Saturday, November 20, 2004
By PENNY E. SCHWARTZ
Special to The Press-Enterprise
Family cutting ties to Rialto landmark
ROSE COURT: The five prefab houses have stood on Riverside Avenue for almost a century.
RIALTO -
For the first time in nearly a century, Rialto's Bunting family will no longer maintain a presence on Riverside Avenue.
Rose Court, a group of five small, prefabricated houses at 125 N. Riverside Ave., is being sold by Linda Bunting Smith.
"Our family has elevated (the appearance of) this block for nearly 100 years," said Smith.
Her great-grandmother, Emma Florence McNier, ordered the redwood kit houses from the Sears Roebuck catalog between 1910 and 1920.
"She had a great entrepreneurial spirit," Smith said of McNier, a packing house sorter who was half Iroquois Indian.
Born in Ohio in 1862, McNier, whose family called her "Bop," bought her own house at the back of the Riverside Avenue property in 1908 for $1,200. Someone erected the five prefab houses for her to serve as rental units on the same lot, Smith said.
"I never knew her, but I would have liked to," said Smith, 60.
Her great-grandmother is buried in the Rialto cemetery.
Four Generations
Smith represents the fourth generation of women in her family to own Rose Court, named for the rose arbor planted next to McNier's original house.
"Rose Court is an interesting part of Rialto history," said historian John Adams. "It has been a familiar landmark along Riverside Avenue since Rialto's main street was a dirt road with horse-drawn traffic. Much has changed in Rialto, but Rose Court has always stayed the same."
Rose Court is listed on the city's register of historic places.
The original redwood color of the one- and two-bedroom houses was covered with white paint early on and stayed that way, Smith said. The diminutive homes originally had Murphy beds and working fireplaces. The fireplaces are no longer operational.
"Rose Court is one of the two most long-lasting businesses in the history of Rialto," said Adams, who recently compiled a photographic history of the city. "Both... have been run by just one family to this day."
The other family-owned business is his own orange grove, planted around the same time that Rose Court was built, he said.
Renters
Smith's mother, Helen Bradford Bunting, was born on the Rose Court property in 1914 and operated it for many years. A descendant of early American settler William Bradford, she was landlady for scores of tenants through the years.
Her renters included film star Donald O'Connor's grandparents, who played bridge with the Buntings. Others included a British couple who had survived the Battle of Britain and invited the Buntings in for English tea, Smith said.
"Many early Rialto people lived in these rentals when they were getting started," she said.
"Helen Bunting was very kind-hearted, not only to her renters and friends but also to stray animals in need of a home," said Adams.
He attended Rialto schools with Smith and knew the Bunting family from childhood.
"My sister and I grew up in this house and lived an idyllic life here," Smith said of the original house on the property. "We played hide and seek in its many nooks and crannies."
Mel Bunting burrito
Her father, Melvin Bunting, who died in 1991, was a Rialto city councilman and volunteer firefighter.
He bought the city's bus line, driving Rialto high school students to San Bernardino High School and Rialto residents to the San Bernardino shopping district. He parked the buses on the Rose Court property at night.
"Our chores included sweeping the buses out every evening and washing them on Saturdays," Smith recalled with a laugh.
Mel Bunting was a well-loved resident of the community, Adams said.
The "Mel Bunting burrito" was named in his honor some 25 or 30 years ago at Nena's Mexican restaurant in San Bernardino, across the street from the downtown lot where he sold used cars.
"It's a juicy pork chile verde burrito and is one of the most popular items on the menu," said Smith.
After her mother's death last year, Smith, who lives in Prescott, Ariz., decided to sell Rose Court. She did not reach the decision easily.
"I feel melancholy about selling it," Smith said. "It will be a great change in the history of my family, but I think that it is the right thing to do. I think that Great-Grandmother Bop would say it's time."
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