Lake Elsinore is a city in the Inland Empire region of western Riverside County, California, United States. Established as a city in 1888, it is on the shore of Lake Elsinore, a natural freshwater lake about in size. The city has grown from a small resort town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to a suburban city with a population of 70,265 as of the 2020 census.
History
Native Americans have long lived in the Elsinore Valley. The Luiseño people were the earliest known inhabitants. Their pictographs can be found on rocks on the Santa Ana Mountains and in Temescal Valley, and artifacts have been found all around Lake Elsinore and in the local canyons and hills.
Overlooked by the expedition of Juan Bautista de Anza, the largest natural lake in Southern California was first seen by Spanish Franciscan padre Juan Santiago, exploring eastward from the Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1797. In 1810, the water level of the Laguna Grande was first described by a traveler as being little more than a swamp about a mile long. Later in the early 19th century, the lake grew larger, providing a spot to camp and water their animals for Mexican rancheros, American trappers, the expedition of John C. Frémont, and the immigrants during the California gold rush as they traveled along the southern shore of the lake on what later became the Southern Emigrant Trail and the route of the Butterfield Overland Mail.
On January 7, 1844, Julian Manriquez acquired the land grant to Rancho La Laguna, a tract of almost , which included the lake and an adobe being built near the lake on its south shore at its western corner that was described by Benjamin Ignatius Hayes, who stayed there overnight on January 27, 1850.
In 1851, Abel Stearns acquired the rancho and sold it in 1858 to Augustin Machado, who built a seven-room adobe ranch house and an outbuilding on the southwest side of the lake. Soon after, Rancho La Laguna became a regular stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route between Temecula to the southeast and the Temescal station to the northwest. The old Manriquez adobe was used as the station house. Over the years, a framed addition and a second story were added, and it was used as a post office for the small settlement of Willard from 1898 until September 30, 1902. The building stood until it was razed in 1964, at what is now 32912 Macy Street. Today, three palm trees still grow in front of the site along Macy Street in front of the property.
As a result of the Great Flood of 1862, the level of the lake was very high, so the Union Army created a post at the lake to graze and water their horses. In the great 1862–65 drought, most of the cattle in Southern California died and the lake level fell, especially during 1866 and 1867, when practically no rain fell. However, the lake was full again in 1872, when it overflowed down its outlet through Temescal Canyon.Water-supply paper, Volumes 425–429 By Geological Survey (U.S.), History of Elsinore Lake, p. 255]
While most of the old California families lost their ranches during the great drought, the La Laguna Rancho remained in the hands of the Machado family until 1873, when most of it was sold to Englishman Charles A. Sumner. Juan Machado retained on the northwest corner of the lake, where his adobe still stands near the lake at 15410 Grand Avenue.
After 1872, the lake again evaporated to a very low level, but the great rains in the winter of 1883–84 filled it to overflowing in three weeks. Descriptions of the lake at this time say that large willow trees surrounding the former low-water shore line stood or more below the high-water level and were of such size that they must have been 30 or more years old. This indicated the high water of the 1860s and 1870s must have been of a very short duration.Water-supply paper, Volumes 425–429 By Geological Survey (U.S.), History of Elsinore Lake, p. 255
On October 5, 1883, Franklin H. Heald and his partners Donald Graham and William Collier bought the remaining rancho, intending to start a new town. In 1884, the California Southern Railroad built a line from Colton through the Cañon de Rio San Jacinto (now Railroad Canyon) to link with San Diego, and a rail station La Laguna appeared near the corner of what is now Mission Trail and Diamond Drive. On April 9, 1888, Elsinore became the 73rd city to be incorporated in California, just 38 years after California became a state. Originally, Elsinore was in San Diego County, but the city became part of Riverside County upon its creation in 1893. It was named Elsinore after the Danish city, Helsingør, which is featured in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. In fact, Helsingør is now a sister city of Lake Elsinore, California. Another source maintains Elsinore is a corruption of el señor, Spanish for "the gentleman", because the city site had been owned by a don.
The rainfall until 1893 was greater than normal, and the lake remained high and overflowed naturally on three or four occasions during that time. The lake water was purchased by the Temescal Water Company for the irrigation of land in Corona. Its outlet channel was deepened, permitting gravity flow down the natural channel of Temescal Canyon to Corona for a year or more after the water level sank below the natural elevation of its outlet. As the lake surface continued to recede, a pumping plant was installed and pumping was continued a few seasons, but the concentration of salts in the lake, due to the evaporation and lack of rainfall, soon made the water unfit for irrigation and the project was abandoned by the company.
From the beginning, the mineral springs near the lake attracted visitors seeking therapeutic treatments. In 1887, the Crescent Bath House, now known as "The Chimes", was built; it still stands in historic downtown and is a registered national historic site. By 1888, the economy was supported by coal and clay mining at what became the town of Terra Cotta, gold mining in the Pinacate Mining District, ranching, and the agriculture of fruit and nuts. After 1893, the lake's water level sank almost continuously for nearly 10 years, with a slight rise every winter. Heavier precipitation, beginning in 1903, gradually filled the lake to about half the depth above its minimum level since 1883. Then, in January 1916, a flood rapidly raised the level to overflowing.
Lake Elsinore was a popular destination in the first half of the 1900s for celebrities to escape the urban Hollywood scene. Many of their homes still stand on the hills surrounding the lake, including Aimee's Castle, a unique Moorish-style house built by Aimee Semple McPherson. Also, actor Bela Lugosi, known for his lead role in Universal Pictures' film, Dracula, built a home that still exists in the city's Country Club Heights district.
The Riverside Daily Press published this description in December 1919:
The city of Elsinore nestles snuggly on the west side of the lake, while it is backed by stately foothills through which traverses one of the famous state highways leading to Riverside and Los Angeles to the west and to San Diego to the southwest.
Its elevation of 1300 feet makes its climate delightful, especially in the cold months of winter. It has school facilities for a city twice its population, including a modern high school, grammar school and kindergarten.
It is one of few cities of its size in the state that has its own sewer system. It has an ornamental lighting system and five blocks of the city’s business section are paved from curb to curb with concrete. There are yet two and one-half miles of this kind of street to be laid on the streets entering the city from the south and west, connecting up with the inland highway system to San Diego and Riverside and Los Angeles.
Elsinore has three churches, the Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, while the Episcopal and Christian Scientists hold regular services in leased property.
The health record of the city is perhaps one of its greatest features. During the recent epidemic of Spanish influenza, which swept the country and the world, Elsinore escaped with but a few cases. Only three deaths were attributed to the disease.Staff, "Elsinore Valley And Its Ranching Possibilities," Riverside Daily Press, Riverside, California, Saturday evening December 13, 1919, Volume XXXIV, Number 269, part 2, page 1.
In 1933, the Elsinore Naval and Military School was established, though it later closed in 1977.
The lake also hosted teams for Olympic training and high-speed boat racing in the 1920s. The lake went dry in the mid-1930s, but refilled by 1938.
During World War II, the lake was used to test seaplanes, and a Douglas Aircraft plant making wing assemblies for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers was located in the city.Tom Hudson, Lake Elsinore Valley, its story 1776–1977, 2nd Ed., Published by author, 1988. The lake ran dry during most of the 1950s and was refilled in the early 1960s.
Despite its relatively small African American population, it has the distinction of electing the first black city councilman in California, Thomas R. Yarborough, in 1948. Yarborough went on to become one of three African American mayors elected in California in 1966.
In 1972, citizens of the city voted to rename it Lake Elsinore.Lake Elsinore Historical Society, Lake Elsinore, Arcadia Publishing, 2008, p. 10 More than a week of heavy rains in 1980 flooded the lake, destroying surrounding homes and businesses. Since then, a multimillion-dollar project has been put into place to maintain the water supply at a consistent level, allowing for homes to be built close to the lake. Overflow water in the lake spills out via Alberhill Creek, a tributary of Temescal Creek. In 2007, an aeration system was added to help the lake's ecosystem.
The city was ranked as the 12th-fastest-growing city in California between 2000 and 2008. Now, over 70,000 residents as of the 2020 census live there, and formerly open hillsides have been converted into housing tracts.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of of which , or 12.13%, are covered by water.
Lake Elsinore, originally Laguna Grande, is the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern California and is situated at the lowest point within the San Jacinto River watershed at the terminus of the San Jacinto River, where its headwaters are found on the western slopes of San Jacinto Peak with its North Fork, and Lake Hemet with its South Fork. Lake levels are healthy at above sea level with a volume of that often fluctuate, although much has been done recently to prevent the lake from drying up, flooding, or becoming stagnant. At , the lake would spill into the outflow channel on its northeastern shore, known properly as Temescal Wash, flowing northwest along I-15, which feeds Temescal Creek, which dumps into the Santa Ana River just northwest of the City of Corona. It then flows to Orange County, out to the Pacific Ocean just south of Huntington State Beach.
Lake Elsinore is bordered by the Elsinore Mountains to the west, which are a part of the larger Santa Ana Mountain Range, and receive a few inches of snowfall a few days each year. Included in the Santa Ana Mountains are the Cleveland National Forest and the community of El Cariso. Lake Elsinore is northwest of Wildomar and the northern portion is part of the Temescal Canyon. To the east of the lake are the much older and more eroded slopes of the Temescal Mountains.
Districts