Welcome to History of Perris Hill Park
The History of Perris Hill Park is long and rich. Perris Hill Park has been mentioned in thousands of publications over the past 90 or so years. Events at Perris Hill have been both covered and advertised extensively by the San Bernardino Sun Newspaper multiple times a week during that time as well as a number of other publications.
The information in this History of Perris Hill Park website is provided as a public service and is intended to educate the Park’s current patrons and future users. It is our hope that understanding the History of the Park as a major civic asset will lead to a recognition of its true unrealized potential as a badly needed premier recreational resource.
The information in this website highlights some of the parks history but is by no means comprehensive. The information has been compiled from credible sources and attributed and linked to those sources as a tribute to their extensive work and so readers can do further research. All newspaper articles courtesy of the Sun and the California Digital Newspaper Collection at UCR. Throughout this website, please click on the date indicated to see the full newspaper article.
Please click thru the menu options to learn more about the Park's past and present. We invite you to visit the park and become part of its history, and hopefully an advocate for its future.
Frederick Thomas Perris
Perris Hill, Perris Hill Park, and the City of Perris are all named after Frederick Thomas Perris. A visionary pioneer largely responsible for the railroad presence in the San Bernardino valley and beyond and the water history of the City of San Bernardino. He lived at a house in the City of San Bernardino at 637 North D Street for many years, which has since been torn down.
Fred Thomas Perris (1836-1916) grew up in England and Australia and joined the Mormon colony at San Bernardino, California, as a teenager. In 1863 he was hired to survey land near what is now Perris, Idaho. This helped get him a position as a surveyor for the transcontinental railroad, a job he lost in a labor dispute with Brigham Young. Perris worked at a variety of odd jobs before helping to found the Liberal Party of Utah and the Salt Lake Tribune. In 1874 he returned to San Bernardino, and was hired as surveyor of San Bernardino County. He later worked as Chief Engineer on the California Southern Railroad (later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway). The city of Perris, California, is named for him.
From the description of Letterbook, 1867-1868. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 772470159
https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6jt1z6q
For more details about his life and impact on the City of San Bernardino, see the following San Bernardino Sun newspaper articles: 5-6-1909, 5-23-1911, 5-13-1916, 5-1-1955, 8-26-1956, 9-29-1957, 7-6-1986, 10-12-1986.
What is this website all about?
We are not an organized group or association, nor do we have any affiliation with the City of San Bernardino. The purpose of this website is just to document the wonderful history of the park and get the word out about the free asset the City is offering. Simply put, we want more people to enjoy the park and understand its history.
The park is maintained by the City of San Bernardino Parks & Recreation Department. Learn all the amenities Perris Hill Park has to offer and park regulations on the City's website.