Title supplied by cataloger. Hemet is a city in Riverside County that was founded in 1887 and incorporated on January 20, 1910 with 992 people. Members of the Cahuilla Indian tribe first inhabited the area. During the early 1800s, it became a cattle ranch for Mission San Luis Rey, which named the area Rancho San Jacinto. In 1895, the Hemet Dam was completed on the San Jacinto River creating Lake Hemet and providing a reliable water supply to the San Jacinto Valley. Despite a severe drought in 1898-1900 and a major Christmas Day earthquake in 1899, the town of Hemet continued to prosper. Every year since 1923 one of the city's claims to fame has been "The Ramona Pageant", an outdoor play based on Helen Hunt Jackson's novel "Ramona". In 1950, Hemet was home to 10,000 people; as of January 2007, the city had a population of 70,288 according to the California Department of Finance. Front view of the earthquake damaged First National Bank of Hemet, located on the northeast corner of Harvard and Florida. It shows a square brick building with clusters of brick debris scattered below the numerous windows that are along one side - one of the bank corners has been completely destroyed. Four columns flanking the main entrance and an elaborate pediment with a large medallion showing "1908" just above it are being held up with a makeshift frame made out of 2x4's. Photo dated: April 21, 1918.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;13 x 21 cm. on sheet 21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
First National Bank of Hemet (Hemet, Calif.) Earthquake damage--California--Hemet Bank buildings--California--Hemet Building, Brick--California--Hemet Building--Details Hemet (Calif.)
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