Updated:
October 14, 2006
he Raincross design was registered by the U.S. Patent Office in 1908. Several people, including Mission Inn owner Frank Miller and architect Arthur Benton, are credited with the design. The Raincross has two elements; the lower portion, consisting of a bell suspended in a trapezoidal wooden frame, directly copies one from the bell tower of Mission San Gabriel. The origin of the upper portion is not so clear. The Handbook of the Mission Inn, published by the hotel (1951), refers to the double cross as a symbol used by Native Americans of the Southwest to represent a rain god or dragonfly, the latter being a symbol of water and rain.
With the coming of the missionaries, the double cross became incorporated into Christian symbolism (including the Cross of Lorraine). Since mission padres put up crosses wherever they went, it was appropriate for the Mission Inn to honor both the Spanish and the Native Americans by using a cross that held significance for both.
Double or two-tiered crosses were also included in the designs of the Roycroft Community in New York State, founded by Frank Miller’s friend, Elbert Hubbard. Examples of the Arts and Crafts furniture made by Hubbard’s community can be found in the Mission Inn collections. The National Biscuit Company and the American Lung Association also used double crosses.
The Raincross symbol is seen throughout Riverside. Soon after Frank Miller’s patent was approved, the City of Riverside adopted it as the city’s symbol and incorporated it into the design of the city’s streetlights and other fixtures. Since then, the Raincross has been reproduced in a variety of ways – in jewelry, murals, and even as part of the design of the 91 Freeway.
The
patent reads as follows:
United
States Patent Office.
Frank
A. Miller, of Riverside, California.
Design
for an Emblem
No.
39,155. Specification
for Design Patented
Feb. 25, 1908.
Application
field June 27, 1907. Serial
No. 380,628. Term
of patent 14 years.
To
all whom it may concern:
Be
in known that I, Frank A.
Miller, a citizen of the
United States, residing
at Riverside, in the county
of Riverside and State of
California, have invented
a new original, and ornamental
Design for an Emblem, of
which the following is a
specification, reference
being had to the accompanying
drawing, forming a part
thereof.
The
figure is a plan view of
the emblem, showing my new
design.
I
claim:
The
ornamental design for an
emblem, as shown.
Frank
A. Miller
Witnesses:
C.
W. Barton
J.
M. Vosburgh
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