History

Redlands stands out amongst other Southern California towns for its distinctive and rich heritage, and its level of growth and development around the turn of the century. Downtown Redland was built according to traditional town planning principles, which is the way that communities were built prior to World War II. 

Similar to other great small towns of the era, Downtown Redlands was human-scaled, with walkable streets and blocks, and beautiful buildings of different sizes and architectural styles. The pre-war buildings in Downtown Redlands were pedestrian-oriented and originally designed and built to accommodate people disembarking from streetcar and train lines. Transit was a catalyzing factor around the early growth of Redlands, as the town gained regional connectivity through the Southern Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroads. 

Redlands was a streetcar town at the turn of the century. The Redlands Street Railway Co. ran two routes through town from 1899-1903. The Redlands Central Railway Co. served the community between 1903 to 1911.

The buildings that made up Downtown Redlands were architecturally striking and pedestrian-oriented.  Buildings were 2, 3, and 4 stories in height, with varied massing (ups and downs, ins and outs, towers), different frontage types, and varied architectural elements. Beyond the scale and massing of buildings, Downtown Redlands had a compelling mix of architectural styles including Main Street Commercial, Craftsman, Mediterranean, and Victorian.

The current mall site was home to several lost historic buildings as well.  Before the Mall was built in the mid-1970s, the 12-acre site was a mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented Downtown district. The site was broken up into multiple blocks with a variety of buildings. The Intersection of State Street and Orange street was the most important commercial corner of Downtown from the outset- dating back to the late 1800s. The First National Bank and La Posada occupied the west corners of the intersection of State Street and Orange Street for decades. 

The First National Bank, built in 1914, occupied the southwest corner of Orange Street and State Street until it was demolished in the 1970s.

Built in 1931 by Arthur Gregory, La Posada Hotel was a beautiful mixed-use Spanish Colonial Revival building in the heart of Redlands Historic Downtown. The luxurious hotel was the center of civic life in Redlands, a place of commerce and hospitality, and a beacon to visitors. La Posada was located on the northwest corner of State and Orange Street until it was demolished in the 1970s to make way for the mall.

In the mid-1970s, six human-scaled city blocks and multiple historic buildings were demolished to make way for the Redlands Mall. Completed in 1977, the Redlands Mall was an indoor mall surrounding by an enormous surface parking lot. The Mall was successful for several decades and served as a community gathering place and commercial hub. The Redlands Mall began to decline in the mid-1990s and eventually closed for good in 2010.