1976 HERITAGE AWARD RECIPIENT
The Redlands Area Historical Society, Inc.
Heritage Award 1976
Edward M. Cope Home
933 Walnut
1900
Edward M. Cope came to Redlands in 1898 from Germantown, Pennsylvania. He became a partner with Harry Graham and sold farm implements, hardware and conducted a feed and fuel business. Mr. Cope was summarized, upon his death in 1954, as a “civic leader and philanthropist of Redlands.” He married Marie Lewis in 1899 and sought plans for a home in late 1899.
Mr. Cope and his new wife left for Butte, Montana, in February 1900. He placed the plans with Davis M. Donald for a home on Walnut Avenue.
The original home has not been altered from its ten rooms. Five bedrooms upstairs and another maid’s room downstairs gave the home a large amount of space for guests. Mrs. L. C. Sheppard observed the actual building for the Copes while they were away. The final cost was $5,800. Mr. Cope returned and in 1901 built the barn to match the house. The barn cost was $1,500.
The home was described as prim and always in a proper condition. The water company noted that a citrus orchard belonging to Mrs. Kirke Field had been removed in 1900 and also the planting of an extra lawn had been completed. A drought-weary Redlands carefully allocated water to things deemed extravagances. Lawns fell into this category.
Since the mid-1950’s Mrs. Dorthy Cope Weller has lived in the family home. It is a rare instance when any house in Southern California remains in the same family for over seventy-six years.
