Oak Glen is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

situated between the

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...

and the

Little San Bernardino Mountains The Little San Bernardino Mountains are a short mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains through San Bernardino and ...

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. Oak Glen is located 15 miles east of

San Bernardino San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

, at an elevation of . The population was 638 at the 2010 census. The original settlers, the

Cahuilla The Cahuilla, also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California. ...

and the Serrano, harvested

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

s; many

metate A metate (or mealing stone) is a type or variety of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican cultures, metates are typically used by women who would grind nixtamalized maize and other organi ...

s can still be found in the streambeds where the acorns were leached. According to

Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing ''California's Gold'' and his human interest sh ...

's 2005 ''

California's Gold ''California's Gold'' was a public television human interest program that explores the natural, cultural, and historical features of California. The series ran for 24 seasons beginning in 1991, and was produced and hosted by Huell Howser in coll ...

'' profile, the

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

was the original crop grown by the first Caucasians to settle in the area. The

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

orchards produce many varieties of apples including antique varieties no longer widely commercially available such as Ben Davis,

Gravenstein Gravenstein (Danish: ''Gråsten'', meaning "graystone", after Gråsten Palace) is a triploid apple cultivar that originated in the 17th century or earlier. The fruit has a tart flavor, and it is heavily used as a cooking apple, especially f ...

, and Pink Pearl. Although Oak Glen grew apples mainly for export, in the 1940s several farms began to sell apples, apple pies,

apple cider Apple cider (also called sweet cider, soft cider, or simply cider) is the name used in the United States and Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples. Though typically referred to simply as "cider" in North ...

and

apple butter Apple butter (Dutch: appelstroop) is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce produced by long, slow cooking of apples with apple juice or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown. The c ...

at roadside stands. The export trade has virtually disappeared, and growers now earn much of their revenue from visitors who are allowed to pick apples directly off the trees at some of the orchards.

History

Enoch Parrish opened the first apple orchard in 1876, followed by the Wilshire family. The Rivers brothers and their families came to Oak Glen in 1906. Their orchard, Los Rios Rancho (Spanish for "The Rivers Ranch"), is still in operation, as are many of the other original orchards and ranches in the area. The Law family came into the area with its own apple orchard in the early 1930s and built the first roadside packinghouse, first restaurant and gift shop soon after. In 1996, The Wildlands Conservancy acquired Los Rios Rancho to ensure that the rural feel was retained. The orchard is leased for apple growing. The conservancy opened Oak Glen Preserve to the public providing hiking trails and picnic areas. They acquired additional land in the area particularly peaks to ensure the scenic backdrop persists. A large number of families visit Oak Glen for festivities and events offered by Los Rios Rancho and The Wildlands Conservancy. Los Rios Rancho a 103-year-old apple ranch draws more than 300,000 visitors yearly. Joseph E. Wilshire, who helped make the Oak Glen area famous for apple growing in the early 1900s had realized early on the suitability of The Glen for growing apples and began buying land where with his brothers. The original settlers to Oak Glen were the Cahuilla and the Serrano. They harvested acorns for survival in Oak Glen. The unique climate and elevation was perfect for growing large black acorns, a favorite among the locals. The evidence can still be found along the streambeds where the acorns were leached over 100 years ago. Although the main crop of Oak Glen was apples since the 1940s, it hasn't always been Oak Glen's only crop. The potato along with many other crops, were grown in Oak Glen since the 1890s. After several farms began to sell apples individually to visitors, along with homemade apple pies, fresh apple cider and delicious apple butter from roadside stands Oak Glen became an apple boom town overnight. The export trade has since virtually disappeared, and growers now earn much of their revenue from visitors who are allowed to pick the apples directly from the trees to insure freshness and the best quality. Today many of the heirloom varieties still exist today even though many of them have been since lost in time. Such varieties, which are grown only in Oak Glen, as well as many heirloom varieties no longer commercially available or are hard to find, such as the Arkansas Black and the Glen Seedling favorites among many. According to the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

, the town in

Tamara Thorne Tamara Thorne (born 20 November 1957 in Los Angeles, California), who also writes under the pen name Chris Curry, is a well-known, bestselling American horror writer. Her novel ''Winter Scream'', co-authored with L. Dean James, was nominated fo ...

's horror novel ''Moonfall'' is based on Oak Glen.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP covers an area of 15.1 square miles (39.2 km), 99.97% of it land, and 0.03% of it water.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Oak Glen had a population of 602. The population density was . The racial makeup of Oak Glen was 421 (69.9%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 35 (5.8%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 10 (1.7%) Native American, 10 (1.7%) Asian, 1 (0.2%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 62 (10.3%) from other races, and 63 (10.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 114 persons (18.9%). The census reported that 503 people (83.6% of the population) lived in households and 99 (16.4%) were institutionalized. There were 193 households, out of which 65 (33.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 127 (65.8%) were married-couple households, 10 (5.2%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 30 (15.5%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 26 (13.5%) had a male householder with no partner present. 23 households (11.9%) were one person, and 9 (4.7%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.61. There were 161

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(83.4% of all households). The age distribution was 76 people (12.6%) under the age of 18, 56 people (9.3%) aged 18 to 24, 166 people (27.6%) aged 25 to 44, 169 people (28.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 135 people (22.4%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 45.8years. For every 100 females, there were 150.8 males. There were 219 housing units at an average density of , of which 193 (88.1%) were occupied. Of these, 140 (72.5%) were owner-occupied, and 53 (27.5%) were occupied by renters. According to the 2010 United States Census, Oak Glen had a median household income of $70,189, with none of the population living below the federal poverty line.

Education

Most of the CDP is in Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District while some of it is in Beaumont Unified School District.
Text list
/ref>

References

External links

San Bernardino County Oak Glen Community PlanOak Glen Apple Growers Association
{{authority control Census-designated places in San Bernardino County, California Census-designated places in California