A History of Redlands Adventist Academy
by James Walters, June 2024
1903-1959
As early as 1891 Seventh-day Adventists were living in Redlands. In the mid-1800s they began meeting in the Baptist Church holding tent evangelistic meetings and soon worshipped in their own small church on East State St. In 1903 they decided to build a new church and convert the old building into a school house, moving it to a site they purchased for $300 on Herald Street. The new church was dedicated in May 1904.
Ida Hibben came from Illinois to teach that first year. Twelve boys and fourteen girls were soon enrolled. Emma Marcus taught in 1904-1905 with thirty-two students, making Redland’s enrollment the largest of the 15 Adventist schools in Southern California.
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In 1908, the school united with the Loma Linda school with thirty-three students, but in 1909 Redlands school reopened and continued for ten years as a one-teacher school, employing Clara May Fleck in 1916.
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A growing student population by 1918 brought sisters Alma and Vesta Fink to teach nine grades. Plans were made to enlarge the school building to make room for accommodating ten grades. At some point the school reopened at a new location on Division St, not far from Sylvan Park.
Disaster struck in March 1923 when a disgruntled student set a fire which destroyed the school. The Southeastern Conference came to the rescue with a tent used for evangelistic meetings to finish out the school year. In the meantime, construction soon began on a new building. By October the Conference could report “The new building is roomy and would accommodate nearly double its present membership. We hope some day to see the rooms filled. They are not yet equipped for woodwork, but have the room for it. They also have a sewing machine.” 1
The Redlands congregation also built a new church that year, at the corner of Citrus and Olive avenues. The old church on East State Street was sold to a developer who subdivided it into two apartments, still occupied in 2024.
Over the next fifteen years the school employed one, two or three teachers as enrollment rose and fell. It closed briefly between 1938-1940, then reopened with improvements to the building. “The teacher will be Mrs. Carrie Brown, who taught last year in San Diego county. With the exception of the third grade, there are students registered for all grades from first to eighth.” 2
Redlands Church joined the constituency of Loma Linda Academy in 1943, closing the Redlands school. By 1952, forty-one Redlands students were attending Loma Linda. The church developed the Division Street property into a Welfare Center. In 1957, Pastor Mote of the Redlands Church led a movement to reopen the school, leasing the former Dutch Reformed Church building on Clay Street and enrolling about twenty students. The next year Redlands Seventh-day Adventist Spanish Church, on Ohio Street, opened a school for grades 1-6. Ernest Mattison was hired as teaching principal. Graduation ceremonies were held at the Division Street building in 1958 and at the church in 1959.
But change was in the air. Construction on the 10 Freeway would soon begin in Redlands. The Church needed to find a larger area in which to build a new school.