Frank W. Richardson, the genial manager of the Hotel Glenwood of Riverside, is a man who knows how to keep a hotel, and any mention of Riverside purporting to note her deserving and representative institutions and citizens, would be very incomplete without mention of the Glenwood and its manager.
Mr. Richardson is a native of the old Bay State, and a descendant of New England parents. He dates his birth in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in 1852. His father, Henry W. Richardson, is a native of that State; his mother, Susan (Mason) Richardson, was born in Vermont. The subject of this sketch was given the opportunities of obtaining a thorough education. Energetic and quick to learn, he graduated from the high school and then entered upon a course of classical study at Greylock Hall in South Williams-town. Closing his studies, he entered life at mechanical labor in the manufacture of shoe bindings, and later rose to the position of bookkeeper for the Freeman Manufacturing Company of North Adams, where he remained until 1876.
In that year he came to California and located in Riverside, was employed by C. C. Miller, and later by G. 0. Newman in civil engineering and surveying. In 1879 he was employed in the Nevada State geological survey, under Professor Clarence King, after which he returned to Riverside and engaged as a clerk and bookkeeper in the grocery store of Frank A. Miller, and the next year entered his present occupation as manager of the Glenwood. In 1885 Mr. Richardson married Miss Alice R. Miller, the daughter of C. C. Miller, a sketch of whom will be found in this book. This lady was before her marriage associated with her brother, F. A. Miller, in conducting the Glenwood, and Mr. Richardson attributes his success in the management of the hotel in no small degree to the intelligent aid and encouragement he has received from his devoted wife.
This hotel is one of the best known in Riverside, San Bernardino County, and deserves having the reputation of being one of the best conducted hotels in Southern California. The Glenwood was erected in 1875 as the cottage residence of C. C. Miller, and about 1877 was first opened to the public by Captain Miller, then known as the Glenwood Cottage. It was a success from the first, and the constant and increasing patronage necessitated frequent and extensive additions, until at this writing it has first-class accommodations for 100 to 150 guests, having eighty large and well ventilated sleeping rooms, parlors, reception rooms, dining hall, billiard room, etc. The hotel is beautifully located in the heart of the city. The building and grounds occupy nearly a block (two and one-half acres) of land, upon which are citrus and deciduous fruits, magnificent shade and ornamental trees, and extensive lawn abounding in beautiful floral productions. It is a charming home, and well calculated to gladden the heart of the traveler. Frank A. Miller purchased the hotel from his father, Captain Miller, in 1880, and it has since been conducted under his auspices, with Mr. Frank W. Richardson as its manager.
The subject of this sketch has for the three years preceding 1889 been closely identified with Riverside and her people. His intelligence, genial manners, honesty of purpose and action, made him a general favorite, and his friends are legion. He is a sound Republican in politics, and is a member of the Republican County Central Committee, and takes an active part as a delegate to conventions, etc. He is prominent in the fraternal societies; is a member of lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic order, and a member of the lodge, encampment and canton of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Sunnyside Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He is also a consistent member of the Congregational Church. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have one boy, Stanley M.