Postcards from the Past: How Four Historic Homes Rose Beneath Mount Rubidoux

Recently, while preparing a talk on the history surrounding Mount Rubidoux, I came across once more four postcards in my collection showing the development of houses below Mount Rubidoux along Seventh Street (today, Mission Inn Avenue). They show how, from late 1906 until 1914, four historic homes appeared at the mountain's base.

The first postcard is from late 1906. By October 1906, Huntington Drive, the road up and down Mount Rubidoux, was finished enough for limited access. According to several sources, Billy Herbert, Mission Inn doorman and greeter, drove the first automobile up the mountain over the new road. Naturally, Frank A. Miller was one of the passengers. Herbert often chauffeured Miller on his excursions. A similar photograph to my postcard is credited to Billy Herbert’s scrapbook in one collection. Huntington Drive was formally dedicated in a ceremony at Fort Chittenden on Feb. 22, 1907.

In late 1906, no houses were located along Seventh Street between Pepper (now Redwood) and Mt. Rubidoux Drive. Seventh Street enters from the right side of the postcard. The road slants slightly to the left and becomes Buena Vista Avenue as it passes under the bridge leading to the mountain road. The stone bridge is seen at the bottom of the picture.

The next postcard of the four-card set shows one lonely house along Seventh Street between Redwood and Mt. Rubidoux Drive. A scattering of other houses had cropped up in the area. In 1907, about a year after the previous picture, contractor G. Stanley Wilson began constructing this house at 4567 Seventh for Judge Frank E. Densmore. Densmore arrived in Riverside in 1903 and set up the law firm of Gill and Densmore. In 1906, he was appointed as a Superior Court judge, married, and began planning his new home—an eventful year for him.

Judge Densmore suffered a heart attack and died on March 11, 1916, at the age of 47. Friends claimed that his concern over cases before him led to his sudden death at a young age. In a eulogy, a fellow lawyer praised him:

He was called to the judgeship while yet a young man, and in the 10 years of his service, he gave increasing evidence that he measured up to every requirement of every duty of the exalted station. To sit in judgment between his fellowmen is one of the heaviest responsibilities that can come to any man, but he bore the burden with absolute fidelity to the great trust thus committed to his keeping.

In 1910, Isaac “Ike” Logan added the second house on Seventh Street. Logan moved to Riverside in 1893 when Riverside County was established and became a deputy recorder. Later, in 1916, he was elected as county recorder. The house at 4555 Seventh Street was designed by architect Lester Morre of Los Angeles and built by the Cresmer Manufacturing Company of Riverside.

Shortly after moving into his new house, Ike Logan started climbing up Mt. Rubidoux and rang the bell on the north summit at 7 a.m., continuing this tradition for almost 30 years. He stated the hike was 1,910 steps, a tribute to the year he began the ritual. He could look back down on Riverside and watch as the city grew. After the clapper in the bell was stolen, Ike carried a hammer to ring the bell out over the city below.

The fourth postcard in the collection shows the added house at the corner of Seventh Street and Mt. Rubidoux Drive. Built in 1914, it was the home of Alfred M. Lewis. The Riverside streetcar line started in front of this home, making it easy for the family to travel to downtown Riverside.

Alfred Lewis arrived in Riverside in 1885 and, by 1889, was employed by Rockhold Grocery Store. In 1906, he joined Albert Thresher in opening Thresher and Lewis Grocery. They bought out Rockhold Grocery in 1909 and continued to expand over the years. In 1918, Lewis bought out his partner. A.M. Lewis became an important grocery business and later a wholesale food distributor in Riverside for many years.

Development was slow in Riverside's early years near the base of Mt. Rubidoux. The builder started the first home six months after the road was dedicated. Three years passed before a second house was added, and another four years passed until the third house was constructed. Between 1917 and 1927, three more houses were built along Seventh Street east of the Logan house, completing the block. However, they are not part of my postcard collection, which shows the slow house development along Seventh Street at the base of Mt. Rubidoux.

Read Adobes, Bungalows, and Mansions by Esther Klotz and Joan Hall for more information on the houses. To learn more about Ike Logan, read the author's chapter “The Bell Ringer of Mount Rubidoux” in They Climbed the Mountain.