Christal Pennington and her cousins at Easter Brunch, Mission Inn, in front of the Nanjing Bell. 1976. (Christal Pennington)
Sunday Gazette: June 7, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday! Welcome to Snapshot Sundays, our weekly series featuring vintage photos of Riverside shared by the people who live here. This week, Christal Pennington takes us back to Easter brunch at the Mission Inn.
Do you have old photos of a Riverside spot from long ago? We'd love to see them. Send them our way.
See you tomorrow!
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Bruce Ford, Connie Fortier, Barbara Klein, Peggy Littleworth, Jennifer Morehead, Laura O'Rourke, Michelle Reh, Linda Sherman-Nurick, Pauline Price, Mary Ward, and Dorie Haddy. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
Riverside's Oldest Church Building Still Stands on Magnolia Avenue
Founded in 1879, the church that became Magnolia Presbyterian holds the distinction of housing Riverside's oldest existing church building.
Photo of the Church some years later with a glimpse of a house to the left – (Courtesy Special Collection and Archives – University of California, Riverside)
Traveling back in time along Old Magnolia Avenue, those traversing the avenue admired the showcase houses built by some of the wealthy citrus growers and businessmen of the city. They stopped, often after riding the Riverside and Arlington Electric Railway streetcar, at Chemawa Park to enjoy the zoo and other attractions or maybe watch a polo match. They might visit Sherman Institute Indian School.
What might have been overlooked is one of Riverside's oldest churches, Arlington Presbyterian Church. In 1879, ten families gathered at the home of Samuel Evans, Sr., and Mary Evans, to discuss establishing a Presbyterian Church in the Arlington area, where many of them had settled.
On Sunday, November 9, 1879, those desiring a church met at the Sunnyside Schoolhouse on Central Avenue and organized the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington. Chester Crosby, one of those early organizers, recorded his recollections: "Mr. and Mrs. Evans drove us with their team and top surrey through a two-inch rainstorm and a foot of adobe mud to the Sunnyside Schoolhouse where we met the other charter members." Not even a torrential rainstorm could keep these enthusiastic people from attending this important meeting. According to Elmer W. Holmes, this group was the fourth church to organize in Riverside. The first was the First Church of Christ in 1872 (later the First Congregational Church). The next was the First Methodist Episcopal Church, also in 1872. The third was the First Baptist Church in 1874. These three were all located in the Mile-Square area of Riverside. A Church Directory in various 1881 issues of the Press and Horticulturist lists the four churches, their pastors, and the times of their services. No addresses were given; the assumption was that everyone knew the locations of these congregations.
This week, we’re moving from the marks left by our hands to the lines that hold things together. Our creative nudge is a thread.
Not a whole spool necessarily. No need to have access to an embroidery collection arranged by color, though we welcome overachievers in this column. You really just need one small thread. The kind that peeks from a shirt collar or cuff, a frayed hem, or the one left naked and alone when the button makes a break for it.
Pull the wrong one and something comes apart. Follow the right one and a pattern emerges.
We use threads to stitch, mend, attach, and decorate. They are metaphorically fertile and abundant: thread of conversation, narrative thread, common thread, loose thread, threadbare excuse. Online, we follow threads to see where a story goes or lose ourselves in one until suddenly it’s past our bedtime and we know too much about sandwich toppings.
See something? Say something. Your tips and ideas are what fuel The Raincross Gazette. If you know of something newsworthy happening in our city, please share it with us.
