Old Igo’s Store – 2026

This landmark building is situated on California State Highway 38 and Old Mill Creek Road in Mountain Home Village. Daniel Rhea and Maude Igo of Redlands chose this site at the crossroads of the 1914 toll road into the mountains and the road to Forest Home Resort for the first general store in the San Bernardino Mountains. It was constructed in the Mission Revival style in 1915, the same year of the Panama-California Exposition revival of Spanish Colonial architecture and pre-dated both the La Posada Hotel’s Spanish Colonial design and the re-imagining of the Asistencia. It remains unique in San Bernardino Mountains architecture and one of the oldest Mission Revival structures in the Redlands area after the Burrage Mansion. From the 1910s through the 1970s, the Old Igo’s store was an important waystation for Redlands people traveling to their summer homes in the mountains.

Daniel Rhea Igo was born in Bristol, Ohio on June 18, 1887. At the age of three, he moved with his parents, Mary and Daniel Igo, and his infant brother Benjamin to the Mojave Desert mining town of Daggett. His parents divorced in 1895, and at the age of twelve he worked in the Borax mines pumping air into the shafts for $2 a night. In 1900, Mary Igo moved with her two sons to Redlands. Rhea, as he was called, took a job selling newspapers for the N.L. Levering news agency on Orange Street. He then became a printer for Scipio Craig at The Citrograph and for the San Bernardino Sun following Craig’s death in 1908. On May 4, 1910, he married Maude Wilkins of Redlands.

In 1914, Rhea Igo obtained a government lease from the San Bernardino National Forest for a parcel of land in Section 8, Township 1 South, Range 1 West. He subsequently purchased three parcels contiguous to his leased land to the east in Section 9 and built his general store, café, gas station and tire shop in 1915, which was known as Igo’s. In 1923 he purchased 36 acres from Southern California Edison and subdivided lots for Mill Creek Canyon Park, now present-day Mountain Home Village.

On November 26, 1947, while returning on a train from a visit to his brother, Rhea died of a heart attack at the age of 60. Maude and their daughters continued to operate the store. The business and property remained with the family until 1958 when Maude passed away. The property was briefly sold to Jackson and Priscilla Titus then reverted to the Igo’s daughters, Maxine Bandy and Dorothy Cooley. On June 11, 1963, they sold the store and property to Ralph and Margaret McConnell. The McConnell’s operated the business until the Fall of 1973 when they sold it to Jerry and Phyllis McPheeters. The business then went through a rapid succession of owners – Carlos Gonzalez and Harold Rogers in 1975, Richard and Judith Smolin in 1976, Richard and Sharon Nove in 1978 and reverted to the Smolins, Gary and Donna Burgess in 1980. The property features the Mission Revival store building, the Western Territorial style tire shop building, a 1980s gambrel building, and a small meadow with frontage on Mountain Home Creek.

We approach the east-facing entrance from Old Mill Creek Road along a gravel drive featuring an old wagon original to the property with plantings. The covered Western Territorial style front porch features wooden railings and posts. The main entrance door is centered between two large casement windows. The stucco is painted a rich terracotta. As we move around to the left side of the building, which faces Old Mill Creek Road, we see the signature Mission Revival style white stucco wall. A single bell campanario parapet at the gabled end wall is seamlessly integrated into a 1980s addition.

The original native river rock foundation footings run the length of the wall. The original entrance to the store was centered on this wall. In the 1930s the state deemed it too close to the road, and the entrance was sealed but the original red concrete step remains. At the end of this wall, we find cellar doors. This is a unique feature, and the full-length cellar was used to store goods for the restaurant and general store.

Moving to the right around the building, we come to the landmark mission revival façade. A beautifully simple example of the Mission Revival style, it features smooth white stucco with an espadaña gabled end wall above the roof line and a curved mission-shaped roof parapet with a three-bell campanario detail over a flat-roofed deep double arched portico. This view shows the interior of the portico. The original service window for the café was on the right side. The Mission Revival detailing continues to the left with a smooth white stucco arched gateway. Through the gateway, we enter a covered area with a sliding glass door and on the left is an intimate patio with curved stucco and river rock walls. Returning to the front entrance, on the right is the old tire shop building. Constructed in the Western Territorial style, it features a flat false front covering the gable and a wide wooden door with a stained-glass window and five narrow casement windows on either side. Connected to the right of this building is a 1980s gambrel barn-style structure with a two-bedroom apartment on the upper level. Both the tire shop and the gambrel structure are faced with barn wood siding. Beyond the gambrel building is a carport where the Burgesses have collected artifacts from the store, including an old menu and signage. Continuing east of the carport is a small meadow and path to a deck on Mountain Home Creek.

The old store building is now a four-bedroom, two-bath home with the large, original river rock fireplace in the main room. The tire shop building is now a guest space with a sitting area, sleeping alcove and bath. The photography studio is now a one-bedroom, one-bath rental with an open concept living and kitchen area. This historic property has been lovingly maintained by the Burgesses for forty-six years.

The Redlands Area Historical Society congratulates Gary and Carol Burgess for their stewardship and care of this historic property known to all travelers into the mountains on California State Highway 38 for the past 111 years.

Research by Shannon Wray

Presented on June 9, 2026.