Formerly: Glenwood Cottage · Glenwood Hotel · Glenwood Mission Inn
Riverside, California · Founded 1876 · Building: Mission Inn complex developed 1903–1931
A Riverside hotel that grew from an 1876 boarding-house lineage into a block-scale Mission Revival landmark, restored and reopened in 1992.
The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa traces its history to an adobe boarding house begun by the Miller family in 1876. Frank Augustus Miller purchased the property in 1880 and developed the celebrated Mission Revival complex in phases, beginning with the Mission Wing in 1903 and continuing through 1931. The hotel is a National Historic Landmark and remains a working downtown Riverside hotel, though its ownership status is in transition under a 2026 agreement for sale.
The Miller family begins operating an adobe boarding house in downtown Riverside, the origin of the later Mission Inn.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"; The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, "About Us"
Frank Augustus Miller purchases the boarding-house property and begins improving and enlarging it.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"
The first wing of the present Mission Inn complex opens. The Mission Wing is developed with architect Arthur Benton and reflects the growing popularity of Mission Revival architecture.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"; The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, "About Us"
President William Howard Taft visits the Mission Inn, where Frank Miller has an oversized chair made for him; the chair remains displayed at the hotel.
Source: Los Angeles Times, "Riverside's Mission Inn big on tradition and history," November 29, 2009
The multi-phase development of the Mission Inn complex is completed.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"
Richard Nixon and Patricia Ryan marry at the Mission Inn.
Source: Los Angeles Times, "Riverside's Mission Inn big on tradition and history," November 29, 2009
The Mission Inn receives National Historic Landmark designation.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"
Duane Roberts purchases the Mission Inn in December and reopens it after restoration.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"; The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, "About Us"
The hotel announces that it and San Manuel Investment Authority have entered an agreement for sale; completion and post-sale operating control were not established in this audit.
Source: The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, "About Us"
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Historical accounts, including a Los Angeles Times feature, report that ten U.S. presidents visited the Mission Inn. This audit did not review guest ledgers or verify a complete presidential roster, and published secondary accounts differ over exactly which presidents should be counted.
The Mission Inn began as an adobe boarding house in 1876 and developed as a commercial hotel complex beginning in 1903. Its Mission Revival architecture and historical-art collection do not make it an original Spanish mission or a former monastery.
Frank Miller assembled a broad collection of art, architectural elements, and mission-themed objects, but this audit did not verify item-level provenance establishing that particular artifacts were salvaged directly from individual missions during secularization. Such claims should not be made without collection records.
Historical reporting identifies the Mission Inn as the site of Richard Nixon and Patricia Ryan's June 21, 1940 wedding. The event should not be dated to 1952 or described as merely a reception without primary supporting evidence.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Frank Miller commissioned a large chair for Taft's 1909 visit and that the chair remains in the hotel lobby. The story has also been preserved as part of the hotel's visitor interpretation.
The Mission Inn was built as a Catholic mission church and monastery in the eighteenth century.
The property began as an adobe boarding house in 1876. Frank Miller developed the present commercial Mission Revival hotel complex in phases beginning in 1903 and continuing through 1931.
Source: Mission Inn Museum, "Citrus Heritage and Riverside"; The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, "About Us"
Richard and Pat Nixon held their Mission Inn wedding or reception in 1952.
Richard Nixon and Patricia Ryan married at the Mission Inn on June 21, 1940.
Source: Los Angeles Times, "Riverside's Mission Inn big on tradition and history," November 29, 2009
The Roberts family is confirmed as the Mission Inn's current owner.
Duane Roberts purchased and reopened the hotel in 1992, but the hotel's current site states that it entered a 2026 agreement for sale to San Manuel Investment Authority. This audit did not establish whether the sale has closed.
Source: The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, "About Us"
The Mission Inn remained in use because Riverside preservation advocates, public intervention, and later private restoration treated it as a civic asset rather than a disposable old hotel. After a period of decline, Duane Roberts bought it in December 1992 and reopened it following a $55 million restoration described by the hotel. The preservation story is still evolving: the inn's current site reports a 2026 agreement for sale to San Manuel Investment Authority, but the audit did not establish whether the transfer has closed.
No. The Mission Inn was never an eighteenth-century Catholic mission or monastery. Its lineage began with an adobe boarding house in 1876, and Frank Miller developed the landmark hotel complex in Mission Revival style beginning in 1903.
The property began as a Miller-family adobe boarding house in 1876. Frank Augustus Miller bought it in 1880, and the first wing of the current Mission Inn complex opened in 1903; later expansions continued through 1931.
Yes. Richard Nixon and Patricia Ryan married at the Mission Inn in Riverside on June 21, 1940. Claims that place their wedding or wedding reception there in 1952 are incorrect.
The Mission Inn's present ownership requires confirmation. The hotel says that it and San Manuel Investment Authority entered an agreement for sale in 2026, but the source reviewed for this audit does not establish whether the transaction closed, the final title-holding entity, or the post-sale operating arrangement.
3649 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501
(951) 784-0300
Confirm current hotel, restaurant, museum-tour, parking, and public-space access rules with the Mission Inn or Mission Inn Museum before visiting.