The scenery on Brookside Drive was pleasant as I headed west on the OBT.
By John Murphy
Content with my recent exploration of the eastern portion of the Orange Blossom Trail, I headed west on Sunday.
The Pure Gold building on Brookside was the first landmark I photographed. Arthur Gregory created Mutual Orange Distributors in 1927 and took up residence in the Pure Gold Building, according to the Highland Community News. It became the second-largest citrus shipping company in Southern California. Redlands teems with history.
Past the former Redlands Daily Facts building I ambled. It’s the future home of the Museum of Redlands, says a sign. Back in the mid-1990s I knew it as the place where Daily Facts sports editor Obrey Brown hung out. I sent a few stories from there while working in Victorville, then stayed late into the night with Obrey, yukking it up about journalism and solving the world’s problems.
Onward I went. By Tennessee Street the miles were adding up. So I doubled back and headed down Tennessee. That took me by Arrowhead Christian School and Redlands Adventist Academy, which is on the opposite side of the street. Redlands Adventist, I was surprised to learn, was founded in 1903. Obrey and I were just cub reporters then.
Redlands Adventist, to my surprise, has been operating since 1903.
Passing a shopping center I noticed Carolyn’s Café and immediately thought coffee cake. But it was too late for that it would have ruined the intent of the walk anyway.
The back side of ESRI’s sprawling campus was next and it took a while to leave that in my wake. ESRI stands for Environmental Systems Research Institute. My crack research (Wikipedia) says it has 3,800 employees globally and in 1981 held its first User’s Conference, in Redlands, with 18 attending. A more recent conference, in San Diego, hosted 18,000. Whew.
On State Street I was treated to the site of a guy in a pick-up truck mysteriously driving 60 yards in reverse. Not sure what that was all about.
My trek was nearing the end now. I strode past the Studio Movie Grill and recalled taking my son Kyle there to see “How To Train Your Dragon.” That was six years ago … time flies.
By now I was losing track of the streets as I approached Orange Street from the back. That led me to the beautiful Southern Pacific Train Depot which is under renovation.
William McKinley in 1901 became the first of three US presidents to visit Redlands. He arrived with a host of dignitaries and visited Prospect Park, according to the Redlands Area Historical Society. A plaque there commemorates the visit.
Prior to McKinley’s visit, the old Citrograph newspaper trumpeted McKinley’s arrival, writing that McKinley exhibits the “highest qualities of a gentleman and is removed as far as possible from self-glorification and toadyism.
I’m not sure what “toadyism” means, but I’m going to find out and work it into a future blog.
Back in 1901 US President William McKinley rode into the Southern Pacific Train Depot.
Main Street Dog 