San Bernardino County and Riverside County, California Biographies

History of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties 
By: John Brown, Jr., Editor for San Bernardino County 
And James Boyd, Editor for Riverside County 
With selected biography of actors and witnesses of the period 
of growth and achievement.
Volume III, the Western Historical Association, 1922, 
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL

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STEPHEN HENDERSON HERRICK
 
          It would be difficult to conceive of broader and greater benefits flowing from 
the influence and character of one individual and affecting in a constructive and 
progressive way the development and future of the Riverside community than those 
attributable to Stephen Henderson Herrick during his residence of nearly forty years 
in California. He was one of the men of vision as well as practical resourcefulness 
who comprised an important syndicate of Iowa capitalists attracted to the develop-
ment of that section lying east and north of the original Riverside colony. The primary 
problems involved in its development was a dependable irrigation system. That 
system was first inaugurated in the famous Gage Canal. Mr. Herrick as head and 
member of the Iowa syndicate furnished the support and co-operation to Matthew 
Gage which were indispensable for the construction of that irrigation project on a 
broad and stable business. On part of the land benefited by this enterprise Mr. Herrick 
in 1887 set out the first plantings of orange trees, and of the extensive holdings he 
has had and helped develop he still retains a large part, indicating that his interest in 
the country is not that of a speculator but one who is willing to wait for the fruits of 
his constructive enterprise to ripen. While so much of his time has been given to the 
material development, his interest has been deep and abiding in the broader growth 
and progress of Riverside. He has been a factor in the organization of some of the 
leading banks of this locality, notably the Citizen's National and the Security savings 
of Riverside, and for a number of years was president of both institutions. He is now 
chairman of the Board of Directors of the latter bank. Mr. Herrick represents one of 
the oldest lines of Colonial New England ancestry, although he traces his line back 
over 1,000 years to Eric, a Norse chieftan or king.One of his ancestors was a judge 
of court in Massachusetts, and was directly responsible for putting an end to the 
infamous practice of witchcraft. The English branch of Herricks came to America in 
1660, settling at Salem and Beverly, Mass.

S. H. Herrick was born at Crown Point, Essex County, New York, son of Stephen 
Leonard Herrick, a Congregational minister who for twenty-five years was in charge 
of the church at Crown Point. Later he removed to Fairhaven, Vermont, and from 
there to Grinnell, Iowa,where for many years, until his death in 1886, he was 
connected with Grinnell College as a teacher and trustee. The mother of S. H. Herrick 
was Delia Ives, a native of Vermont. Her parents were of Scotch ancestry and moved 
from Connecticut to Vermont in December, 1799, for a large part of the way, blazed 
trees marking the route for their slow-going caravan of ox teams. While on this 
pilgrimage they received the news of the death of Washington. Stephen Henderson 
Herrick was reared and educated in Iowa, attending public schools and after 
completing a full course in Liberal Arts at Grinnell College in 1865, he received the 
degree of Master of Arts.His Alma Mater also elected him to membership in the Phi 
Beta Kappa honorary society. Instead of entering upon a professional career he took 
up mercantile business at Grinnell, and continued that connection for twenty-three 
years. He was also deeply interested in his Alma Mater, and in 1883, after the 
buildings of Grinnell College had been destroyed by a cyclone, he came west to 
Oakland, California , and for several months was busy throughout the state in 
making collections, particularly for the college museum. He acquired a great 
abundance of material for this purpose besides interesting the various transportation 
companies and also through the aid of the faculty of the University of California. Mr. 
Herrick then returned east, and in 1885 became associated with others in the 
organization of the East Riverside Land Company. His chief associates in this were 
ex-Governor Merrill of Iowa, Colonel S. F. Cooper, formal US consul at Glasgow, 
and Senator De Los Arnold, of Iowa, and the late A. J. Twogood of Riverside. 
These men organized for the purpose of developing the mesa land east of Riverside 
and purchased several thousand acres in that vicinity from the Southern Pacific 
Railroad Company. This was subdivide, the town of Highgrove being platted. In this 
development Mr. Herrick and his associates worked closely in co-operation with 
Matthew Gage so that the Gage Canal would directly benefit the East Riverside tract. 
Mr. Herrick remained president of the company for several years, and the company 
was dissolved in 1915, after all the land had been sold. Under the Gage Canal system 
Mr. Herrick planted the first orange trees, and he continued his planting over several 
large tracts, and still retains a large share of this property. Other tracts have been 
touched with his enterprise as a developer, all in the section of east of Riverside, 
where he has owned or developed about 400 acres. Mr. Herrick is president and his 
son, S. L. Herrick, vice-president and manager of the "Herrick Estates Incorporated." 
The various properties and interests of the family are concentrated for more effective
 business management. Mr. Herrick is also president of the Lemona Heights Company, 
owning 180 acres of citrus fruits above the Gage Canal, upon which the company 
developed the water. At one time he owned considerable land in West Riverside, 
Corona, and Rialto. Mr. Herrick at the time of the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 
had charge of the large exhibit of Griffin & Skelley, this being the form that is now 
manufacturing the famous Del Monte brand of food products. Following his work at 
Chicago Mr. Herrick remained East four years, and during that time was one of the 
managing directors of the Grinnell Savings Bank, of which he had been president 
prior to coming to California. In 1903 Mr. Herrick was one of the prominent organizers 
of the Citizens Bank of Riverside  soon after became a national bank, with enlarged 
Capital. The Security Savings was organized in 1907, owned by the Citizens National. 
Of this bank Mr. Herrick was the first president. In 1916 The First National Bank of 
Riverside was taken over by the Citizens National and the Riverside Savings Bank 
was absorbed by the Security Savings Bank. At this time Mr. Herrick resigned the 
presidency of the National Bank to devote his entire time to he Savings Institution, but 
in 1920 resigned to accept the position of Chairman of its Board of Directors. He is 
also vice-president of the Citizens National Bank and vice-president of the Citizens 
Bank of Arlington. He was one of the organizers of the East Riverside Water Company, 
and has been president practically since its inception. He is president of the Riverside-
Highland Water Company and president of the Monte Vista Citrus Association. Mr. 
Herrick is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic, having served in the Civil 
War in the 46th Regiment of Infantry of Iowa Volunteers. A man of deep religious 
convictions, he has all his life given much attention to church and educational causes. 
He is Deacon Emeritus and one of the advisory board of the Congregational Church 
and has frequently officiated as a lay minister, even while president of the bank holding 
services in various places. In former years he found time to share the duties of politics 
natural to a man of his high standing. At the age of twenty-one he was elected a 
delegate to the Iowa State Republican Convention. He also served as mayor of Grinnell 
and was at one time a member of the Republican County Central Committee and has 
represented his party in the  California State Convention. He is deeply interested in his 
alma mater. The beautiful Herrick Chapel, which adorns the Grinnell College campus 
was made possible by his benefactions. It is a family memorial, as three generations 
were educated there - Mr. Herrick's father, himself, and his son. September 3, 1869, 
Mr. Herrick married Miss Harriet E. Fellows, a native of Princeton, Illinois, and daughter 
of Ephraim Fellows, who was born in New Hampshire and who became extensively 
identified with the pioneer development of Colorado. Mrs. Herrick is of English and 
Revolutionary ancestry and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 
They have two children, the son, Stephen Leonard Herrick, being referred to above as 
active associate with his father. The daughter, Lida, is the wife of J. Lansing Lane, 
recently of Hollister, California, now of Santa Cruz County. Mr. and Mrs. Lane have 
two children, Derick and Elizabeth.
 

Pages 1049 to 1051.
Transcribed and submitted by Sally Kaleta, January 2010.