History
During the early 1850s, many surveying parties passed through the vicinity of present-day Beaumont in search of a pass that would connect the east to the Pacific Ocean. The San Gorgonio Pass was discovered in 1853 by a surveying expedition under Lieutenant R.S. Williamson, who was sent by the United States government. Its discovery enthralled many who now saw connecting to the ocean a feasible measure and led to plans for connecting a railway from the Missouri River to the Pacific. By the early 1860s the Union Pacific Railroad had laid tracks through the modern-day location of Beaumont. At the summit of the pass, a site was founded and named Edgar Station after a 
physician from one of the original expedition parties. Edgar Station served as a rest stop for railway travellers from the Mojave Desert on their way to the Los Angeles vicinity. Soon Edgar Station changed its name to San Gorgonio, named by a real estate development company, and it gradually attracted permanent residents.
The sleepy town of San Gorgonio became an incorporated California city on November 18, 1912 and adopted its current name of Beaumont (French for "beautiful mountain"). As of 1927, the town boasted a small population of 857 with five churches, a public library, a bank, a high school, two local newspapers, several lumber yards, commercial packing houses, and a dehydrating plant. The city was dubbed "the land of the big red apple" by local residents in its early years, being one of Riverside County's largest apple growers. Apple plantations in and around the town expanded to a $200,000 industry by 1930. Beaumont saw a rise in visitors and residents as the little-known nearby city of Palm Springs to the east grew to become a highly popular resort spot in the 1930s and after; thus Beaumont followed suit and attempted to capitalize on the tourism by establishing guest ranches. According to an early 1930s/1940s postcard, the Highland Springs Guest Ranch of Beaumont offered its patrons horseback riding, tennis, archery, horseshoes, swimming, shuffle-board, ping pong, baseball, ballroom dancing, massage, basketball, as well as a place to spend the night.
During the Cold War, a Lockheed rocket test site was established just to the south, outside of the town, until it was sold in January 2004. The site's use of toxic chemicals has contaminated the water of local streams, hurting efforts to establish a wildlife preserve of nearby scenic canyons. With the housing boom in the early decade, the urban sprawl reached the last remaining valleys of the Inland Empire. With Beaumont's close proximity to Los Angeles, various Southern California residents flocked to the San Gorgonio Pass region for its low housing cost, causing a 20% jump in the city's population, making it the fastest growing city in the State. This has concerned many local residents, who cite increasing student population in schools, rising demand on the water supply and increasing traffic in and out of the city on Interstate 10 in both directions. A recent 2008 study by the Public Policy Institute of California noted that Beaumont and its surrounding communities in the San Jacinto Valley have registered the highest population growth throughout the sprawling Riverside County and the region is projected to increase by 4.5% a year to 310,000 by 2015. The 1995 movie How to Make an American Quilt filmed many of its driving scenes through Beaumont. Local wildlife in the surrounding vicinity include quail, coyotes, and foxes. Today the town is home to many antique store establishments dating back several decades, including the Nettie and Alice Museum of Hobbies and the modern-day Beaumont Antique Mall. New big box stores have recently opened up in town, including a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a Home Depot Home Improvement Center, Staple's, Best Buy, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Petco, Ross, Applebee's, and a Panda Express.
The City is host to many new master planned communities as the ci
ty has grown. Since growth from 2000 the fol
lowing communities have been built: Oak Valley Greens, Three Rings Ranch, Solera by Del Webb, Sundance and Tournament Hills by Pardee Homes, and Fairway C
anyon. Most communities operate under HOAs which have attracted many people from outside of the area to new and large developments similar to that of Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga and even Orange County suburbs.
Geography
Beaumont is located at 33°55%u203227%u2033N 116°58%u203225%u2033W%uFEFF / %uFEFF33.92417°N 116.97361°W%uFEFF / 33.92417; -116.97361 (33.924093, -116.973734).
Its neighboring city to the east is Banning and to the west is the city of Calimesa.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 27.2 square miles (70.4 km), of which, 27.2 square miles (70.4 km) of it is land and 0.04% is water.
Public Safety
The California Highway Patrol has a regional office on the Beaumont side of Highland Springs Avenue (its jurisdiction goes from Calimesa to the west to Desert Hot Springs to the east, as well as Hemet and San Jacinto to the south). Beaumont has its own police department and contracts for fire services with the Riverside County Fire Department through a cooperative agreement with Cal Fire.
Education
The Beaumont Unified School District has 9 schools in its city and 3 others in unincorporated Cherry Valley.
High schools: Beaumont, Glen View (continuation) and Wellwood (alternative).
Middle schools: Mountain View and San Gorgonio.
Elementary schools: Anna Hause, Brookside, Highland Springs, Palm Avenue, Sundance, Three Rings Ranch and Tournament Hills.
Miscellaneous
While being raised in Pomona and Arcadia, California, current NASA Astronaut and STS-118 crew member Tracy E. Caldwell graduated from Beaumont High School in 1997. Arthur Jessie Terwilliger also resides in Beaumont. Former actor Brion James also used to reside in Beaumont.
Profesional Wrestler Gorgeous George use to have a 195 acre turkey ranch in Beaumont, CA in the late 1950's to early 1960's.
A few episodes of the TV show "My Name is Earl" was filmed in Beaumont and many of the shows opening scenes that include the liquor store where he buys the winning lotto ticket, the car wash, and the scene where Earl gets hit by a car was all filmed on 12th street.
San Gorgonio Sports Park is in the Banning-Beaumont city limits on Highland Springs Avenue and Creekside Drive adjacent to Highland Springs country club.
Local Economy
External Links
Garrigus Real Estate
Certified Foreclosure Agent & Short Sale Specialists
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters Associates
951-490-3683 Direct
GarrigusRealEstate@yahoo.com
www.GarrigusRealEstate.com <--- Check out our website for useful info and helpful tools!
DRE License # 01844441
and Lennar Communities. The balance of the project was purchased by Lennar Communities for development of a 1,600 unit active adult community. Development of master planned infrastructure included a 4,000,000-gallon water reservoir a 30-inch transmission line, and a 16-acre community park.
