The history and Growth of Wildomar

>> The history and Growth of Wildomar

The History and Growth of Wildomar

Time Warner Inauguration Celebration Video "Birth of A City" video created by Time Warner Cable and posted on their web site: http://www.twcsocalnews.com It may take a few moments to load, depends upon your connection speed and site traffic volume. Thanks for your patience. 07/30/2008
Views: 39 - Comments: 0

Wildomar Celebrates Independence July 1

Please click the link below to read the article on their web site.

Diane O'Malley in The Valley News

06/28/2008

Views: 36 - Comments: 0

Inaugural Wildomar City Council-elect Meeting

On February 8, 2008, the citizens of Wildomar went to the polls to decide whether or not they wished to incorporate, and if so, who would represent them on the first ever city council. 62% of the votes cast (YES 3,860 : NO 2,402) were in favor of incorporation.

Wildomar officially became the 25th city in the County of Riverside on July 1, 2008.

Wildomar was the first city to incorporate in Riverside County since Murrieta did on July 1, 1991.

Wildomar was the first city to incorporate in the state of California since the City of Rancho Cordova did on July 1, 2003.

Wildomar encompassed approximately 26 square miles and a population of approximately 25,000.

The incorporation effort spanned nearly decade.

Elected to the first council were:

Bob Cashman (leading vote getter, and Mayor-elect) - Engineer, historian, community volunteer
Bridgette Moore - Businesswoman, community activist and volunteer
Marsha Swanson - Businesswoman, real estate broker
Scott Farnam - Businessman, real property developer, real estate broker
Sheryl Ade - Community activist and volunteer

To view the Agenda of that inaugural meeting: Click Here

To view bio's for all candidates who ran for office: Click Here

The below video clips are approximately 10 minutes in length each, and were filmed on March 5, 2008. They are of the first ever meeting of the City of Wildomar council members-elect. The meeting was held at David A. Brown School and attended by approximately 200 interested persons. Click on each image to view the clip.

Clip One The First Council	Clip Two Chairman Bob Cashman	Clip Three Sheryl Ade
Clip Four Marsha Swanson	Clip Five Citizen Speaker	Clip Six Scott Farnam
Clip Seven Bridgette Moore	Clip Eight Citizen Speaker	Clip Nine Sheryl Ade
Clip Ten Wildomar Residents	Clip Eleven Kami Sabetzadeh	Clip Twelve Ed McOrmond

03/05/2008

Views: 83 - Comments: 0

First Ever City of Wildomar Council-Elect Meeting Though the election has yet to be certified, the City of Wildomar's inaugural city council members have scheduled their first ever organizational meeting. Wednesday March 5 is the date; 7:00 pm is the time; and the location is David A. Brown Middle School. To view the event on our calendar and for directions to the school: Click Here To view the meeting Agenda: Click Here As reported in The Californian: Click Here To view video excerpts of this meeting: Click Here 03/01/2008
Views: 122 - Comments: 0

1891 Wildomar - Lake Elsinore Press January 10, 1891 Elsinore Press Transcribed by Edy Rodarme WILDOMAR THE MAGNIFICENT VALLEY AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL TOWN Rich in horticulture and agriculture � a little city of fine schools, perfect climate and thrifty people � one of the safest places in the county. One of the neatest and most attractive villages in San Diego county is Wildomar. Situated in the center of the southerly twenty-five hundred acres of the original Elsinore tract, on the line of the Santa Fe railroad, it is in the heart of a region, almost every acre of which is tillable. The soil in the vicinity ranges from moist alfalfa land to the decomposed granite and sandy loam of the foothills, and experience has demonstrated that all the fruits for which Southern California has become famous can be perfectly raised here. Intelligence must, of course, be used in planting; but those who come to Wildomar now need not pass through the mistakes which made so many of the early settlers of Pasadena and Riverside anxious to sell their first fruit farms to new comers that they (the original owners) might start anew with the wisdom of experience to guide them. Enough has been done in the vicinity of Wildomar to demonstrate to any intelligent man that ten acres of fruit land judiciously planted and carefully cultivated is the best investment a man can make for himself and his family and in planting and cultivating he can easily obtain reliable information from those who have had experience as well as from horticultural journals. Land is held at reasonable prices and men of moderate means willing to work need not fear the fate of many who came in 1887 hoping to make themselves independent by a few strategic movements in real estate. The era of industry has set in and prosperity never tarries long when intelligence and hard work join hands. To understand fully the condition of towns in Southern California one must of necessity refer to the boom which brought so much of good and so much more of evil to this country. During this time of excitement many towns were started where they were not then and may never be needed. They were an artificial growth kept alive by the capital of those interested in the sale of surrounding lands and with no other reason for their existence. In many cases they were so near other towns and cities that the subsidence of the real estate excitement left them without means of support. The fever for town lots ran high. Many who could not raise money to invest in tracts of land could buy a town lot and as was inevitable this unnatural state of affairs affected all the towns in Southern California. Their growth outstripped the development of the surrounding country. Wildomar was not a "boom town." It was laid out in Dec. 1885. The railroad had established a station there before the town was platted. It is more than five miles from any other station on the road. Settlers needed a place to trade, and new comers needed plain hotel accommodations. These were provided, and the growth of the village would have been slow and healthful as necessity demanded had it not been for the wave of excitement that came in 1887. Wildomar felt it, as did other towns. Buying and selling farms and town lots became a business. The planting of trees and vines was neglected, money was abundant, stores were started, houses were built, everything was based upon what the place would need when all this rich surrounding country was producing � and in the meantime there lay the rich uncultivated land, waiting patiently for the intelligent use of the plow and cultivator, the judicious planting of vines and trees, to create a reason for the existence of the town. When the excitement subsided it left the country undeveloped and the towns overgrown. There was no catastrophe, no failure of crops, no experiments in fruit culture had resulted disastrously. Land had simply reached a price that nothing but improvements would justify and the improvements were lacking. Everything that made the boom remains. The climate is as serene, the soil as rich as ever. Fruit raising is as profitable as the wildest speculator ever advertised, and now that settlers are shaking off the stupefaction of their few months of gambling and getting rid of the dreams that such unnatural condition produce, there is nothing to stand in the way of material prosperity. Only a modest beginning has been made in developing the possibilities of the soil in the vicinity of Wildomar, but what has been done makes us perfectly safe in advising men of large or small means to go there and investigate for themselves. Pure mountain water is piped to the town. Wells are available at from twenty-five to fifty feet. Oranges, peaches, apricots, prunes, plums, quinces, raisin grapes and other fruits have been successfully produced. The oranges are clean and bright, showing all the characteristics of the Riverside fruit. Deciduous fruits will produce profitably, with careful cultivation, without irrigation. The town contains a large and substantial school house, two churches, erected by the United Presbyterian's and the Society of Friends, a comfortable hotel, store, post office, blacksmith shop, etc. A free reading room furnished with all the leading periodicals of the day, is in successful operation. Sidewalk trees have been planted along the principal streets, and a small park laid out for public use, has been ornamented with pepper, eucalyptus and cypress trees. Those desiring further information concerning Wildomar may obtain it by correspondence with Wm. Collier, Rev. A. W. Jamieson, Isaac Penrose, Isaac Hampton or J. K. Wilson, all of who have expressed their willingness to answer any questions or give any information pertaining to fruit culture or farming in this vicinity. 01/22/2008
Views: 160 - Comments: 2

Early Wildomar

Image courtesy of:

The Online Archive of California (OAC), an initiative of the California Digital Library
� 2007 by The Regents of The University of California. Image Source

Click on Image for Larger View

That history column

By: JOHN HUNNEMAN - [Californian] Staff Writer

With Wildomar on the verge of voting on cityhood, it's time to take [a look] at how the community was established.

Historian Steve Lech's great book, "Along the Old Roads," provides the details.

Wildomar's history is tied to Elsinore and that community's founder, Franklin Heald, who left his native Iowa by train in the late 1870s to seek his fortune.

Heald arrived in Pasadena, where he bought property and started a successful citrus venture. While there, Heald heard from a wealthy uncle in Nicaragua who wanted his nephew to investigate land investment opportunities in San Diego County.

The uncle offered to buy the land if Heald could find property suitable to be subdivided and settled.

Hiking in the mountains in the summer of 1880 with friends, Heald spotted Laguna Grande in the distance. His friends told him the shimmering lake was just a mirage, but the following winter Heald made the two-day trip from Pasadena to investigate.

"It was indeed a grand sight where the Lake first burst into view, although it was only about a third its full size," Heald wrote. "Small and poisonous though it was, I fell violently in love with it."

Heald had found the land his uncle wanted and wrote to his wealthy relative. However Heald learned his uncle had been jailed in Nicaragua and would not be able to finance the deal.

Undaunted, Heald turned to a Pasadena acquaintance named Donald Graham, who agreed to help make the $24,000 purchase. The two men walked into the bank that owned the land and put a $1,000 deposit on La Laguna Rancho.

However when the time came to pay the balance, Graham told Heald he didn't have the money.

The men contacted Graham's brother-in-law, William Collier, in Iowa who agreed to put up the cash as long as all three men were made equal partners.

On Sept. 24, 1883, they purchased the property and established a town.

People flooded into the community, renamed Elsinore by Graham's wife and Collier's sister, Margaret Graham.

But dissent grew among the men and in 1885 the partnership split.

Heald got the northern part of the property and Graham and Collier the southern, known then as "Car B Station."

Graham and Collier established the town of "Wildon," using the first syllable of each man's name. The next year Margaret Graham became a partner and the "mar" was added.

Collier and Graham were both Quakers and invited friends from the Midwest to settle in the community. Many of them did and Wildomar became known as a Quaker Colony.

The Hotel Wildomar opened in 1887, the schoolhouse in 1890.

A magazine writer described Wildomar's people as "industrious and sober."

But the land bust of the 1890s hit Wildomar hard. People stopped coming and those who stayed quietly tended their farms for most of the last century.

Contact columnist John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603 or jhunneman@californian.com.