'Southern Sierras Sanatorium' Ad Evokes Early Banning Promoters' Vision

A Banning-Beaumont Patch user came across a time-worn photo advertisement Friday that shows the old Southern Sierras Sanatorium on Theodore Street as it appeared nearly 100 years ago.

The photo came to the Banning Library District in the 1960s or 1970s in a scrapbook donated by the C.O. Barker family, Banning historian Bill Bell said.

Banning resident Janet Kloos discovered the photo in the Online Archive of California. She and others she shared it with were struck by two things, both stemming from the name of the business.

The word "sanatorium" is another word for "sanitarium," and is defined as "an establishment for the medical treatment of people who are convalescing or have a chronic illness," according to Oxford American Dictionaries. The word originates from the Latin "sanitas," for health.

A sanatorium should not be confused with the old term "insane asylum," or any treatment center exclusively for the mentally ill.

Banning incorporated in 1913, and early promoters billed the community and its climate as "The Health City," according to "Banning California, Stagecoach Town U.S.A.," a book published by the Banning Unified School District in 1991.

Some who viewed the photo Friday were also surprised to see the mountains north of Banning referred to as the "Southern Sierras."

Mapmakers and geologists long ago ruled out any connection between the north-south trending Sierra Nevada Range and the east-west aligned Transverse Ranges that stretch from Malibu to the Salton Sea.

But that didn't stop late 19th and early 20th century promoters from suggesting a connection between the San Gorgonio Pass and the highest mountain range in the United States at the time.

Kloos said she does a lot of reasearch online, and she was excited to find other documents that related to the old sanatorium on Theodore Street.

Bell, who has compiled, researched and scanned hundreds of old for the library district, said the advertising photo was part of the Barker Collection donated by the Barker family to the Banning Public Library.

The old sanatorium "was located on Theodore St. at I believe, 125 E. Theodore," Bell said in an email. "There are newer homes built there now and no visible remnants of the Southern Sierras but if you drive to that spot you can match it with the large hill behind it."

For more information and to view more old photos of Banning, visit the at 21 W. Nicolet St.