood, the reasons people felt so strongly for and against the idea and the preparations put in place to make the new City succeed. Come and enjoy the discussion or add to the conversation.

In preparation for the celebration of the 25^th Anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Highland this November we are collecting artifacts, news articles, pictures, and personal memories of the founding and history of the first 25 years of our city. If you can think of anything that will help document and preserve the history of Highland Cityhood, or add to the book we are writing on the subject, please contact Nancy Alexander at 909-862-7868 or highlandhx@yahoo.com

Back in stock!!


Contents
Before Highland... The Serranos	Page	1
Messina	Page	9
Highland Views	Page	13
Highland Business District	Page	23
East Highlands	Page	57
Churches	Page	65
Schools	Page	73
Trains, Street Cars & Depots	Page	81
Home Sweet Home	Page	91
Packing Houses	Page	123
Harlem Springs	Page	149
Molino	Page	153
Patton	Page	157
City Creek Road	Page	163
Fredlaba	Page	173
Highland Faces	Page	185
Annexation vs Cityhood	Page	195
More EL Rancho	Page	204
To order: Nancy Alexander at 909-862-7868

Click to enlarge

A Pictorial
History of Highland,
by Bill Calvert

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 Nancy Alexander at 909-862-7868, or writing to the Highland Area Historical Society: P.O. Box 353, Highland, CA 92346-0353.

Resent Meetings And Events.
See more on our Past Speakers and Events page.

Highland Citrus Harvest Festival

Saturday, March 31, 2012 from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm.

The City celebrated its 16th Annual Citrus Harvest Festival. The Historic District was filled with crafters, delicious food, antique and classic cars and lots of area residents. There was fun for everyone including live entertainment, kids games and rides, an historic home tour, shopping and much more.

For further details, please contact Stater Kim at:
(909) 864-8732, extension 204.

Highland Area Historical Society meeting
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 7:00pm at the Highland Senior Center 3102 Highland Ave. at the entrance to Patton.

The March 22nd program will be:

A Racy History of Highland

Race photo 1
Don Harkey presented a “lively” and “spirited” program on the history auto racing,
racers and race tracks in the Highland area. He covered topics from the “Ashcan Derby”
to the National Orange Show Raceways, and a lot in between.
Some of the items covered are:

1) A bit about Don’s racing career
2) Inland Empire Speedways
        Ash Can (Kan) Derby which was on 3rd St. in Highland (1945-1948)
        Orange Empire Speedway (1938-1942)
        Orange Show Stadium / Speedway (1941-2011?)
        Riverside International Raceway (1957-1989)
        Ontario Motor Speedway (1970-1980)
3) Highland's Racing Champions (OSS)
4) Notable Highland drivers (including Swede Savage)
5) A viewing of, a short Super 8 mm film titled "Orange Show Speedway '71

Highland Area Historical Society meeting
Thursday, January 26, 2012 7:00pm at the Highland Senior Center 3102 Highland Ave. at the entrance to Patton.

Marilyn Cram Donahue Photo Marilyn Cram Donahue, daughter of Fred Cram and Nellie Carter Cram; widow of Robert Donahue (son of Leo Donahue) and prolific author shared her memories of Highland in the 1930's and 1940*s, concentrating on the downtown area; the two grocery stores, the drugstore, Hambly's dry goods store, etc. and some of the social activities, including the Women's Club and the Knitting Club. She also talked about the Canteen that operated during the war years. Marilyn also shared her memories of orange ranching and what it was really like. The Rohrer Block on Palm Avenue as it appeared in 1936. Photo courtesy Bill Calvert’s “A Pictorial History of Highland.”

Pioneer recipes and some of the "snake oil" curatives, street games and songs and dances were part of the treasure trove of memories that Mrs. Donahue will shared.

The public was invited to share their memories of this time.

Marilyn has a new book coming out soon (hopefully). It takes place in a town called Messina in 1939. The story is fiction, but the setting is factual.

For those of you who read her first novel, Sutter's Sands (1971) and any of her young adult books, Straight Along a Crooked Road, The Valley in Between or any of her books, you won't want to miss this opportunity to meet the author and hear her share her personal memories of early Highland.

As Always the programs are open to the public. Light refreshments are provided after the program.

What if Highland Area Historical Society earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

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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

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