A primary building material used to construct the California Missions were adobe bricks.  The adobe or mud bricks in the Mission Inn collections are typical of the type used to construct the missions. More

The Mission Inn was for owner Frank Augustus Miller, a celebration of and an appreciation for California’s Missions.  Miller, as “Master of the Inn” chose to evoke the romance of the Mission Era in his early 20th century idealized version of California’s history. More

Mission Inn owner Frank Miller filled his hotel with art that served as a reminder of the California Missions.  Some art he bought.  He also hired artists to create paintings especially for the hotel. More

The Mission Inn was for owner Frank Augustus Miller, a celebration of and an appreciation for California’s Missions.  The Master of the Inn chose to evoke the romance of the Mission Era in his early 20th century idealized version of California’s history. More

The California Missions often served as the inspiration for authors and playwrights. California’s Poet Laureate and politician John Steven McCroarty, wrote the Mission Play in 1911. It was performed adjacent to Mission San Gabriel Archángel for twenty years. Mission Inn owner Frank Miller is credited with the idea for the play. More

Frank Miller was not alone in this fascination for the California Missions.  Artists of the 18th and 19th centuries left invaluable likenesses of the missions, including Englishman Edwin Deakin (1838-1923), Henry Chapman Ford (1828-1894), and Alexander Harmer (1856-1925).  Their artworks serve as important historical records. More

Frank Miller created the rain cross design and it was registered by the U.S. Patent Office in 1908.  The design has two elements.  The lower portion, consisting of a bell suspended in a trapezoidal wooden frame, directly copies one in the companario of the Mission San Gabriel.  The origin of the upper portion is not so clear.  In the Mission Inn Handbook published by the hotel, they refer to the double cross as s symbol used by Native Americans of the Southwest to represent a sort of rain god or the dragonfly, the latter the symbol of water and rain. More

This small brass bell is one of approximately 500 bells in the Mission Inn collections.  It is made of brass and may have been used on a table to hold a menu or other placard.  Similar bells sold as souvenirs were available in the hotel’s gift shop and were modeled after the original El Camino Real bells. More

Master of the Inn Frank Miller chose to evoke the romance of the Mission Era in his early 20th century vision of California’s history.  The architecture of the California Missions, of Mexico and the Mediterranean placed alongside the orange groves of Southern California made the hotel unlike any grand hotel of the time (and even today). More

The mission influence extended beyond the square city block boundaries of the hotel.  To the west of downtown Riverside is Mount Rubidoux.  According to historian Tom Patterson, the mountain (sometimes referred to as the high detached hill) was the source of the stone for the Miller’s home built at 7th and Main Streets. More