List of Riverside County, California, placename etymologies facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This article is about the interesting stories behind the names of places in Riverside County, California. These place names are also called toponyms. Riverside County itself got its name from the city of Riverside, which is the county seat (like the main city). The city of Riverside was named because it's located right next to the Santa Ana River.

Cities and Towns

Banning

The city of Banning was first called Moore City. It was named by Ransom B. Moore, an early pioneer who started a cattle ranch there in 1865. When the Southern Pacific Railroad came through in 1876, Moore planned a town along the tracks. However, just a few months later, the town's name was changed to Banning. This was to honor Phineas Banning, who used to run a stagecoach service through the area. He's also famous for helping create the Port of Los Angeles.

Beaumont

When stagecoach lines started in 1862, the area around Beaumont was called Edgar Station. Later, in 1875, the Southern Pacific Railroad built a station and called it Summit or Summit Station. This was because Beaumont is at the highest point, or summit, of the San Gorgonio Pass. In 1884, a man named George C. Egan bought land and named his new townsite San Gorgonio. Then, in 1887, the Southern California Investment Company bought the town and renamed it Beaumont. This name is French for "beautiful mountain," probably chosen because of the amazing view of the 10,834 foot (3,302 m) Mount San Jacinto.

Blythe

The city of Blythe is named after Thomas Henry Blythe (1822–1883). He was a businessman from San Francisco who secured important water rights to the Colorado River in 1877. He originally named it Blythe City, but the name was shortened to just Blythe around 1908 when the first post office opened.

Calimesa

Calimesa was first known as South Yucaipa or South Bench. In 1927, a group called the South Mesa Social Club held a contest to rename the town. People in Riverside County wanted a name that would set them apart from their neighbor, Yucaipa, which is in San Bernardino County. A dentist from Redlands, H. E. Church, won the contest with the name Calimesa. The name Cali comes from California and was thought to mean "hot." Mesa means "tableland" in Spanish.

Canyon Lake

The city of Canyon Lake is named after the large reservoir it's built around. This reservoir was first called Railroad Canyon Reservoir or Railroad Canyon Lake. Now, both the reservoir and the community are simply known as Canyon Lake.

Cathedral City

Cathedral City gets its name from Cathedral Canyon, which is south of the city in the foothills of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. People say the canyon was named because some of its rock formations looked like a cathedral.

Corona

The city of Corona is a Spanish word meaning "crown" or "wreath." It was originally called South Riverside. Citizens wanted a different name to distinguish their city from the larger city of Riverside to the north. They chose Corona because of a special feature of the city: a one-mile circular road that goes around the center of town. This circular road also led to another informal name for the city: Circle City.

Desert Hot Springs

Desert Hot Springs is named for the many natural hot springs found in and around the city.

Hemet

The city of Hemet got its name from the Lake Hemet Land Company. This company was formed in 1887 to buy and sell land. When they officially mapped out the area in 1893, they named the new town Hemet. The town became an official city in 1910. The company itself was named after Hemet Valley, where a dam would be built to create Lake Hemet.

Indian Wells

Indian Wells was named because the local Desert Cahuilla Indians had dug water wells in the area. These wells were called Pal Kavinic (meaning "water hole" in the Cahuilla language) and Palma Seca (meaning "dry palm" in Spanish). The city became official in 1967.

Indio

The city of Indio is a Spanish word for "Indian." It was originally the site of the Indian Wells railroad station. In 1877, the Southern Pacific Company renamed it the Indio railroad station because there was another station with the same name on the rail line. A map for the town that grew around the station was filed in 1888, and Indio became an official city in 1930.

Jurupa Valley

The name Jurupa Valley has been used since the 1800s. It referred to parts of the old Rancho Jurupa on the northwest side of the Santa Ana River. The word Jurupa comes from the name of a Native American village. Even though no town was officially named Jurupa Valley until 2011, the term was used as early as 1887. When the city was formed in 2011, the name "Jurupa Valley" was chosen.

Norco

Located just north of the city of Corona, Norco is a shortened version of North Corona. Rex B. Clark, who was very important in founding Norco, is credited with coming up with the name.

Palm Desert

Palm Desert was originally the name of a housing area south of Highway 111. Another area nearby was called Palm Village. In November 1950, these two areas combined to form one town named Palm Desert. The town became an official city in 1973.

Palm Springs

The exact origin of the name Palm Springs isn't fully known. The "Springs" part refers to the natural hot spring in the city's downtown area. The "Palm" part might come from early Spanish explorers who called the area La Palma de la Mano de Dios ("The Palm of God's hand"). However, it usually refers to the native California fan palm, Washingtonia filifera, which grows a lot in the Palm Springs area. The name "Palm Springs" first appeared on maps in 1853.

Riverside

In September 1870, a group called the Southern California Colony Association of Jurupa bought land and water rights to start a settlement east of the Santa Ana River. They first called the new town Jurupa, after the 1838 Mexican land grant it came from. To show that the new town had water in a dry area, the founders voted to officially name it Riverside on December 18, 1870.

Natural Place Names

Agua Caliente

Agua Caliente means "hot water" in Spanish. This term was used to describe the hot spring in downtown Palm Springs when the Spanish arrived. It was later used for the community that grew around the spring before it was renamed Palm Springs.

Bernasconi Hills

The Bernasconi Hills and Bernasconi Pass are named after Bernardo Bernasconi (1839–1923). He was an early pioneer in Riverside County who bought land in 1878 near the San Jacinto River. He started a sheep ranch there. When the Lake Perris reservoir was created in 1973, a beach and a small cove at the base of the hills were named Bernasconi Beach and Bernasconi Bay.

Blythe Intaglios

The Blythe Intaglios or Geoglyphs are a group of over 200 large drawings made on the ground in the Colorado Desert. They got their name because they are close to the city of Blythe.

Bradshaw Trail

Today's Bradshaw Trail is a small part of a much longer road once known as the Gold Road or Road to La Paz. When gold was found near La Paz, Arizona, William D. Bradshaw mapped a route through the Colorado Desert in 1862. He followed old Cahuilla Indian trading paths. The road quickly became popular with gold seekers and stagecoach lines. In 1974, the Riverside County Board of supervisors officially named it the Bradshaw Trail.

Cathedral Canyon

Cathedral Canyon is said to have been named by U.S. Army Colonel Henry Washington in 1850. He thought the rock formations in the canyon looked like a cathedral. However, a flood in 1946 changed these features a lot.

Devils Garden

Devils Garden got its name because it used to be a "tangled mass of boulders, cactus, and desert growth." It's known for its many types of cacti and other desert plants. The Devils Garden hiking trail goes through this area.

Fertilla

Fertilla was a town north of Blythe. The name was created by James "Skinny" Walsh to highlight how fertile the Palo Verde Valley was. The name became official in 1914. By 1955, the town was abandoned.

Garner Valley

This area was first known as Hemet Valley and then Thomas Valley. The name Garner Valley became common after Robert F. Garner bought the Thomas ranch in 1905 and renamed it Garner Ranch. The name was used on road signs as early as 1917.

Hemet (Natural Features)

Hemet Butte was named by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1897-98 because it was near the town of Hemet. Hemet Dam and Lake Hemet were named in 1887 because they were built at the southwest end of the Hemet Valley. Historians aren't sure how the valley got its name. One theory is that Native Americans used the name before settlers arrived, with meanings like "box" or "acorn valley."

Herkey Creek

Herkey Creek, also spelled Hurkey Creek, is located on the south side of the San Jacinto Mountains. It flows into Lake Hemet. The creek was named for a man named Herkey, who worked for Charles Thomas, an early landowner. In the 1880s, Herkey was reportedly attacked by a Grizzly bear while drinking from the creek and later died. A county park, Hurkey Creek Park, is also named after the creek.

Jurupa (Natural Features)

Jurupa was the name of a Native American village along the Santa Ana River before Europeans arrived. The village was sometimes occupied by the Serrano and sometimes by the Gabrieleno Indians. The Spanish colonists used the term when they created the Jurupa Rancho, which supported the San Gabriel Mission. The name was later used for the Jurupa Mountains and Mount Jurupa.

Miracle Hill

Miracle Hill is a small hill in Desert Hot Springs. It was named by Cabot Yerxa, who built his home there in 1913. Yerxa dug a well on the hill and found hot mineral water. He dug another well on the other side and found cold water. He also found different types of clay and soil on the hill. This combination of findings led him to call it Miracle Hill. Yerxa's discovery of hot mineral water eventually led to the founding of Desert Hot Springs.

Railroad Canyon

This canyon was first known as San Jacinto Canyon or Cottonwood Canyon. It started being called Railroad Canyon in 1882 when the California Southern Railroad built a line through it. The railroad was later abandoned due to frequent flooding. After the Railroad Canyon Dam was finished in 1929, the canyon became the Railroad Canyon Reservoir or Railroad Canyon Lake. Now, both the reservoir and the community around it are simply known as Canyon Lake.

San Gorgonio

The Rancho San Gorgonio (San Gabriel Mission)|Rancho San Gorgonio]] was established in 1824 by Spanish Missionaries. They named it after Saint Gorgonius. This ranch was a very important and distant outpost of the San Gabriel Mission. The name of the ranch was later used for the San Gorgonio Pass, the 11,503 foot (3,506 m) peak north of the pass, and the main river that flows through the pass. It was also the first name for the town of Beaumont.

Santa Ana River

The Santa Ana River was named by the Spanish to honor Saint Anne, who was the mother of the Virgin Mary. The Portolá expedition camped by the river on July 28, 1769, which was just two days after Saint Anne's feast day. They called the river Rio de Santa Ana, which was later translated to Santa Ana River.

Sec–he

Sec–he, also spelled Se–khi or Sexhi, is the Cahuilla Indian term for "boiling water." It was the original name given to the Palm Springs area by the Cahuilla Indians before the Spanish arrived. The name came from the Hot Spring in downtown Palm Springs.

Tahquitz

Tahquitz is the name of an ancient Cahuilla Indian shaman who was banished to what is now Tahquitz Canyon. According to legend, Tahquitz's evil spirit stayed in the canyon after he died and can still be seen in different ways. The name is used for Tahquitz Canyon and Creek, Tahquitz Falls, Tahquitz Peak, and Tahquitz Rock.

Temescal

A temescal, also spelled Temascal, is a type of sweathouse used by some Native American groups. The word comes from the Aztec language. Franciscan priests brought the term to California and used it for the sweathouses of California Indians. The Luiseño Indians had a settlement with such a sweathouse at the hot springs in Temescal Canyon. When the Spanish arrived, the community became known as Temescal. The name was later used for Rancho Temescal and other natural features in the area, like Temescal Canyon, Temescal Creek, Temescal Mountains, and Temescal Valley.

Tukwet Canyon

Tukwet Canyon means "cougar canyon" in the Cahuilla language. It was named in 2011 by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. The canyon is home to the Morongo Golf Club and is located near the meeting point of the San Timoteo Canyon and the San Gorgonio Pass. The name was chosen because cougars used to roam the area for hundreds of years.