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Epimenio Guzman is pictured on the left at a blacksmith shop in this image from the early 1900s. Rita Radeleff, in an excerpt from her unpublished autobiography fondly remembered her uncle "Goose," who ran the shop on Stuard Ave. She wote "Goose would produce a nondescript piece of metal and heat it in the fire until it was fashioned into a shoe for the horse, which was waiting so patiently to be shod. Oh, how the veins on his arms and massive hands would pop out, I thought that they were going to burst! He would talk to the horse making it stand so still as he fit the shoe to the hoof, never hurting the horse though. He would then trim whatever damaged or excessive hoof, just as we would recieve a manicure."
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Mary Garcia's father, Manuel Jacques, stands in a trench in the orange groves as he check the concrete pipes which brought water to the orange groves. Concrete conduit, standpipes, and other products were essential to the citrus industry in the days before plastic pipes.
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Mary Garcia's father, Manuel Jacques, is pictured here at a concrete manufacturing plant on Colton Avenue in Redlands on December 18, 1939. Manuel is pictured with two other men as they lean against some cement pipes. Concrete conduit, standpipes, and other products were essential to the citrus industry in the days before plastic pipes.
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"This photograph shows Augustin Ruiz in 1979 on Cypress Street. In the 1990s, through the efforts of his descendants, Second Street was renamed Ruiz Street in honor of the patriarch, who lived to the age of 104." According to Aurelia Ruiz Reyes, "My grandpa was working, he was here already working in San Francisco at the time of the earthquake in 1906. He went back to Mexico and he brought my dad [Augustin Ruiz] over here to work. My grandpa had some relatives in Yucaipa and they stopped there for, I don't remember, not too long, because they were on their way to San Francisco. They were hitchhiking, and this man gave them a ride up to El Monte. So, the man gave them a job picking walnuts. They made a little money there, so they didn't continue to San Francisco, and they came back to Redlands. They lived... right on the corner of Stuart and Oriental. There's where the, a lot of the Spanish people were, Mexican people were before." (Vasquez and Carpio, 27)
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The Ruiz children, from left to right, are Candida, Jose, and Lucille. Felix and Octavio are seated on Catota the mule. Their parents, Augustin and Angela, lived at 509 Lawton Street. Helen Cabral, Augustin and Angela's granddaughter, recalled that her grandfather "came from Zacualco, Jalisco and was born in 1890. He worked on the railroad in Arizona, then homesteaded in Redlands when he was 18. Augustin was a mason who made pipes for irrigating the groves, and he picked oranges seasonally. Catota was used as transportation and for taking the family to Chino to pick walnuts. He was a strong mule. Catota became so recognized that people thought my grandfather's name was Catota, and they called the family the Catota Clan." This photograph was taken in front of their home in 1920.
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Black and white class photograph of Lincoln school in Redlands, California. "Lincoln School in 1910 was officially segregated, but in Redlands, children from the Mexican colonia went to Lincoln, Lugonia, and Franklin Elementary, mixing with children of other ethnicities from their neighborhoods." (Vasquez and Carpio, 44)
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Pictured here in a partially colorized black and white image are the 1929 Dieciseis de Septiembre queen and her court. Queen Lucy Hernandez and her court, consisting of Encarnacion "Chon" Manzano (left), Mary Macias (second from left), and Josefina Lara (second from right), reigned over a daylong fiesta complete with a parade, music, and dancing. September 16, or Mexican Independence Day, was a major event on the social calendar of barrios across Southern California.
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A group photo of many children congregants at Our Lady Of Mercy Church on Calhoun street in Redlands, taken May 1938. Written on back: "5 Roque family members Tacho and Jose Roque Father and Mother Hignio and Dorotea. Estevan, Mary and Davie Father Genovevo and Paulina Roque.Bottom row L to R Joe Garcia, Teddy Mendoza, A + T Guintara. Ancho Roque, Jose Roque. Isabel Guerero, Silvestra Manzano ...? ? Madrid, Jouita Guerrero, Cruz Manzano ? Top - Edward Ramirez, Stove Candelaria, Albert Mendoza, Pascual ? Ramona Delgado, ? Garcia, Chole Jimenez, Ester Garcia. Top Last three Mary Roque, Gavivia Roque. Feliz and Lara married name" Lupe Yglesias recalled that "all the Mexican kids went to Our Lady of Mercy here on Calhoun, where this picture was taken. In fact, you will see a lot of the Roques are in the picture. In the picture you can see the building, which burned later. We had the school and then later, on Sundays, we would have mass. They would open the doors for the whole people." (Vasquez and Carpio, 44)
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The Roque children, including Felipe and his wife Bicenta (center, holding baby), are pictured in Redlands during the early 1930s. Lupe Roque Yglesias remembered: "We came into Redlands when I was about two and a half. We lived there in Third Street then we moved into the Barrio Judeo, that area, right there on Herald Street, it was the Barrio de Judeo. We had little bungalows, all on that big lot. I was eight years old when we bought the house where we grew up [1113 Herald Street]. We moved into it for $1,000. And the house is still there." Pictured: (top) Freddie Roque, Eiberto Roque, Tony Roque, Bicenta Roque, and Tomas. On the left is Fryne Roque Yglecias, Maggie Roque Castro, May Barbo, Jennie Roque, and Faith Filipe Roque.
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Portrait of Lupe Yglesias (left) and Lupe Corrales in Redlands in the late 1940s. In the corner their names are written in cursive.
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Black and white photograph of Concha Yglesias holding a baby and standing in front of her home on Pearl Avenue near what is now the 6th Street freeway on-ramp. Many homes along Pearl Avenue, such as those depicted in this image from the 1940s, were destroyed to create the new road.
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"Wally Sanchez and his father, Chris Sanchez, are pictured here around 1928. Wally became a star college athlete and popular educator in Redlands. He served in the Air Force during World War II. He recalled social barriers in Redlands and his first time traveling in the southern United States." (Vasquez and Carpio, 36) The black and white image shows a young Wally sitting on a tractor while his father leans against the tractor.
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Black and white image of a hay-baling machine owned by Bob Garcia's grandfather. Garcia remembered, "He [My gandfather] would take it all over the place, Yucaipa, Moreno Valley, and rent it to folks." In the image, the machine is being led by many horses and five men sit atop the machine as it works.
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Black and white photograph of, from left to right, Rita Coyazo, Sally Coyazo, and Celia Coyazo. They are posing before a performace at the 1973 Jamaica and St. Mary's Catholic Church event. The St. Mary's Jamaica was an annual fundraising event that grew hundreds of people from the North Redlands barrio. The fiestas were open to the public and included games, music, food, and a street dance.
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Photograph circa 1910 of Palmer Leland "Richey" Richardson, born April 8, 1885, in South Dakota near Lulare in Boondocks. Palmer married Tomasita Vellarde in 1913 and was a chauffeur in his youth. During the 1930s, he owned and operated Richey's Garage in downtown Redlands.
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Black and white image of four men, including Armando Gonzales (batter, third from left) at Community Park. This image was taken during the 1947 Pony Major Championship held at the baseball fields at Community Park in Redlands. Like many baseball leagues across Southern California and the Southwest, Mexican adults and children played in segregated "Mexican Leagues" rather than integrated teams.
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"The Romero, Herrera, Enriquez, Zamarripa, and Trevino families were among those who came to Redlands around 1901 to settle and establish the Spanish-speaking chuch La Capillita, Iglesia El Divino Salvador in 1913. The building was the focal point for the Mexican Presbyterian community. The church continued as a primarily Spanish-speaking congregation until 1969, when a combination of factors resulted in a name change and a move away from the conservative, Spanish-language traditions that the church was founded upon. The church was renamed Community Presbyterian in the 1990s and still serves as a spiritual home for English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese-speaking congregations." (Vasquez and Carpio, 30)
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Dionicio "Nicho" Coyazo of Redlands and two of his sons, Cruz "Cuni" Coyazo and Blas Coyazo circa 1943. Cruz, on the left, was killed when the B26 Marauder he was tail gunner in was shot down over Belgium. His family recieved only a telegram declaring him missing in action. They only recieved more information years after his death when a congressman found some answers in 1980, discovering that he had been killed in action and burried in Belgium after the wreckage was found in 1952. Paul Aranda has worked to document his great uncle's life and on Memorial Day 2021 Cruz was honored in Memory Lane at Hillside Memorial Park.
https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2021/05/28/world-war-ii-tail-gunners-death-pieced-together-by-redlands-family/
https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2020/05/24/world-war-ii-tail-gunner-almost-forgotten-but-not-by-redlands-family/
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"Santos Coyazo, pictured here with her children Consuelo, Sam and infant Blas in 1911, walked pregnant with her husband, Dionicio, and two children to come to the United States. Over 80 years later, Blas recalled, "My parents came from Mexico, from the state of Zacatecas. It's a mining city, and my dad used to work there when he was a young man. That would be around the turn of the century. Things were getting tough for them, and they wanted to come to the United States to better themselves. So they decided, my mother and my dad and one son and one daughter, to come to the United States. They came from Zacatecas all the way to Juarez in the state of Chihuahua and to El Paso. In those years, people would pay a certain amount, which was not too much to cross the boundary from one nation to the other. So from there we came to Redlands in 1910, and I was born the following year, 1911." Blas Coyazo was the first interview for Antonio Vasquez's oral history project and was interviewed twice." (Vasquez and Carpio, 15)
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The Redlands Mexican Drum and Bugel Corps, founded by drummer Leopoldo Gonzalez and bugler Manuel Manzanales, poses in front of the Manzano family home on Tribune Street in the late 1920s. Tom Manzano, shown in back holding the flag, recalled that his parents let the group drill on their property. Other musicians in the group were Joe Delgado, Sam and Nick Coyazo, and members of the Manzano family. Often accompanied by a 60-piece boys marching band, the group performed and competed in venues across Southern California. Sponsored by the Mexican American social clubs El Junto Patriotico and the Alianza Hispano Americana, the corps played popular and patriotic sons from the United States and Mexico. According to cornet player Howard "Joe" Herrera (fourth from left), the group would be featured frequently at Mexican celebrations like Dos de Abril and Cinco de Mayo. He recalled,. "We would come marching in playing Zacatecas or some other song like that and people would go crazy."
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A black and white wide shot photograph of the Mexican Drum and Bugel Corps performing as they march down Colton Avenue in Redlands during the Dos de Abril festivities in the late 1920s. The band was sponsored by Mexican patriotic and fraternal organizations.
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1920s black and white image of the Redlands Mexican Philharmonic Orchestra. Not much is known about the group, led by Professor Juan Balderas (center, holding cornet). Juan Balderas was a musical arranger and conductor who organized the first philharmonic orchestra of Los Angeles. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1893 and traveled trough Southern California, teaching and forming musical groups. Epimenio Guzman was a musician who played in the group, his granddaughter Connie McFarland recalled, "That's the band right there, that's my Grandpa with the saxophone [seated second row, fourth from left]. He said they used to play at the old opera house at the corner of Orange and Colton Avenue. It was called the Wyatt House."
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Black and white photograph of Aurelio Placenta as a child playing with a guitar at his home on High Street, Redlands during the 1930s
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"An unidentified soldier home for a visit with Joe Hernandez (second from left) Mr. Saldena, and picking foreman Ismael "Smiley" Tejada." (Vasquez and Carpio, 35)
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Black and white image of three members of the Roque family, likely two sisters and their brother in the center, pose on the steps of a house. The man in the center wears a military uniform.