Northside - City of Riverside

2974-3036 (1910-1924) Lime Street within the proposed St. Andrews Terraces Craftsman District
Lastly, two Victorian Era grove homes have been modified and incorporated into
early 20 th century tract development – the Shugart House (2973 Mulberry Street) and
The Waite House (3063-65 Lime Street). In 1910, the Waite and Shugart grove
property, which stretched between the two grove homes, were subdivided for
development. The Waite House was altered so that its main entrance is now on Lime
Street, its former side elevation. The Gothic Revival style home was been severely
altered through the decades with Tudor and Craftsman inspired alterations and
additions. The Shugart Home may have retained its original location until the arrival
of SR-91 through the area in 1958. The home has been turned from its original
orientation toward First Street and is now positioned on Mulberry Street, just south
of the former Southern Pacific Company roadway, with it’s back to the Waite House
and the surrounding development. It, too, has undergone a Craftsman facelift and is
a contributing property to the proposed St. Andrews Terraces Craftsman District.
With the nearest lands north of the Mile Square carved up, attention seems to have
shifted to the next logical place to develop, and discussions about the feasibility of
filling in the Tequesquite Arroyo began. By the eve of America’s involvement in
World War I, Riverside’s largest arroyo in a system of many had been filled (1913),
allowing the growing population to spill into the areas southwest of the Mile
Square, including the former Government Tract, which were covered by citrus
groves and, to a lesser degree, vineyards and walnut orchards. In this area, 18
subdivisions were recorded from 1910 to 1915 in what is now known as the National
Register eligible Wood Streets Historic District. Despite the residential congestion in
the Mile Square, these lots distant from the downtown center of Riverside filled in at
a moderate pace.
World War I served to curtail residential development in many cities, but in
Riverside, as in some other southern California cities, land speculation and
development were more immediately influenced by local events, particularly those
that affected the citrus industry. A major, four-night freeze in the winter of early
1913 devastated groves and citrus production. The county citrus crop fell from 2.2
million boxes in 1911 to 334,800 in 1913, a loss of 85% (Patterson 1996:331-2).
Though homes were constructed in Riverside after 1913 and before the end of World
War I, large-scale residential development was effectively stalled.
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