The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Three Riverside County cities share July 1 birthdays
Three cities in Riverside County that are both young and old at the same time, share a birthday on July 1.
Murrieta incorporated on that date in 1991, Wildomar in 2008, and Jurupa Valley in 2011. However, all three cities have histories that date back much further than those recent anniversaries.
Murrieta was founded in 1884 on 160 acres of land that had been part of the Temecula Rancho. It was founded during the land boom of the 1880s by the Temecula Land and Water Company. The town was located along the newly constructed California Southern Railway and it certainly appeared it would be a booming new town. Unfortunately, the new railway was washed out twice by floods in the late 1880s and early 1890s and was abandoned. With the end of rail service, the collapse of the land boom, and water issues, Murrieta settled into being a small farming community.
Murrieta was named for Juan Murrieta. He was born in Spain and came to the United States in 1863, when he was 18 years old. Murrieta came to the area that would later be named for him in the 1870s and with two partners bought the Temecula and Pauba ranchos, which consisted of over 52,000 acres. They primarily used the land for sheep raising. After his part of the rancho land was subdivided in the mid 1880s, Murrieta moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s office until he retired at age 81 after 39 years of service.
Wildomar has one of the more unique names in Riverside history. It was coined by Margaret Graham Collier to incorporate the first three letters of her brother William Graham’s first name, the first two letters of her husband Donald Collier’s first name, and the first three letters of her name, giving the new town the name of Wil-do-mar. Graham and Collier were land developers, first partnering with Franklin Heald, the founder of Elsinore, before splitting off to develop Wildomar.
Wildomar was also part of the 1880s development boom, first being platted and named for just the two men, Wildon, in 1885. Then, in November 1886, a second townsite plat was drawn, this time giving the new town the name by which it is known today.
Jurupa Valley has perhaps the longest history, dating to the Jurupa Rancho, established by the Mission San Gabriel. The 32,000 acres rancho was granted to Juan
Bandini in 1838. In 1843, Benjamin Wilson bought approximately 6,700 acres of land from Bandini and built an adobe home in what is now Jurupa Valley. He then sold the land and house a year later to Louis Robidoux. The Robidoux home became a crossroads in the area, which was then only sparsely occupied. Later, Robidoux and his heirs began selling off parcels of land, making him one of the first sub dividers in the Inland Empire.
In the 1920s, land began being subdivided into smaller lots in the various communities that now make up Jurupa Valley. Towns sprung up in Glen Avon and Rubidoux and later Pedley. In Mira Loma, larger lots were created that gave people room for animal keeping, large gardens and the like.
Like many names in California, “Jurupa” is derived from a Native American word. Exactly what it means is unfortunately unknown, but it may refer to a common plant in the area, the California sagebrush.
Happy birthday to three of the newest — and oldest — cities in Riverside County!