Desert Hot Springs History
In The Beginning
As we step into the 21st Century, we must always stop and look behind us. We need to see where we are going, but we must never forget where we've been, or where we came from.
Desert Hot Springs', officially listed date of incorporation is September 17, 1963.
It is said that Jack Riley was the first white man to set foot on the land that is now called Desert Hot Springs. This was around 1908.
Apparently it all started with the Desert Lands Act an Act that allowed Homesteading. And according to available information, the first person to actually live here was Hilda M. Gray, a woman described as a diminutive, feminine, hard working and rugged pioneer. Her homestead was just south of what is known today as Two Bunch Palms. She was here when Cabot Yerxa arrived in 1913. She homesteaded for 4 years and then moved to Arcadia to resume her career as a legal secretary.
The incorporation date of Desert Hot Springs: September 17,
1963
Just a few years before incorporation, it was written in a health brochure that Desert Hot Sprngs was becoming recognized as the greatest of health centers, as one marvelous recovery in health follows another, carrying out the prognostication of Dr. W. A. Brue, English scientist whose knowledge of mineral healing springs is unsurpassed. He had made an analysis of all the famous Spas in existence and pronounced Desert Hot Springs water the best.
It
was then determined that Desert Hot Springs was the greatest
health center in the world. Dr. O. M. Justice, a famous
medical doctor, explained that Baden Baden, Germany; Hot
Springs, South Dakota and Hot Springs, Arkansas became famous
for healing water but none had the unique combination of dry
desert radio active healing air and natural hot, healing
mineral water that exists in Desert Hot Springs, California.
In more recent years the water was discovered by Dr. Robert Bingham, who came to the desert and began treating disabled children, using his own techniques, combined with the wonderful healing waters. Dr. Bingham recorded several successful treatment accounts.