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.
Easter sunrise service on Mount Rubidoux; Easter Sunrise services In April 1909,
Jacob Riis of
New York, a friend of President
Theodore Roosevelt, was in town to give an address at the Mission Inn. He suggested holding an Easter sunrise service at the top of the mountain, and on the following Sunday the first non-denominational outdoor Easter Sunrise Service in the United States was held at the top of the mount. In 1912 an estimated crowd of 3,000 people were present to hear
Henry Van Dyke read his poem,
God of the Open Air. Each year attendance grew. In 1918 plans for an open-air 10,000-seat amphitheater designed by architect
Frederick Heath were considered, but they were never implemented. The annual service became nationally and internationally known, drawing huge crowds and celebrities, including opera soprano
Marcella Craft. In 1915 the
Southern Pacific Railroad provided a special service from
Los Angeles to Riverside just for the event. The
Pacific Electric trolley system also implemented special service from Los Angeles,
Corona,
Redlands, and
San Bernardino. Peak attendance in the 1920s was reported to have exceeded 30,000. The popularity of the Rubidoux Easter sunrise services spawned many other such services throughout the country, including an annual service at the
Hollywood Bowl.
Legal battle In November 2012 the legal advocacy organization,
Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to the City of Riverside threatening a lawsuit for having a large cross on city-owned property. The group believes that owning the cross violates a legal doctrine set forth in the
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution, which says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". In a city council meeting on January 22, 2013, the City of Riverside city council decided to sell the cross atop Mount Rubidoux as well as 0.43 acres of land beneath it. Through a fundraising campaign to raise money to purchase the peak at auction, and maintain it in perpetuity, with help from the community Totally Mt. Rubidoux raised nearly $260,000. On April 11, 2013, Totally Mt. Rubidoux placed the winning bid of $10,500 on the peak of Mt. Rubidoux, purchasing it in the name of Rivers & Lands Conservancy to be the sole owner and manager of Mt. Rubidoux Peak. After the purchasing costs, and setting aside funds for three years of management, education, and stewardship, about $190,000 were invested in a non-wasting endowment so that the interest earned could be used to manage the land in perpetuity. ==Mount Rubidoux today==