The property began as an adobe boarding house called Glenwood Cottage, built by engineer/surveyor Christopher Columbus Miller and on November 22, 1876, the Millers took their first paying guest. In February 1880, Miller's son Frank Augustus Miller purchased the hotel and land from his father. It became a full-service hotel in the early 1900s due to California's economic citrus boom and warm weather, attracting wealthy travelers and investors from the East Coast and Europe.[4] In 1902, Frank changed the name to the "Glenwood Mission Inn" and started building, in a variety of styles, until he died in 1935.
Mission Spanish Revival style interiorSkybridge between buildings
The St. Francis Chapel houses eight, stained-glass windows created by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1906. The windows were salvaged from the Madison Square Presbyterian Church and the chapel was purpose-built to house them. The Mexican-Baroque styled "Rayas Altar" is 25 feet tall by 16 feet across, carved from cedar and completely covered in gold leaf. For his "Garden of Bells," Miller collected over 800 bells, including one dating from the year 1247 described as the "oldest bell in Christendom."
In 1932, Frank Miller opened the St. Francis Atrio. The "Famous Fliers' Wall", added by Miller's son-in-law DeWitt Hutchings, was used to recognize notable aviators, including Amelia Earhart. On March 20, 1942, World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker was honored at the inn, becoming the fifty-seventh flier added to the monument. Today, 151 fliers or groups of fliers are honored by having their signatures etched onto 10-inch-wide (250mm) copper wings attached to the wall.
Frank Miller died in 1935 and the inn continued under the management of his daughter and son-in-law, Allis and DeWitt Hutchings, who died in 1956.[5] The inn then went through a series of ownership changes and some of its older rooms were converted to apartments and used as dorms for UC Riverside. In the early 1960s, St. John's College considered buying it as a location for its western campus but abandoned negotiations when John Gaw Meem donated land in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Photographed in 1978
During the 1970s and 1980s, the Mission Inn faced significant financial difficulties and deterioration. There were ongoing discussions about possibly demolishing the historic hotel to make way for other developments. The Friends of the Mission Inn helped secure the necessary support to have The Mission Inn designated a National Historic Landmark on May 5, 1977.
The Carley Capital Group began restoring the Mission Inn in 1985. However, the project faced financial difficulties and was halted in 1988 when Chemical Bank foreclosed on the property. The Carley Capital Group did face significant financial difficulties during their restoration of the Mission Inn, but they did not go bankrupt. Instead, the project was halted in 1988 when Chemical Bank foreclosed on the property due to the financial strain. By that time, the Carley Capital Group had already invested an estimated $40 million to $50 million into the restoration efforts.
In 1992, Duane Roberts purchased the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa and restored many of the property's architectural Spanish Mission-style features and undertaking modernization of the hotel's facilities. His wife, Kelly, manages the hotel. Annual events include the Festival of Lights, Feste dell’Amore and the Pumpkin Stroll. Historic Hotels of America announced on August 8, 2024 that Kelly and Duane Roberts had been named recipients of the 2024 Historic Hotels of America Steward of History and Historic Preservation Award for their efforts.[6]
During the inn's "Festival of Lights" celebration in November 2022, a fire broke out on the roof following the fireworks display.[7][8]
Architecture
Mission Inn courtyard during Festival of LightsClock overlooking the Spanish Wing.
With its widely varying styles, the Mission Inn was designed by multiple architects.[9] Frank Miller selected Arthur Burnett Benton to design the original building. Miller chose Myron Hunt to design the Spanish Wing added to the rear of the main building. He later hired G. Stanley Wilson to design the St. Francis Chapel. Wilson also added a rotunda featuring circular staircases and a dome.
In 1909 Carrie Jacobs-Bond wrote the lyrics for her famous song "A Perfect Day" while staying in the Mission Inn.[12] For many years the Mission Inn's carillon played "A Perfect Day" as the last tune each evening.[13]
The Mission Inn was featured in a Traveltalks short subject by James A. Fitzpatrick in the 1944 episode "Along the Cactus Trail".
In 1982, Eddie Money filmed the music video of "Think I'm in Love" at the inn.
The Sliders season 3 episodes 16 and 17 ("Exodus", parts I and II) were shot extensively in the Mission Inn, which played as a military base.
The finale of the 1973-74 TV series The Magician season 1 episode "Man on Fire" was shot extensively in the Mission Inn, which was supposedly "under renovation".Tears for Fears also filmed the video for the album Raoul and the Kings of Spain with the same name in the late 90's at the end. Roland Orzabal also had pictures for the album taken there as well.
Mount Rubidoux – a city park in Riverside developed from land donated by the Miller family
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↑ The place of composition is indicated in a line inserted above the title on p. 3 of the high voice (soprano) edition published in 1938 by the Boston Music Company; this version is in the key of C. Jacobs-Bond added the tune for "A Perfect Day" during a visit to the Mojave Desert 3 months after her visit to the Mission Inn (Rick Reublein on "America's first great woman popular song composer" site).
Gale, Zona. Frank Miller of the Mission Inn. D. Appleton-Century Co., New York. 1938. OCLC2181944
Hall, Joan H. Through the Doors of the Mission Inn. Highgrove Press, Riverside, California. 1996. ISBN0-9631618-2-2. OCLC34655850
Hall, Joan H. Through the Doors of the Mission Inn; Volume Two. Highgrove Press, Riverside, California. 2000. ISBN0-9631618-3-0. OCLC45279767
Hodgen, Maurice. Master of the Mission Inn: Frank Miller, a Life. North Charleston, SC, Ashburton Publishing, c2013. ISBN9780976278511OCLC876931972
Hutchings, DeWitt . Handbook of the Mission Inn, Riverside, California. Frank A. Miller. 1951. OCLC14473934, 20347083
Also see: Hutchings, DeWitt V. and Borton, Francis. Handbook of the Glenwood Mission Inn. 1929. OCLC19755317
Klotz, Esther. The Mission Inn: Its History and Artifacts. Rubidoux Printing, Riverside, California. 1981. OCLC9255879
Moore, Barbara (editor). Historic Mission Inn. Friends of the Mission Inn, Riverside, California. 1998. ISBN0-9666914-0-7. OCLC40414169
Parks, Walter P. The Famous Fliers' Wall of the Mission Inn. Infinity Press, Orange, California. 2004. Library of Congress Number 86-90693. OCLC15998708
Mission Inn. The Bells and Crosses of the Mission Inn, Riverside, California. (between 1927 and 1938). OCLC40809070
An earlier version is available as Bells and crosses of the Mission Inn and the Ford Paintings of the California Missions [1908?]. OCLC276859296 (available as a digitized version, and which includes a reference to the paintings of the California Missions done by Henry Chapman Ford)
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