Gilman Ranch Museum

The Gilman Historic Ranch and Wagon Museum preserves, celebrates, and interprets the late 1800’s history of California, from the Cahuilla Indians to the exploration and settlement of southern California and the San Gorgonio Pass, including the homestead ranch of James Marshall Gilman.Come and take a tour of the historic Gilman Ranch. On the ranch visitors will find authentic sheds that were used for olive curing, storing milk and housing a carriage. Also nearby are the ruins of the Jose Pope Adobe house that the Gilmans lived in before their ranch house was built. Inside the Victorian style ranch house, visitors will find items originally owned by the Gilmans, family photographs and various other household items of the era. Picnic tables and barbeque grills are shaded by olive trees that were planted by the Gilmans over 100 years ago, and are bordered by a green lawn to play or picnic on, making it an ideal setting to relax. Scattered across the lawn are a variety of fruit and nut trees for the visitor to experience. This includes olives, white figs, black figs, plums, apricots, blood oranges, naval oranges, tangerines, walnuts, persimmons, pomegranates, lemons and grapefruit. Nearby are short hiking trails that give incredible views of the Banning Pass. A creek that runs year-round is a very short distance away, which wildlife like deer, bears, coyotes and bobcats drink from. In close proximity to the ranch house is the location of the infamous murder of a young woman’s father by Willie Boy, a young Paiute Native American. A visit from President Taft to the Riverside area around the same time led the public to believe that his life was in danger. The murder received national press coverage, and one of the last infamous manhunts in the United States followed. Even though many versions of this story exist, one version was captured in the film “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here” which starred Robert Redford and was filmed in part at the Gilman Ranch.