INLANDmagazineÿ |ÿ february-march 2011 LIVING The birth of our Madonna The storied history behind the local landmark

ALSO Modernism in the IE Micro cars you’ll adore Avoiding dangers of common drugs

Greg Armstrong, ride director from the editor INLAND LIVING VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3

A well-traveled woman Fred H. Hamilton PUBLISHER & CEO Don Sproul and still-fresh ideas MANAGING EDITOR JJ Jones adonna is a woman who ÿay in 1930. For this issue, we decided V.P. SALES & MARKETING gets around, or who has gotten it was time to track down that photo, part Lynda E. Bailey around depending on how you of which is on pages 14 and 15 (the larger SALES DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR M Shawna Federoff look at it. ÿot the religiously famous image is on our Facebook page), and tell RESEARCH DIRECTOR Madonna or the aging pop star, but the our Madonna’s story. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS & EDITORS , or as I like to call ÿo matter where you live in our Inland Allan Borgen, Luanne J. Hunt her, our Madonna. Valley, you can call her your Madonna too Steve Ohnersorgen, Jerry Rice, Carla Sanders Her story tumbles through the lives because she was placed here as a tribute Suzanne Sproul, Caroline Woon of a German immigrant in St. Louis, a to the women who had the courage to face Rick Sforza county judge adversity and to tame both the West and PHOTO EDITOR from Missouri, her often-unruly sons and daughters. PHOTOGRAPHERS Thomas R. Cordova, Khai Le ladies of the That’s our Southern , our Frank Perez, Lea Reed ÿþR — both history. ÿnd if you’re here today, it’s your of today and history too. Brad Gardner, Mary Hollenbaugh Jack Storrusten decades ago — ÿlso in this issue, we explore another SALES MANAGERS and even snagged part of the past with Palm Springs’ Jeannie Adair a toehold, if celebration of Modernism, an art, SALES & DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST reports are true, architecture and design style that was ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVES aboard the USS marked by clean lines, sharp angles Richard Aguayo, Curt Annett, Linda Baker Harry S. Truman, and an integration of interior and Cheryl Clarke, Jack Galloway Chris Lancaster, Jennifer Lucas, Maria Mendoza Photo by Gabriel ÿuis ÿcosta a ÿimitz-class, exterior spaces. Christa Morin, Cindy Olson, Bernadette Palos nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, with a We also learned from Cal Poly’s Bruce Krissy Rogers, Snezana Tomasevic photo stationed in the captain’s quarters. Lee Emerton that Pomona, too, has a rich John Valdivia, Adil Zaher

ÿnd believe it or not, the Madonna has heritage in the design movement. SALES ASSISTANTS sisters — 11 that we know of — scattered ÿnd we discovered small, no make that Lynette Burton, Felicia Caldera across the nation, marking points in our micro, cars in our own backyard. These Victoria Vidana nation’s history. fuel-efficient, low-maintenance gems are ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGN The great grandson of the sculptor says something to behold, even if they were Christie Robinson, lead designer/ production coordinator he doesn’t know what happened to the built 30 to 50 years ago. Pat Walton, designer original which was probably made of clay Let’s take stock: honoring family and MARKETING over some support structure. She was courage, beautiful, clean modern design, Veronica Nair, Ginnie Stevens likely destroyed in the making of the gas-miser small cars, all from years ago. mold for the statute we see today at the ÿs one of my historian friends might Inland Custom Publishing Group corner of Foothill Boulevard and Euclid say, “Who’d’ve thunk it?” People had good Frank Pine ÿvenue in Upland. ideas long before we came along. EXECUTIVE EDITOR & G.M. She is made of algonite — a cement like We hope you enjoy reading this issue Kathryn Johnson V.P. OF FINANCE mixture comprised of crushed marble and of Inland Living Magazine as much as we John Wartinger granite, perhaps even including lead ore. did putting it together. ÿur best to you. V.P. OF OPERATIONS ÿ few years ago, Carla Sanders and Joe Robidoux I both enjoyed seeing a panoramic photo Don Sproul V.P. OF CIRCULATION of the statue surrounded by a gathering of CONTACT US [email protected] Editorial: 909-386-3899; fax 909-885-8741 colorful looking folks taken on ÿdmission 909-386-3899 or [email protected] Advertising: 909-386-3936; fax 909-884-2536 or [email protected] To subscribe to Inland Living Magazine call 909-386-3923 INLAND LIVING MAGAZINE or visit www.inlandlivingmagazine.com P.O. Box 9400, San Bernardino, CA 92427-9400, is produced by the Inland Custom Publishing Group of The Sun and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Single copy price: $3.95. Subscriptions $14.95 per year for 10 issues. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box 9400, San Bernardino, CA 92427-9400. Copyright 2011 Inland Living Magazine. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. Inland Living Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or A PUBLICATION artwork even if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. ÿþpri ÿy ÿþuÿþth ÿþof ÿþpri

6ÿ | inlandlivingmagazine.com | february-march 2011ÿ cover story | our history

O Pioneers!

14ÿ | inlandlivingmagazine.com | february-march 2011ÿ Residents mark California Admission Day in 1930 at the Madonna of the Trail statue. The entire photo may be found at the Upland City Library.

Upland’s Madonna or more than 80 years, the ÿadonna of the ÿrail monument in Upland has stood watch, a symbol of a courageous pioneering of the Trail is one spirit that helped settle ÿmerica. ÿhe gazes southward under her worn bonnet, cradling a baby in her left arm while gripping a rifle of 12 from California barrel with her right. ÿer young son holds tightly to a clutch of to Maryland Fher apron. ÿhe inscription on one side explains that, along this route in 1826, a man named Jedediah ÿmith and 16 trappers, searching for a westward By CARLA SANDERS flowing river, became the first ÿmericans to enter California by land.

february-march 2011 | inlandlivingmagazine.com | 15 Written in stone The inscriptions on each of the four sides of the statue’s base: FRONT Madonna of the Trail N.S.D.A.R. Memorial That seems remarkable in itself — the place to the Pioneer Mother in history of this busy intersection at Foothill of the Covered Wagon Days Boulevard and Euclid Avenue. But what’s little (N.S.D.A.R. refers to National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution) known is that this statue, this larger-than-life woman, is replicated 11 other times across the BACK The National Old Trails Road . A newer commemorative plaque from the The statues were the culmination of years California Society of the DAR has been placed of work by the National Society of the below these words. Daughters of the American Revolution, aided WEST by a man who would one day be president of Over this trail, Jedediah Smith, seeking the United States. a river flowing westward, led a band of sixteen trappers, The story begins in St. Louis in the early the first Americans 1900s, when a group of women there, members to enter California by land. of the National Society of the Daughters of the EAST American Revolution, decided that the pioneer This trail, trod by the padres migration route from east to west — the old in Spanish days, — should somehow be became, under Mexican rule, recognized. Also engaged in the project was the the road connecting San Bernardino National Old Trails Association, formed in and , 1912 with Judge Harry Truman, of later the American post road. Independence, Mo., as its president. Initially, small cast-iron markers were At left, one of sculptor August Leimbach’s original sketches proposed to designate the route. In 1924, imÿge courÿesy Kevin KAÿL however, that plan was changed and the www.kevinkarlstudio.com DAR agreed on 12 large monuments. Three years later, August Leimbach, a German immigrant who was living in St. Louis at the time, was chosen as the sculptor for the mammoth piece of public art, which rises 18 feet above the ground and which he called “The Madonna of the Trail.” In the summer 1928 issue of The Federal Illustrator Magazine, Leimbach described his work: “The idea I had, when I modeled the design was this: The pioneer mother with her children was waiting for the father at their blockhouse in the wild West, for the father did not come home as he had promised. She, believing him to be in danger, put her little child in a blanket, grasped the gun and with the boy ran out in the field to look for the father. “The gun is sketched from the gun of Daniel Boone, with his carvings on the shaft. On the ground is prairie grass and cactus brushes, also arrowheads, and on one side in the “When I came to America, I often saw these people of the shadows, there is visible in the original, a rattlesnake, partly pioneer type, strong and brave and always ready to protect covered by grass. themselves against any danger. Asked to make a sketch model “When I was a schoolboy in the old country, the American for a monument of a woman of pioneer days, I was inspired history of the pioneer days made a deep impression on me. by my own impression of these people I had met, and the I thought often of those who had left the old home and all Madonna of the Trail is the result.” that was dear to them and had come to this country to find a From Maryland to California, the Madonna of the Trail field for their ambition. statues were erected in 12 states to mark westward expansion.

16ÿ | inlandlivingmagazine.com | february-march 2011ÿ The trail of the Madonna The statues of the Madonna, pinpointed below with their dedication dates, are scattered across the National Old Trails Road, an ocean-to-ocean highway established in 1912. Much of the route also follows the Santa Fe Trail of the 1800s. The image below was developed from an undated, hand-drawn map posted on the Federal Highways Administration website. www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/trailsc.cfm

Upland Springerville, AZ Feb. 1, 1929 Sept. 29, 1928

Council Grove, KA Vandalia, IL Springfield, OH Beallsville, PA Sept. 7, 1928 Oct. 26, 1928 July 4, 1928 Dec. 8, 1928

Albuquerque, N.M. Lamar, CO Lexington, MO Richmond, IN Wheeling, W. Va. Bethesda, MD Sept. 27, 1928 Sept. 24, 1928 Sept. 17, 1928 Oct. 28, 1928 July 7, 1928 April 19, 1929

Statuesque facts Each Madonna of the Trail statue looms (a poured mixture comprised of crushed rocks) the barrel of a rifle with her right. Her young 18 feet above the ground. The woman stands and each carries an inscription relevant to son clings to a clutch of her apron. On the 10 feet tall and weighs 5 tons. The 6-foot-high that locale’s place in history. ground is prairie grass, cactus brushes, base sits on a 2-foot-high foundation. The The statues feature a pioneer woman arrowheads, and on one side in the shadows, monuments are made from a pinkish algonite cradling a baby in her left arm while gripping a rattlesnake, partly covered by grass.

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The sculptor Kevin Karl, following a family tradition “I couldn’t believe this man August I was related to,” says Kevin Karl. “He gave me the ability to do artwork myself.” Leimbach Karl never met his great grandfather - he only became hen August Leimbach aware of him as a teenager was chosen to create a after August Leimbach’s monument for the ÿational death. And he doesn’t know W what happened to the Old Trails Road Association, the Daughters original statute crafted for the of the American Revolution put its faith Madonna monuments. in the talented hands of a ÿuropean son. Some things, like August’s Leimbach was born Feb. 12, 1882, notebook, are just lost. But Karl maintains his June Lake, from Kevin Karl’s portfolio in ÿlberfeld, Germany, and even in grade family’s artistic heritage school he was utilizing his artistic through his own work and the Art prints and photo cards talents, according to his great-grandson, scraps of Leimbach’s portfolio of August Leimbach creating the photographer Kevin Karl, of Steamboat, which, through the years, Madonna with Arlene Nichols Moss have come into his keeping. of the D.A.R. in 1927 are available ÿev. Leimbach had big plans to take his The self-taught artist, at www.madonnaofthetrail.com. trade and talent to the Orient when his designer and photographer A portion of the funds raised through brother, then living in St. Louis, suggested lives in Steamboat, Nev., sales go to help maintain the monuments. Kevin Karl’s work as he come there instead. where he embraces the beauty of the West and makes well as organic foods can be found Leimbach took him up on it, arriving a living selling his own at www.KevinKarlStudio.com, in the United States in 1910 at age 28. ÿe photography, as well as www.KevinKarlPhoto.com, stayed briefly in St. Louis before finding original art and a dabbling www.LakeTahoeRetro.com, of bakery and organic goods. and www.LavenderStars.com. work as an architectural sculptor with a firm in Waco, Texas, where he remained for the next two years, Karl says. “ÿe pulled a couple all nighters and put the prototype together During his travels afterward, Leimbach met up with in three days,” Karl reports. “Mrs. Moss stopped by his home colleagues from Germany and California and they decided studio and fell in love with the model. She asked him to send to stay in California and do work for the 1915 World’s Fair it to Washington, D.C., for approval and the rest, as they say, in . The sculptor also completed various other is history.” jobs, eventually returning to St. Louis. The DAR approved “The Madonna of the Trail” plans in 1927. Meanwhile, the DAR was having difficulty finding a Leimbach finished the monument within a month, and the 12 sculptor suitable to create the statues it was seeking to install. statues were then cast from this initial model. All were installed A monument company already had been chosen to cast the between July 1928 and April 1929. Leimbach and his wife statues and the owner suggested that Leimbach submit a proposal eventually returned to Germany, and he moved to Michelstadt to Arlene ÿichols Moss, the DAR chairwoman in St. Louis. in 1952. ÿe died there on Dec. 18, 1965.

20ÿ | inlandlivingmagazine.com | february-march 2011ÿ ‘We are very protective of her as DAR members. She’s a symbol of women coming westward in the days when it was very, very difficult.’

(Continued from page 19.) an array of residents and dignitaries lined up in front of the base, with the woman towering overhead. The statue was damaged in the Feb. 28, 1990, Upland earthquake, which rocked in at a magnitude of 5.2 and caused more than $10 million in damage. Seismic stabilization was completed at a cost of $37,000, and a restoration celebration was held on Sept. 18, 1992. The 75th anniversary was marked with a celebration on Jan. 31, 2004. The DAR continues to be the keeper of the statue, according to Bartholomew, who serves on the Madonna of the Trail committee with DAR member Helen Baxter. Their job is to oversee maintenance and inspection, while the City of Upland is responsible for the grounds around it. Items related to the statue — pens, note cards and bookmarks — are sold at the Cooper Regional History Museum in Upland and proceeds go to the maintenance fund. “We are very protective of her as DAR members,” Bartholomew says. “She’s a symbol of women coming westward in the days when it was very, very difficult.” During the dedication in 1929, a time capsule was placed at the base, which was opened on the 50th anniversary in 1979. Another capsule, or memory box, was inserted at that time, and is scheduled to be opened in 2029, 100 years after The Madonna of the Trail arrived in Upland — a pioneering woman of epic proportions.

february-march 2011 | inlandlivingmagazine.com | 21