Claremont tourist information
Much of what Claremont is today is the direct result of actions taken by the community's founders more than 100 years ago. Trees planted at the turn of the century now compete with nearby mountain peaks for dominance of the local skyline. The Claremont Colleges have become some of the nation's most highly respected educational and cultural institutions. The historic central core remains a vital residential and retail district, one of the last true "downtowns" in the region. And the spirit of Claremont's original "town meeting" form of self-governance lives on in today's active and involved citizenry, citizens who continue to build on the successes of the past in order to ensure an even brighter future.
The first known inhabitants of the Claremont region were the Cahuilla Indians. In 1771, as the Spanish period in California began, Mission San Gabriel was founded. The lands owned by the mission stretched from the San Bernardino Mountains to San Pedro Bay. Claremont was part of this vast tract, and many Indians were employed as shepherds for the padres. They continued to work for the Spaniards until smallpox took its heavy toll in 1862 and 1873. By 1883, the Cahuillas were gone. Jedediah Smith, the first European man to enter California overland, passed through the Claremont region in 1826. In 1871, W. T. ("Tooch") Martin, the first European resident of Claremont, filed a claim. On his 156 acres near Indian Hill Boulevard, Martin lived by hunting game and keeping bees.
The Santa Fe Railroad provided the impetus for the creation of a community named Claremont in January 1887. It was one of about thirty town sites laid out between San Bernardino and Los Angeles in anticipation of a population explosion resulting from the arrival of the railroad. However, the real estate boom was short-lived and Claremont would have become one of a long list of local railroad "ghost towns" if not for the decision of the local land company to transfer its Hotel Claremont and 260 vacant lots to the recently-founded Pomona College in 1888.
The founders of Pomona College wanted to establish a school of "the New England style" and the community that grew up around it also reflected the founders' New England heritage. Even the form of local government they used, the Town Meeting, was brought with them from their hometowns in the East. The citizen involvement and volunteerism on which the town meeting form of government is based continue to be hallmarks of Claremont today.
Beginning in 1904, there was talk of incorporating as a city. Proponents didn't want to rely on Los Angeles County for services. Opponents warned the community's weak tax base would result in bankruptcy in less than a year. Finally, after much debate, an election on the incorporation question was held on September 23, 1907. Ninety-five percent of Claremont's 131 eligible voters went to the polls. Incorporation was approved by a vote of 73 to 49, and the City of Claremont was officially incorporated on October 3, 1907.
At the same time the colleges were growing and expanding, so was the local citrus industry. Citrus ranches spread out across all the foothill communities. Claremont growers established one of the earliest citrus cooperatives for marketing and shipping citrus fruit, a model that lead to the organization of the Sunkist cooperative. At its height, the industry supported four citrus packing houses, an ice house, and a precooling plant along the railroad tracks in Claremont. Citrus continued to flourish in the area until after the Second World War. That's when the pressure for residential development caused many growers to sell their land for housing tracts. The opening of the San Bernardino Freeway in 1954 made it much easier for people not associated with citrus or the colleges to live in Claremont. The city, which covered about 3.5 square miles at its incorporation in 1907, now covers more than 12 square miles with a population of just under 34,000 residents.
The early Spanish, college, and citrus industry influences can be seen in the community today. There are lush remnants of citrus and oak groves and a physical character reminiscent of Claremont's Spanish heritage and college-town influence. Claremont has many fine representatives of various architectural periods, particularly Victorian, neo-Classical Revival, Craftsman, and Spanish Colonial Revival. This diversity, sense of scale, and continuity singles it out as a unique community in Southern California.
by City of Claremont California
Settlers came to the part of Catawba County known now as Claremont in the early 1880’s. It has been reported that the land sold for fifty cents an acre. The area became a settlement in 1881. The town began to take shape in 1814 when Jonas, Marcus and Calvin Sigmon built the first building, a merchandise store.
The Settlement was called "Charlotte Crossing". The Federal Post Office Department did not approve of the similarity with the Town of Charlotte. The village’s name was shortened to just "Crossing". Some people called the village "Setzer’s Depot". The Southern Railroad urged the people of the village to give their village a name. Early leaders of the village were J. D. Kelly, a railroad maintenance foreman and owner of Kelly’s Boarding House; William A. Hoke, a grocery man and early postmaster; Jonas Sigmon, prominent farmer; and Frank Cannon, the Southern Railroad depot man. These men discussed the problem. To these leaders Frank Cannon suggested naming the town after a girl he was sparking, Clara Sigmon. The men agreed with the suggestion and took the name of "Clare"and added, "mount" to it. The "mount" was added because the village from the old Catawba Road side looked high, as on a mountain. This was later shortened to "mont". On August 8, 1892 the town was officially called Claremont and listed in this way by the United States Post Office Department and also by the Southern Railroad.
The town fathers decided to incorporate now that they had a name for the town. Following all the procedures they took the papers of incorporation to the North Carolina Legislature. Claremont became officially incorporated in January 1893. The official boundary of the town was one mile from the railroad depot, north, south, east and west. The States Attorney General had to rule if the boundary was one-mile round or one-mile square. In his opinion the town of Claremont was a mile square.
Most people farmed but in these early years, one of the earliest sources of employment was the coal shute of the Southern Railroad. This was in the early 1900’s and remained until 1918 when the coal shute was moved to Connelly Springs. Men worked around the clock, and there were probably two men on twelve-hour shifts. Steam engines would pick up the water needed in Newton and the coal in Claremont. The engineer would blow the whistle to alert the men at the coal shute.
After the coal shute left Claremont, the boys would go to the area and dig down into the dirt to get the coal that was left there. Many of the boys took the coal they dug and sold it; others would take it home to use to heat their rooms. People continued to dig for coal for ten years after the coal shute had left town. The depot stayed active until the mid-seventies when it was closed.
In the City Park there once stood a rock building approximately 75 feet long and 25 feet wide. This was the Claremont Pepsi Cola Bottling Company. The spring is still active that furnished the water for the cola Ingredients used in the production of the cola were ale, water, flavoring, extracts, white sugar, and syrup.
The cola was sold in Taylorsville, NC with approximately forty cases being delivered to the stores on a two-horse wagon. Pepsi Cola drinks at that time sold for 80 cents a case of 24. The mixed drinks sold for 70 cents a case. The business expanded to Sherrills Ford, Long Island, Terrell and Catawba. Mr. Gid Moser, the founder, later purchased a truck and used copper in the truck bed to hold the crates.
Business was going very well when World War I started and the Mosers could no longer get the white sugar. Brown sugar would not mix with the syrup. Therefore, the plant closed.
Alfred Hollar was a blacksmith. Many of the blacksmiths made other things rather than just making shoes for the horses. Mr. Hollar made a pair of pliers with his tools. When a person had a toothache and wanted a tooth removed, they would come up to his shop. He would wipe the dust from his hands, blow the dirt off the pliers and pull the tooth.
The church became a focal part of family life in Claremont. Bethlehem United Methodist Church was organized in 1831. A deed giving one and one half acres of land for the price of $5.00 is dated 1876. The wording on the deed indicates that this land adjoined a previous tact of the "Old church land"and "Graveyard".
Liberty Hill Missionary Baptist Church was organized in the year 1870. Worship services took place under a brush arbor for some time. The congregation moved from the bush arbor into a log church, then another building was constructed of planks. Today this church has a very modern building.
A group of 60 people gathered on planks laid across stumps and became charter members of a church they later called St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on Sunday June 13, 1887. Land on which to build a church was paid for by the congregation in the amount of $50.00. The people furnished timber from their woods to build a white frame building, pews and the alter.
Claremont
Claremont is perched on the banks of the Sugar River several miles upstream from its confluence with the Connecticut River. The town is set out on a series of hills around cascades on the Sugar River where textile mills, constructed in the mid-19th century, stimulated the growth of the city. Claremont today is a diverse community whose attractions range from concerts at the recently restored Claremont Opera House to stock car races at the Claremont Speedway.
Claremont is the Waypoint community for an area that includes Plainfield, Cornish, Unity, Charlestown, and Newport, NH, and Springfield and Weathersfield, VT. Its Waypoint Interpretive Center on North Street offers a panoramic view across the Sugar River to long rows of handsome historic mill buildings, and to the isolated cone of Mt. Ascutney.
Mt. Ascutney, a "monadnock" or solitary mountain, dominates the landscape in the Claremont area. Visible from downtown Claremont, as well as much of the valley, it includes a seasonal road to the summit. The Sugar River pours from Lake Sunapee and winds its way through Newport and Claremont before joining the Connecticut. Other tributaries of the Connecticut in the area are the little Sugar River in Charlestown, and the Black River, in Springfield, VT.
Claremont aerial map
Please click on any icon on the Claremont aerial tourist map, to find close by places, offering hotels and tourist information. You can zoom in and zoom out our touristical map as well as switch between satelite and map view of Claremont.
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