page_title: Mount Rubidoux
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Rubidoux / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The World Peace Bridge on Mount Rubidoux in Riverside, California.
context_page_description: Mount Rubidoux is a mountain just west of downtown in the city of Riverside, California, United States, that has been designated a city park and landmark. The mountain was once a popular Southern California tourist destination and is still the site of the oldest outdoor non-denominational Easter Sunrise service in the United States. Many historic markers and memorials have been placed on the mountain, the most prominent being the cross at the summit dedicated to Father Junípero Serra. A majority of Mt. Rubidoux is owned by the City of Riverside, while 0.43 acres at the peak is owned by Rivers & Lands Conservancy after the cross attracted a potential lawsuit and the city decided to sell it at auction it to a private organization.
  The Santa Ana River flows at the base of the mountain, marking the boundary between the city of Riverside and the Rubidoux neighborhood of the City of Jurupa Valley.
  The mountain was named for Louis Rubidoux, who established Rancho Rubidoux in 1847, after purchasing a portion of the Rancho Jurupa from Benjamin Davis Wilson, the second elected mayor of Los Angeles.
context_section_description: Tom Patterson, as well as most local Riverside historians, have concluded that the original name of Mount Rubidoux was Pachappa. They speculate that one of the early owners of Rancho Jurupa reassigned the name Pachappa to another, smaller hill, in order to expand the property of the Rancho. Since Pachappa hill was designated as the southeast marker of the Jurupa Rancho, which was granted by the Mexican government to Juan Bandini in 1838, reassigning the name to the current Pachappa Hill would have expanded the Rancho Jurupa significantly, incorporating all of the area covered by today's downtown Riverside. It is also possible the United States government renamed the hills in order to satisfy acreage requirements of the original Mexican land Grant.
  In 1906 Frank Miller, owner of the Mission Inn, along with Henry E. Huntington and Charles M. Loring, formed the Huntington Park Association and purchased the property with the intent to build a road to the summit and develop the mountain as a park to benefit the city of Riverside. Originally the park was named Huntington Park, but the name was changed to the Frank A. Miller Mount Rubidoux Memorial Park after the heirs of Frank Miller donated the property to the city in 1955. On December 13, 1925, the Testimonial Peace Tower  was dedicated to Miller. The bridge is a replica of a noted bridge in Alcántara, Spain. A plaque for 1932 Olympic equestrian Shunzo Kido was placed on the bridge in 1934 honoring his sacrifice of an Olympic medal in order to save his horse, Kyu Gun, from lameness.
  Initial improvements, including the road, were completed in February 1907. The first memorial marker on the mountain, the cross and tablet at the summit honoring Father Junipero Serra, was dedicated on April 26, 1907.  Serra supposedly often travelled through the valley and rested at Rubidoux Rancho.
  A sunset over Mount Rubidoux, in 1909, was the occasion for Carrie Jacobs-Bond to compose her famous song "A Perfect Day" which for many years was played each day as the last tune on the Mission Inn's carillon.
  Mount Rubidoux was designated Riverside City Landmark no. 26, and has been a city park since 1955, when the land was donated to the city by Frank Miller's heirs. The park features 3.5 miles of paved and dirt hiking trails.
caption: The World Peace Bridge on Mount Rubidoux.
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix Z1", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image PageName": "5?634021473040000000?1273581?0?1?1:2592:1944?C:\\Documents and Settings\\Jim\\Desktop\\Pics 20100220\\2010-02-20-1908-16\\Mount Rubdoux\\DSCF4185.JPG", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Digital Camera FinePix Z1      Ver1.00", "Image DateTime": "2010:02:19 03:35:04", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "462", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/320", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:02:19 03:35:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:02:19 03:35:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "839/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "29/4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "61/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1687", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1425", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4442", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "4442", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}