It’s Hispanic Heritage Month and a good time to test your knowledge of local Latino history.
We compiled this quiz and collected historic photos to honor the Redlands area’s long and rich Latino heritage.
People of Hispanic ancestry have been leaving their mark on the region before Redlands became a city in 1888, and before the area became part of the United States through a 1848 treaty with Mexico.
Here are 10 questions to challenge, and perhaps teach. Answers are below.
1. The Asistencia in Redlands wasn’t actually an asistencia, but was:
A) A mission
B) A Catholic church
C) An estancia
D) A hotel
2. Where did “Lugonia” get its name?
A) Lugo, Italy
B) Don Antonio Maria Lugo
C) Jose Luis Lugonia
D) None of the above
3. Who was the first Latino/Hispanic mayor of Redlands?
A) Norman Martinez
B) Pete Aguilar
C) Gilberto Gil
D) Oddie Martinez
4. What does “Loma Linda” mean in Spanish?
A) Pretty hill
B) Linda’s hill
C) Mound City
D) None of the above
5. Which of these have been cultural performances or groups in Redlands?
A) St. Mary’s Ballet Folklorico
B) Mexican Orchestra performing at the Wyatt Opera House
C) Mexican Drum & Bugle Corp.
D) Theatrical performance of the “El Aguila” at House of Neighborly Service on Lawton Street
E) All of the above
6. Jose Apollo Rivera, Redlands’ first constable, remained in that elected position for how many years?
7. Spanish missionaries introduced irrigation to the San Bernardino Valley. Franciscan fathers engineered, and Native Americans dug, the first ditch, the Mill Creek Zanja, through what is now the Redlands area. When was it built?
8. Which county has the greatest population of Hispanics/Latinos?
A) Riverside County
B) San Bernardino County
C) Los Angeles County
D) The Hispanic/Latino population is equal in all three.
9. Which city in San Bernardino County has the highest population of Hispanics/Latinos?
B) San Bernardino
10. Which city in San Bernardino County has the lowest Hispanic/Latino population?
B) Loma Linda
C) Big Bear Lake
C) It was an estancia, or ranch outpost. Established in 1819, it served as a place to store food and to “teach European agriculture to native people here (whether they wanted it or not), as well as ranching for livestock” according to Nathan Gonzales, archivist at the A.K. Smiley Public Library. The current buildings are 1930s reconstructions and about 1 mile east of the site of the original buildings. Asistencias, or sub-missions, had chapels, and a priest from a nearby mission would travel there for weekly Mass, according to the California Missions Foundation.
B) Don Antonio Maria Lugo. Lugonia was a community before Redlands became a city, but the two were joined when Redlands incorporated in 1888. That community and Lugonia Avenue were named after the family of Don Antonio Maria Lugo, who were granted land in the San Bernardino and Yucaipa valleys in 1842, establishing the San Bernardino Rancho. The price for the property — roughly 35,000 acres — was about $800 in hides and tallow.
D) Oddie Martinez, who was first elected to the City Council and became mayor in 1978. A decorated World War II veteran and third-generation California native, he was also the first commander of American Legion Post 650, and the first Redlands school administrator of Mexican descent. His brother, Norman, served as a Redlands city council member in the 1950s and 1960s and was vice mayor in 1968.
A) Pretty hill. The community’s original name in the late 1800s was Mound City, but in the late 1890s, the Mound City Hotel was purchased and reopened as a convalescent home and health resort called Loma Linda, according to the city’s website. The name stuck when the city incorporated in 1970.
E) All of the above.
D) 46 years. Rivera was born in an adobe north of what is now the city of Pomona to Jose A. Rivera and Gertrudes Valdez, descendants of Spanish dons. Weeks before Redlands incorporated in 1888, he won with more votes than the other candidates combined. He was re-elected until retiring in 1935. According to a Redlands Police Department Facebook post, Rivera was best known for treating all with respect and dignity. The department’s Officer of the Year award is named after him.
B) 1819-20. According to the California State Parks Office of Historic Preservation, the Zanja first supported the Asistencia and the Rancho San Bernardino, then pioneer ranches and orchards, and finally Redlands’ domestic water supply. Some refer to the ditch as the “Sankey.”
B) San Bernardino County, where 53.7% of the population is Hispanic, according to the 2020 Census. The Hispanic/Latino population comprises 49.7% of Riverside County’s population and 48% of Los Angeles County’s population.
A) Rialto, where 74.4% of the city is Hispanic/Latino. That number is 68% for the city of San Bernardino, 67.8% for Fontana and 68.4% for Ontario.
A: C) Big Bear Lake, only 23.9% of the city is Hispanic/Latino. That number is 25.5% for Needles, 27.9% for Loma Linda and 44.5% for Upland.
Note: The A.K. Smiley Public Library and the Common Vision Coalition are seeking oral histories and photos from community members to help preserve the area’s Hispanic history. Information: Mario Saucedo, at firstname.lastname@example.org or 951-533-4439, or the library, 909-798-7565.
Staff writers Deepa Bharath and Betty Tyler contributed to this report.