Riversides

Lots of towns are named Riverside for an obvious reason. The People Ask questions on the internet say there are 186 of them in 46 states with only 4 states not having a Riverside including Hawaii, which has few rivers of any consequence. Geodatis lists 14 and geotargit identifies 46 Riversides, but in truth there are only 6 important ones. USA Today, which I predicted yesterday will become a major travel info source, says there are 18 Riversides, but it declares that Franklin is the #1 most common town name. Most towns name Riverside are very small and inconsequential. The only really important one is in California.

It is said that 321,570 people live in Riverside, CA. Ruth and I went there to tour The Mission Inn, but its most important business is Bourns, a leading electronics company. As is true of most towns today, Riverside, CA’S #2 most important business is a community hospital center. #16, CCH Citrus, is historical. Riverside was once one of the navel orange growing capitals of the world. In 1870 there was only a Spanish rancho where the city of Riverside now stands. One year later the first orange tree was planted. Eleven years later there were half a million citrus trees growing there. CCH stands for Corona College Heights, and it’s a more than a century old cooperative that goes out to 415 growers working on 15,000 acres of orange, grapefruit, and lemon trees. CCH reps assess these crops. Citrus is still important in Riverside.

The Mission Inn is important too. It’s a National Historic Landmark and a deluxe hotel where orange barons and baronesses once stayed in rooms next to visiting aviators like Amelia Earhart. That this hotel has survived intact is a miracle. It has also entertained most of the fairly recent US Presidents. Richard and Pat Nixon were actually married in the Mission Inn.

The other fairly large Riversides are in Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, and Australia. Although I have been in the Tasmanian Riverside, the one in Maryland is slightly more interesting to me. A town of more than 6,000, it has another real name, Belcamp. A stand alone community, Belcamp/Riverside Maryland is the only town I have ever heard of that answers to 2 names. You can send mail to either one and it will arrive. The Riverside in Connecticut is an important suburb of affluent Greenwich. The Riversides in Illinois and Ohio are major suburbs too. Riverside, IL is in Cook County so in the Chicago area. Riverside, OH is a suburb of Dayton.

The Riverside in Tasmania is the major suburb of its 2nd most important city, Launceston. Ruth & I have spent time there riding the longest (and highest in my opinion) single chairlift in the world, which is weirdly at the top of a canyon near its town center. The odd National Automobile Museum of Tasmania is also in Launceston.

Hank