100 Years Palm Springs History- 1912

100 Years Palm Springs History- 1912; The White Sisters

Palm Springs History- 1912; The White Sisters came to town at a time when this place was still a big dry sandy windy desert.  So why would these brave ladies venture our into no-man’s (or woman’s) land?

Dr. Florilla White and Miss Corneila White were explorers, budding nature lovers and so they spent a lot of time exploring the desert especially the nearby canyons.  Story has it they also never wore dresses and were comfortable on a horse too.  Now a third sister, Isabel, was much more proper in her attire so I guess she was the “lady” in the bunch.

The sisters purchased Welwood Murray’s Palm Springs Hotel deriving much of their business from The Desert Inn.  At that time, Palm Springs had only 15 buildings in the village.  They purchased the entire 100 block of North Palm Canyon Drive and later purchased the entire block south of Tahquitz Canyon Way.  Apparently these ladies were very well off for those times.

The current Corneila White house, pictured above, was the one built by Welwood Murray of railroad ties in 1893.  It was located in the area south of Tahquitz and then was moved in 1944 to the area of Indian Canyon then later in 1979 to its current location.

For more information, read below about the fascinating and dangerous times in early Palm Springs History.

In other events:

Oasis Date garden is founded

The Titanic departed Queenstown Ireland bound for New York City

The Girl Scouts are founded in Georgia

Tarzan Of The Apes is published

San Francisco launches the first municipally owned street cars

For more information, contact the Palm Springs Historical Society.