Highland, CA

Highland stretches from the eastern San Bernardino Valley toward the San Bernardino Mountains, across ancestral Maara'yam (Serrano) territory. Its citrus history begins with a difficult connection between land and labor. Mission authorities forced many Maara'yam residents to the Redlands Asistencia to build the Mill Creek Zanja, an irrigation channel that later supported citrus groves and other agriculture. Displacement and violence continued through the nineteenth century, and the San Manuel Reservation was established in 1891 after surviving members of the Yuhaaviatam clan had been driven from Big Bear Valley. That history places Highland's later orchards inside a much older Indigenous landscape, one that remains present through the sovereign Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation near the city. Rail service turned irrigated agriculture into a citrus-shipping town.

ATTRformulanone / CC BY-SA 2.0

The Santa Fe's Kite-Shaped Track loop reached Highland in 1892 and served groves and packinghouses; at the industry's height, the area had nearly 40 packinghouses. In 1899, the Messina post office moved to the depot and adopted the Highland name. Passenger service ended in 1938, and the rails were removed in 1981. Highland incorporated on November 24, 1987, nearly a century after the railroad reached the valley. A 290-acre historic district with 99 contributing buildings preserves houses, churches, commercial structures, and street patterns from the citrus era. The district gives Highland a built record of the orchards and railroad economy even though most packing activity has disappeared. The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation reclaimed its ancestral name in 2025, and its reservation had grown from 640 acres to over 1,100 acres by 2026.

ATTRAmericanist / CC BY 3.0

The reservation is sovereign tribal land near Highland, legally distinct from the incorporated city. Yaamava' Resort & Casino operates there as a tribal enterprise and reported over 5,000 employees in 2026, placing it among San Bernardino County's ten largest private employers. The enterprise began as a bingo hall in 1986 and marked forty years of tribal gaming in July 2026. Yaamava' is both a major hospitality and entertainment destination and a large workplace, while its revenues support the Nation's government and services. The resort has a Highland mailing address, but the Nation governs the reservation and enterprise separately from the city.

ATTRAmerique / CC BY-SA 3.0

Omnitrans Routes 3 and 4 make circular trips through West San Bernardino, Base Line, and Highland; in 2026, buses ran every 15 minutes on weekdays and every 23 minutes on weekends. Farther east, the Natural Parkland Trail passes preserved orange trees, irrigation flumes, and weir boxes, then crosses the San Andreas Fault and an urban-wildland interface designed with fire access. The Line Fire began near Base Line and Alpine streets on September 5, 2024, and ultimately burned 43,978 acres north of the city. Highland's old waterworks, present trail system, fault line, and wildland edge occupy the same foothill terrain. A walk past a citrus flume can show both the engineering that created the orchard town and the natural hazards that still shape its eastern neighborhoods.