May 7, 1903 - President Theodore Roosevelt

President Theodore Roosevelt and his wife Edith, San Bernardino Souvenir Photographs, 1903

"The date was May 7, 1903.  President Theodore Roosevelt (the first U.S. president to visit San Bernardino), 'addressed the remark quoted above to a train attendant in San Bernardino---and he meant it.  He was not talking for the public ear but simply stating his convictions' [Extracted from The Daily Sun].

"President Theodore Roosevelt stopped at the Santa Fe Depot and spoke in Lugo Park (now Pioneer Park) located between 5th and 6th Streets and E and F Streets.

"Theodore Roosevelt is remembered as a big game hunter and a Rough Rider leading the charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.  With the assassination of President McKinley, Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest President of the United States.  He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War."

(from the wrtings of Nicolas Cataldo)

Click here to see all of the Presidents who have visited San Bernardino.