Welcome to Redlands Conservancy’s home and headquarters, Historic Asistencia. Located at 26930 Barton Road, this historic site opens its gates and doors to our community for concerts, lectures, special activities, workshops, programs and tours.
In 2018, Redlands Conservancy received the deed to Asistencia from San Bernardino County Museum with the charge to restore and preserve the historical nature of the property for the benefit of the citizens of San Bernardino County. With this mandate, the Conservancy has renovated half of the rooms at Asistencia and has upgraded the grounds with new gardens.
With the Asistencia Team, the Conservancy is establishing a calendar of activities and programs for the community to enjoy.
UPCOMING EVENTS at Asistencia:
Second Tuesday Speaker Series
White Elephant Sale
Sunday Open Gates
Asistencia history
Asistencia is part of the history of the California missions of the late 1700s and early 1800s. Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, situated 30 miles east of Los Angeles, established a rancho outpost, called an estancia, near present-day Loma Linda around 1819 to provide an itinerant priest for the nearby Native American village of Guachama and to monitor the cattle that the Mission grazed in the area. It was a simple structure, with a small residence for the mayordomo who managed the area.
When that outpost was determined inadequate around 1826, San Gabriel Mission relocated the outpost about one mile east to the current site of Asistencia. This new structure was much larger than the old, with walls built of adobe bricks made on the site. While it had a small chapel, it had no resident priest, but it sheltered travelers and neighbors, and managed herds of cattle.
At the time, an asistencia was considered one step below a full mission. We have found no documentation that our historic building was ever an official asistencia, – so, how did it receive its name, Historic Asistencia? Read on.
1830: The new structure was almost completed by early 1830s. The adobe buildings were built around a courtyard and included the small chapel and 14 rooms, according to historical documents. A corral for the livestock was located on the south side of the complex.
1834: In 1834, the Mexican government secularized all the mission properties, including the structures located at the site of today’s Asistencia. The Catholic priests in charge decided to abandon the site, partly because of repeated raids that decimated their livestock herds.
1842: The site was abandoned until 1842 when the Mexican government gave most of the land (in what is now San Bernardino Valley) to the Lugo and Sepulveda families.
1851: They lived in the buildings until they sold the site nine years later in 1851 to members of the Mormon Church – families who emigrated from Utah to the area for settlement. The Mormons used the site for a residence for the elders, a voting place, and a tithing place.
1857: Called back to Utah by leader Brigham Young, the Mormons sold the outpost in 1857 to Dr. Ben Barton of San Bernardino. While he built his new brick home a few hundred feet north, he and his family lived in the old buildings and held a school there for the region’s youngsters.
1867: Ben Barton moved his family into his new home, and continued to use the outpost for storing crops he raised and for his livestock. It gradually fell into disrepair; the thatch roofs no longer kept rain from the dried mud walls, and the buildings began to dissolve.
1920s: Photos from the early 20th century show the Barton Villa standing north of piles of adobe rubble, with only remnants of actual walls in sight. Many builders in Redlands at the time retrieved the adobe bricks to use for foundations of new construction. Many Redlanders took carriage rides to the ruins to sit on the old walls and have a picnic.
With renewed interest statewide in the preservation of the California missions, residents in San Bernardino Valley leaned on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors to purchase the remaining site of the early outpost, our Asistencia; it had been purchased from Ben Barton by the Cheney family in the early 1900s. With support from the local historical societies, the one-acre site was purchased and the county began the effort to construct, restore, or reconstruct the decayed adobe structures with volunteer labor and donated funds.
1930s: As the Great Depression raged on, the Works Progress Administration took an interest in the restoration project at the outpost. The project leader, Horace Hinkley, needing to raise money and interest in the project, determined that people would not be intrigued by the notion of restoring an “outpost” or rancho – a simple estancia; people might gain interest to restore a much more important structure, an asistencia of the San Gabriel Mission. So, he called it Asistencia; hence, the name it bears today.
The re-constructors located some of the old cobblestone foundations. With these and the remains of six rooms as guides, reconstruction proceeded, and the new buildings adapted the old remnants to meet needs of the day, according to Dr. Gerald Smith, director of San Bernardino County Museum in 1977.
In 1937, the restored site was formally opened to the public, and identified as the San Bernardino Asistencia, even though no formal record exists to substantiate the title of “asistencia.”
1962: The site was dedicated as California State Historical Landmark #42 because the buildings represent some of the best examples of the structures that were built by hand with attention to detail and fine craftsmanship during the depression. In 1992, the building was earthquake-retrofitted. The San Bernardino County Museum operated the site as a museum and as a wedding chapel and an event center for many years.
2018: After two years of discussions and negotiations, San Bernardino County Board of Supervisor deeded the historic Asistencia property to Redlands Conservancy with the charge to restore and preserve the historical nature of the property for the benefit of the citizens of San Bernardino County in perpetuity.
2024: For almost six years, Asistencia was operated as an event venue, managed by Knox Consulting. In 2024, Redlands Conservancy’s Board of Directors voted to shift operations from space rental to that of being a home and headquarters for Redlands Conservancy’s activities. This would provide an opportunity to present concerts, lectures, special activities, workshops, programs and tours for the community to enjoy.
