Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday! We're kicking off the week with something fun: a chance to win two tickets to see Hadestown at the Fox Theater on April 13.
Hadestown is Broadway's Tony and Grammy-winning Best Musical, and we want to send you there. Here's how to enter: snap your favorite photo of your favorite spot in Riverside, tell us what it is and why it means so much to you, and submit it at raincrossgazette.com by this Friday, March 20. One photo will be chosen, and we'll announce the winner next Sunday, March 22. Every photo submitted will also be featured as a newsletter photo in a future edition of the Gazette.
This is your city. Show us the corner of it you love most!
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Gayat Adame and Patti McGinnis. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
Packed and Gone: The Rise and Fall of Strachan Fruit Company
Alexander Strachan arrived in Riverside with little history and left behind a packing house that outlasted his company by more than a century.
Postcard of the Limited, a Passenger Train for the Salt Lake Route, Traveling through the Orange Groves. (Author's collection)
The early history of Riverside was closely tied to the citrus industry. By 1882, there were more than 250,000 citrus trees in Riverside. By 1895, the citrus industry had made Riverside the wealthiest city in the country per capita. Many of the early Riversiders entered this thriving citrus industry.
One such early Riverside resident connected to the citrus industry was Alexander Strachan. Alexander was born in 1879 in Ontario, Canada. According to US Census reports, he immigrated to the United States in 1897. His name appears in Riverside newspapers by early 1903. Later that year, in early October, Mr. and Mrs. George Seger announced that their daughter, Helen Hardenburg Seger, was engaged to Alexander Strachan. The wedding occurred at the Seger home on October 24, 1903. Mrs. Seger was the former Sarah Jane Hardenburg, the sister of Isabella Hardenburg, Frank A. Miller's first wife. Thus, through marriage, Alexander Strachan became Frank Miller's nephew. City directories of the time list the Strachan couple living at the Glenwood Hotel.
In the 1905 Riverside City Directory, Alexander Strachan was listed as an officer of the G R Hand & Company. Hand soon ran into difficulties. The Strachan Fruit Company was incorporated in July 1906 as a reorganization of the G. R. Hand Company, with the same officers, packing houses, and citrus brands. At that time, they had facilities in Riverside, Casa Blanca, Upland, and Rialto.
Neighbor of the Week: The Riverside Mission Belles
Neighbor of the Week is a series profiling the hidden heroes of Riverside, doing incredible works of service throughout our different neighborhoods.
Members of the Riverside Mission Belles, dressed in their signature black and red, pause for a photo during a holiday Sing Out. (Courtesy of The Riverside Mission Belles)
For more than 80 years, the Riverside Mission Belles have been bringing music to the people of the Inland Empire — from local schools and community clubs to senior living centers and the Festival of Lights. The women's chorus traces its roots to the PTA Mother Singers of the 1930s, who performed at schools across town, and later became known as the PTA Choristers before taking their current name. Today, members come from throughout the Riverside region and share a simple mission. "To bring joy and music to the hearts of the community," says Debbie Schwartz, Mission Belles member, "and to offer a place for interested women to sing with others."
The Belles hold weekly rehearsals most Wednesdays, where members enjoy the camaraderie of harmonizing light music together. The group welcomes any woman who can "carry a tune and learn songs" — no audition required to join. Their outreach, which they call "Sing Outs," takes them to senior centers, convalescent homes, and retirement communities throughout the Riverside area and beyond, with especially busy seasons around the holidays.
The Mission Belles are also affiliated with the California Women's Chorus (CWC), an umbrella organization that brings together approximately 80–100 voices from choruses spanning Santa Barbara to San Diego. Each year, the CWC hosts a Scholarship Concert awarding $1,000 grants to three vocal students between the ages of 18 and 25. This year, that concert comes to Riverside — on Sunday, May 3 at 2:00 p.m. at California Baptist University.
This week, we’re staying put again — but this time, we’re reaching for control. Your creative nudge is the remote control.
Look around. How many remotes live in your house? One for the television. One for the sound bar. One for the ceiling fan. One for the garage door. One that claims to do it all. And at least two whose original purpose has been lost to time.
The remote was designed with the human in mind. It is a symbol of convenience, a friction remover. Why stand up to change the channel when you can simply move your thumb? Why cross the room when you can command from the couch? The remote allows us to alter our environment without altering our position. It promises efficiency. It delivers access.
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.
