Victoria in Riverside in Riverside County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
Roosevelt Palm ⎯⎯⎯ Helen Hays Yeager Memorial Grove
Photographed by Adam Margolis, March 9, 2025
1. Roosevelt Palm / Helen Hays Yeager Memorial Grove Marker
Inscription.
Roosevelt Palm, also, Helen Hays Yeager Memorial Grove. . President Theodore Roosevelt visited Riverside in May 1903 along with Governor George Pardee, at the invitation of Mission Inn owner Frank Miller. During his visit President Roosevelt toured Hawarden Drive and Victoria Avenue. At the head of Victoria Avenue he dedicated a 40-ft Washingtonia palm to the late Queen Victoria, namesake of the Avenue. The palm had recently been transplanted from the Mission Inn for the event. It was also in that era that Victoria Hill, rising above the palm, received its name. The palm now known as the Roosevelt Palm is City of Riverside Cultural Landmark #64. , While in Riverside, the president also made another symbolic gesture by participating in transplanting one of the two original navel orange trees from the Tibbets's home to the front of the "Old Adobe" in the Mission Inn's outer patio. This orange tree later died in 1922. The other original navel orange was transplanted in 1902 into the Parent Navel Orange Tree Park at the corner of Arlington and Magnolia Avenue. , The Helen Hays Yeager Memorial Grove is directly across from the Roosevelt Palm at the North entry point to Victoria Avenue. This historical grove is a peaceful oasis near to the Lorraine Small Rose Garden. She built a home there and cared for this orange grove for over fifty years.
President Theodore Roosevelt visited Riverside in May 1903 along with Governor George Pardee, at the invitation of Mission Inn owner Frank Miller. During his visit President Roosevelt toured Hawarden Drive and Victoria Avenue. At the head of Victoria Avenue he dedicated a 40-ft Washingtonia palm to the late Queen Victoria, namesake of the Avenue. The palm had recently been transplanted from the Mission Inn for the event. It was also in that era that Victoria Hill, rising above the palm, received its name. The palm now known as the Roosevelt Palm is City of Riverside Cultural Landmark #64.
While in Riverside, the president also made another symbolic gesture by participating in transplanting one of the two original navel orange trees from the Tibbets's home to the front of the "Old Adobe" in the Mission Inn's outer patio. This orange tree later died in 1922. The other original navel orange was transplanted in 1902 into the Parent Navel Orange Tree Park at the corner of Arlington and Magnolia Avenue.
The Helen Hays Yeager Memorial Grove is directly across from the Roosevelt Palm at the North entry point to Victoria
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Avenue. This historical grove is a peaceful oasis near to the Lorraine Small Rose Garden. She built a home there and cared for this orange grove for over fifty years.
Location. 33° 56.086′ N, 117° 22.886′ W. Marker is in Riverside, California, in Riverside County. It is in Victoria. It is at the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Jane Street, on the right when traveling west on Victoria Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Riverside CA 92506, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Los Angeles, in the Inland Empire, and in the Peninsular Ranges. It is also in the American Southwest. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexicos Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers
Photographed by Adam Margolis, March 9, 2025
2. Roosevelt Palm / Helen Hays Yeager Memorial Grove Marker
courtesy University of Southern California Libraries, California Historical Society, 1903
3. Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt planting an orange tree in front of the Mission Inn, Riverside
Credits. This page was last revised on June 11, 2025. It was originally submitted on May 28, 2025, by Adam Margolis of Mission Viejo, California. This page has been viewed 257 times since then and 79 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on May 28, 2025, by Adam Margolis of Mission Viejo, California. 3. submitted on June 11, 2025. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
