Menifee Tutors

About Menifee

Some cities in California are lucky enough to have old homes with historical meaning, and with any old home comes the stories and tales that surround it. While not solid fact like what you will learn from your Menifee tutor, it is still fun to hear the stories. Such is the case for a home in Menifee, California, built by Luther Menifee Wilson in the 1880’s. Wilson made his fortune in gold, coming to California as one of the many hoping to strike it big.

The Menifee Quartz Lode was established, and Wilson staked claim to a large part of the area. The original property was 200 acres, with his humble home only taking up about 600 square feet. Surprisingly, not much is known about Luther Menifee Wilson, even though he is the man that gave the town its name. Most of what is known about him comes from stories and hearsay, so it’s hard to tell what’s truth and what’s fiction.

While Wilson definitely built the house, there is also a large historical barn on the site, however no one is sure if that was built by Wilson or later owners. Many stories surround the old mines, which neighbors are usually more than happy to tell. One story says kids used to swim in the abandoned mines that had flooded out. Another says a freak accident trapped Chinese workers in one of the shafts, where they remain today, as they were never found. While the old mines have all been filled in, people still have plenty of stories to go around.

Tom de la Garrigue owned the property for some time, and added on many rooms to the house, bringing it up to 1600 square feet. He also did some additions to the barn on the site, but kept most of its historical luster. The original assayer’s building is also actually on site as well, where prospectors would bring their load hoping to hear good news about the worth of their bounty. That building actually rides the line of two different properties, and is now dilapidated and in bad repair, but still stands. Ruby Rheder is the current owner, and said without even knowing the history of the property, just that it was a historical building, she knew it was the place for her. She had quite a collection of historical artifacts, many older then her house, and was just looking for the perfect place to put them.

Next time you meet with your Menifee tutor maybe you can ask them about the old Menifee house, and see if maybe they have some stories of their own!