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La Verne Heritage Foundation
Preserving a Slice of La Verne's Past
About Us
The La Verne Heritage Foundation
Dedicated to the preservation of La Verne's rich past, the Heritage Foundation was organized in 1985 with the challenge to rescue the Weber House from destruction.
The Heritage Foundation rallied the support from all over the valley to move the Weber House to its present location and restore it to its original condition. Today the Foundation provides the resources and manpower needed to maintain the Weber House as well as the surrounding 1 1/2 acre ranch. It is the Foundation's goal to provide visitors with more than just a museum...instead, to preserve for a new generation a slice of La Verne's past.
Membership in the Foundation is open to all who desire to preserve the heritage of our community. Interested individuals are invited to participate by joining the Foundation and by participating in a variety of hands-on activities including the hands-on history tours, concerts in the park, pumpkin patch, orange sales or regularly scheduled work parties.
Without the support of the community the Foundation could not continue. We hope you will join us at one of our future events.
The Weber House
Nestled in a sheltered hollow at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and fronted by citrus trees rests a living replication of La Verne's agricultural past...the Weber House.
Built in the 1880's, the Weber House is one of the oldest remaining houses in La Verne.
The house and a turn-of-the-century barn now sit on a 1 1/2 acre citrus ranch and served until 1914 as the residence of estate executor, John Weber, and later as the quarters for a succession of ranch foremen and their families. In the 1980's the ranch closed operations and for years the old house sat boarded up and abandoned.
In 1984 the forgotten house faced certain demolition as new housing developments threatened to close out a chapter of La Verne's heritage.
But the house was saved from demolition through the tireless efforts of the newly formed Heritage Foundation, who, with the help of the City of La Verne and a $10,000 grant from the Hughes Development Corporation, moved the house 1/2 mile west, to its present location in Heritage Park, where it began a new chapter in its life.
Today the Weber House and surrounding grove serve as a working 1915 citrus ranch and preserve for generations to come, a slice of La Verne's past.
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