In 1875, the Southern Pacific Railroad Company established the first railroad in the Inland Empire. Originally intended for the city of San Bernardino, the railway was actually established about four miles south, in what is now the city of Colton. It was built as part of a transcontinental railway that linked with other Southern Pacific railways to connect California with the rest of the nation. Eight years later, word came through San Bernardino that San Diego-based California Southern Railroad Company - now Burlington Northern Santa Fe - wanted to build a rail line through the Inland Valley.

Railroad's influence on Inland Empire

Not wanting to again miss out on a rail station, San Bernardino residents pushed hard for a station in the city.

No one was more instrumental in lobbying for San Bernardino than Fred Perris, for whom San Bernardino's Perris Hill Park and the city of Perris are named.

Perris was a surveyor who helped design the early street layout of San Bernardino, and was the driving force in bringing the California Southern railway station to San Bernardino.

California Southern brought its line from San Diego north through San Bernardino.

The newly established rail stations and the explosive growth of the local citrus industry were catalysts for much of the early growth of the

In the late 1800s, an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 acres were covered in orange groves, according to Nick Cataldo, a prominent Inland Empire historian.

Cities like Redlands, Highland, Loma Linda, Rialto, Fontana and Ontario would not have developed as quickly if not for the citrus and rail industry, Cataldo said.

DID YOU KNOW?

Electric Avenue in San Bernardino's north end is named after an electric trolley line that used to transport visitors through San Bernardino on the way to the famous Arrowhead Springs Hotel.

From around 1902 to the early 1960s, red electric trolleys were a popular form of transportation in places like San Bernardino, Redlands, Highland and Colton. A group of local businessmen bought franchises to operate electric lines in those areas.

At their peak during the 1920s and 1930s, well over 1,000 miles of trolley lines accommodated 6,000 scheduled cars. The system stretched east to west from Redlands to Santa Monica, and from San Fernando to Balboa running north and south.

The trolleys' popularity died out when cars, buses and freeways became preferred modes of transportation.

All that remains of the old Electric Avenue trolley line today is the empty land alongside where the tracks once lay.

- Source: Nick Cataldo

The railway not only facilitated the movement of goods in and out of Southern California, it also brought many people here to live.

A number of people from frigid areas like the Midwest flocked to the Inland Valley, where year-round warm weather was a major selling point.

"It was the promised land, the golden state," said Cataldo. "People came here because they wanted to make money and make a better life for themselves."

michael.sorba@sbsun.com.

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