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City of Riverside, California

Decent Essays

Located beside the Santa Ana River about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, the historic town of Riverside hosts a populace of 303,871, according to the 2010 US Census. Currently the 12th most populated city in California and the 59th in the country, Riverside has come a long way since its humble beginnings. Founded in the 1870s by a Tennessee abolitionist named John W. North – who also founded Northfield, Minnesota – it would quickly become renowned for its orange trees. In 1871, the first trees were planted. However, it would be three years before the area became famous for its oranges after a local resident, Eliza Tibbets received a gift from a horticulturist at the United States Department of Agriculture. William Saunders sent Eliza three Brazilian naval orange trees. Originally planted on the Tibbet's property, the two surviving trees were transplanted to land owned by Sam McCoy after one of the saplings was trampled by a cow. In 1903, the trees were transplanted again. One was moved to the property of the Mission Inn and re-planted by President Theodore Roosevelt; it died in 1922. The other tree was also transplanted in 1903 to the intersection of Magnolia and Arlington avenue where it remains to this day with a stone memorial honoring Eliza Tibbets. The trees origins were Bahia, Brazil. Although a prized orange by many, the tree did not do well in Florida where most US oranges were grown at that time. However, the Bahia orange tree thrived in Southern California and

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