Eliza tibbets biography and info

Eliza Tibbets was an activist, farmer, and spiritualist who was one of the first settlers of European descent in Riverside, California and the first person to successfully cultivate hybrid seedless navel oranges in the state, leading to the expansion of the California citrus industry. Tibbets was born in Cincinnati, Ohio when it was still a frontier town. After two failed marriages, she became involved with Luther Tibbets. The pair were politically active in both the women's suffrage and abolitionist movements throughout the southeastern U.S. before deciding to move to California. While the citrus industry there had already begun, there were no reliable early to midseason sweet oranges that performed well in that climate. Horticulturalist William Saunders sent Tibbets two grafted Washington navel oranges, which she successfully cared for using an irrigation system of disposed dishwater. The fruit were exhibited at a fair in and immediately gained attention. Tibbets sold budwood to nurserymen, and clones of her trees spread until they became the most widely planted citrus in California by However, Tibbets and her family did not prosper as much as the trees: they went bankrupt

Creating an Orange Utopia

Historian Esther Klotz believes that the [first navel orange] trees took about one month to make their journey from Washington to Riverside. The young navel orange trees were shipped from the East Coast by rail—first to Gilroy, California, via San Francisco, and then by stagecoach from Gilroy to Los Angeles. The stagecoach trip alone took three days. It is believed that Luther and Eliza Tibbets drove sixty-five miles in their buckboard wagon from Riverside to pick up the trees. According to Klotz’s handwritten notes, the available evidence points to December 10, , as the date the trees arrived. If this is the case, Eliza would have been in Riverside for only a few months.

When the two trees were originally planted, no one really thought much about the event—they had no idea of the trees’ potential value. At the time, the settlers of the Riverside colony were trying out all sorts of potential cash crops, hoping that something would answer their prayers for a sustainable source of income. The navel orange trees were just the latest in a long series of agricultural experiments, most of which brought results that were anything but

Published: 02/27/25

Women’s History Month, celebrated every March since , honors the remarkable contributions of women to history, culture, and society. What started as a weeklong observance in Sonoma, California, in gained national recognition when Congress officially designated March as Women’s History Month. The City of Riverside proudly joins in this celebration, recognizing the women who have shaped our community.

From Eliza Tibbets, who revolutionized the citrus industry, to Rose Mayes, a champion for civil rights, Riverside’s history is shaped by trailblazing women. Their legacy lives on through the educators, artists, activists, and entrepreneurs making an impact today. That same spirit thrives in Riverside’s women-owned businesses—innovative boutiques, creative studios, beloved restaurants, and groundbreaking enterprises that drive our economy and enrich our community. This Women’s History Month, we celebrate their contributions and encourage you to support the businesses shaping Riverside’s future.

Empowered Entrepreneurs

Check out a few spotlights on Riverside's women-owned businesses, celebrating the innovation, impact, and contributions of wom

California's Improbable Navel-Orange Queen
U.S.
Eliza Tibbets was a suffragist, abolitionist, and spiritualist—and the mother of California's orange industry.
By Deborah Fallows
Riverside, California is betting on its downtown pedestrian mall, contrary to the contrarian bet of Fresno, which is reopening its pedestrian street to cars, as Jim Fallows has reported here. (And for background on Riverside and the nearby similar-but-very different city of San Bernardino, see Jim’s previous post here.)
Fresno closed its downtown Fulton Street to traffic in the early s. Riverside was part of that same early wave in creating pedestrian-only commercial street back in In the city doubled down, investing another $10 million to renovate and upgrade with landscaping, lighting and to add outdoor benches. We’ll have more to say about the rationale behind the second re-investment soon.
Jim and I walked Riverside’s pedestrian Main Street mall early on a lovely March morning with the city’s dynamic Mayor and multi-generation native son, Rusty Bailey. We started with coffee at the top of the walking street, choosing an outdoor table where the popular mayor would be a

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