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Riverside County's Founding Fathers

Written by Jerry Rice,
Photo courtesy Mission Inn Foundation and Museum

After the formation of Riverside County in 1893, the Board of Commissioners was charged with getting the area up and running as an entity separate from San Bernardino County. The members were John MacLaren, Frank Miller, David G. Mitchell, Bradford Morse and Orlando A. Smith.

More details about the early days of Riverside County, including this photo, appear in "Along the old Roads: A History of the Portion of Southern California that Became Riverside County," by Steve Lech. Another great resource is "Profile of a Century: Riverside County, California, 1893-1993," by Robert J. Fitch.

John MacLaren was from San Jacinto and worked several trades. He was a blacksmith, saddle maker and also sold real estate.

David G. Mitchell served two enlistments in the union Army during the Civil War, including fighting in the battle of Gettysburg. He moved with his wife, Harriet, and their five children in 1886 to Perris, where he worked in the real estate business. Mitchell became the new county's first treasurer and continued in the post until his death in 1926, when he was succeeded in office by his daughter, Alice.

Bradford Morse arrived in Riverside from Massachusetts in 1881, and acquired a ranch east of Box Springs Mountain. He became Riverside County's first assessor. Mitchell and his wife, Ella, were members of Riverside First Congregational Church. They had no children.

Frank Miller, in his early 20s in 1880, purchased his father's boarding-house business and later developed the Mission Inn on the same site. A leading figure in Riverside's early days, Miller was instrumental in bringing the Sherman Institute (now known as the Sherman Indian High School), the Citrus Experiment Station and March Field to the area. He operated the Mission Inn until his death in 1935.

Orlando A. Smith's son-in-law, A.S. Garretson, built the large victorian-style Hotel Temescal on the northeast corner of Sixth and Main streets in South Riverside. Smith ran the hotel, and became one of the most popular residents living in the growing community at that time.

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