San Bernardino County Museum
The San Bernardino County Museum was founded in 1952 by the San Bernardino County Museum Association. It opened to the public in 1957, and was donated to the County of San Bernardino in 1961. The facility moved from Bloomington, California to its present location in Redlands in 1974.The Museum is a San Bernardino County department in the Community Services Group. Additional branch sites include the Victor Valley Museum in Apple Valley, the Asistencia in Redlands, the Yucaipa Adobe, the Agua Mansa Pioneer Cemetery in Colton, the Yorba-Slaughter Adobe in Chino, and the John Rains House in Rancho Cucamonga. The San Bernardino County Museum Association is the Museum’s support group, engaged in fundraising and membership activities.
Through the lens of the region’s dynamic cultural and natural history, the San Bernardino County Museum develops visitors’ appreciation of our diverse regional identity to spark their curiosity, to stimulate inquiry, to challenge their assumptions, and to invite them to contribute to our common future. Their mission and core values form the foundation for their Strategic Plan for 2017 to 2022. Public Service: They exist to better the lives of the citizens in our region. Diversity: They promote and celebrate the rich complexity of our region’s past, present, and future and provide a welcoming, safe, and intellectually honest space for all people. Engagement: They provide their community the opportunity for active participation and reflection in our programs and exhibits. Integrity: They abide by professional ethics, honesty, and transparency. Competence: They take seriously our role as stewards of our region’s legacy and are methodical in our collections practices, educational programming, and professional development. Responsibility: Their practices promote fiscal and environmental sustainability. Collaboration: They believe our community needs can be most successfully met through partnership with individuals and organizations committed to our mission. Don’t forget to check out this place in Redlands too.
The San Bernardino County Museum is a regional museum with exhibits and collections in cultural and natural history. Special exhibits, extensive research collections, and public programs for adults, families, students, and children are all part of the museum experience. The Museum is surrounded by citrus groves, and orange blossoms perfume the air. See a Southern Pacific locomotive and a Santa Fe caboose. A series of outdoor exhibits present the history of mining in the county, with authentic equipment including mine cars, generators, and a head frame. Lumber wagons, a water wheel that generated the first electricity in the city,and more large-size surprises are displayed on the Museum grounds. Find-a-Fossil and step into the only dinosaur footprints ever found in southern California. Do some birdwatching and check your finds at our kiosk. Don’t miss the ethnobotany garden outside the Exploration Station, the Sonoran Desert cactus garden at the Museum entrance, with the Mojave Desert garden alongside, and the native plants garden behind the Hall of Earth Sciences. Tables and lawn areas are available for picnics.Redlands Footlighters Theatre If you are ever in need of home renovation, click here.
