Edom, Riverside County, California: A Land Of Agricultural Opportunity, With All The Advantages Of A Winter Resort

Edon Chamber Of Commerce

Publication: Edon Chamber of Commerce, nd ca 1930, Edon

First edition. 12" x 9" sheet, folded to 6 panels. Five photographic illustrations and a map of the Coachella Valley. Founded in 1876 as a railroad depot for the Yuma branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Edom was situated 115 miles east of Los Angeles and just south of the current Ramon Road/Interstate 10/Varner Road crossing. The outpost remained nothing more than the depot with four houses where the sections hands lived until 1904 when two homesteaders arrived: Ned McKesson, who built a citrus ranch just north of the depot, and August Strelow, who located his date garden and cobblestone ranch buildings just northwest of today’s Agua Caliente Casino. The community grew around these dual centers, benefitting greatly from the abundance of local ground water and the spring at Thousand Palms Canyon, six miles to the north. By the late 1940s, Edom supported restaurants, motels, service stations, and local produce shops. However, the opening of Interstate 10, which effectively bypassed businesses on the old highway (now called Varner Road), sent the community into decline. Now called Thousand Palms, the unincorporated area has managed to retain much of its rural atmosphere despite the proliferation of housing subdivisions in recent decades. This trifold promotional brochure mentions the “proposed Los Angeles Aqueduct” which was constructed between 1933 and 1941, and the agricultural products that flourished in Edom, including dates, grapefruit, and turkeys. It also notes the health benefits afforded by the desert climate and the blooming of wild flowers each spring: “This beautiful sight has been the inspiration for canvases by many of the world’s foremost painters, and brings thousands to the locality.” Mild creasing to the top of the front panel; otherwise very good. Scarce.

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