70 years ago - 1950
Hunter McConnell, co-chairman of the local Disaster Committee, announced that he was accepting volunteers for lookout or fire-watching duty. About 35 people were needed so that each lookout would work only one night per week.
65 years ago - 1955
Development of the exclusive Tahquitz Lake Club was moving ahead rapidly on Judge Byron Walters’ 100-acre property.
60 years ago - 1960
Virginia Gray, chairman of the PTA membership committee, announced the organization had attained 100 % membership among parents and teachers for the first time.
55 years ago - 1965
The Forest Service had recorded more than 1.5 million visitors to the Hill in 1965 and the total for the year was expected to be near two million.
50 years ago - 1970
Field crews began a study of the Banning-Idyllwild Highway to determine what could be done to bring the county route up to state standards — a preliminary step to adding it to the state system.
45 years ago - 1975
Local pine trees were suffering a bark beetle infestation. The affected trees were being felled and taken off the Hill.
40 years ago - 1980
According to a survey conducted in the Idyllwild area, a recreation program for teenagers was one of the biggest needs for Idyllwild.
35 years ago - 1985
The body of a part-time Pine Cove resident was found in the debris of a structure fire that destroyed a small Pine Cove cabin on the Red Hill Truck Trail.
30 years ago - 1990
Reinforcements on the new Village Center Drive bridge over Strawberry Creek were to be covered with concrete as the summer-long project neared completion.
25 years ago - 1995
The Idyllwild Water District (IWD) asked the Local Agency Formation Commission to hold off approving Fern Valley Water District’s (FVWD) annexation of 57 properties in Saunders Meadow. IWD was concerned about the impact FVWD’s new customers would have on its water supply.
20 years ago - 2000
Jim Gibbs, site manager for the Moreno Valley Transfer Station, which operated the transfer station on the Hill, met with members of the Coordinated Resources Management Plan committee to explain that locals could no longer dump their green waste on the ground.
15 years ago - 2005
A wind and rain storm caused personal injury when a 100-foot old oak tree fell on Sterling Dutton’s vehicle as he was starting it. Rescuers had to cut him from the wreckage.
10 years ago - 2010
The Idyllwild Historical Society celebrated its 10th anniversary and completion of its new archive and research center.
5 years ago - 2015
Chris Thile, a former Idyllwild resident, was set to become permanent host of Garrison Keillor’s long running radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion.”
1 year ago - 2019
The Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit (RMRU), a volunteer rescue group overseen by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD), recently became certified in “man tracking.” The training is used to help find lost hikers or someone who has gone missing by tracking the direction of footsteps.
