Victorville History

Aaron Lane created the hamlet of “Lane’s Crossing” when he came to the area in 1858. The human settlement appeared on the north of the intersection of the Mojave River with Interstate 15 and for many years provided supplies for travelers coming from east to the San Bernardino area across the desert.

Captain Lane suffered from the malaria during the Mexican – American War. As a war veteran, he initially migrated west towards the gold rush from California, but he soon realized that selling supplies to miners is a better way of living for him. He settled initially in northern California, in the vicinity of Sutter’s Mill, in Ione, and later migrated in 1857 to San Bernardino. He settled there in 1858 after he realized that the desert air was good for his health, he started a ranch and became a politician in Mojave Valley. A reference of the place is during elections, when ten citizens casted votes, in the first year of establishment, avoiding the long distance travel to San Bernardino.

Around 1895, Lane’s Cross village was renamed “Victor”, in the honor of the General Manager of California Southern Railroad, Jacob Nash Victor. Because there was another town called Victor in Colorado, the city’s name was changed to Victorville by the US Post Office in order to avoid confusion.

Victorville was part of the highway Route 66 since 1926. The highway former route is today the main street of the Old Town Victorville and it is called Seventh Street.

Citizen Kane’s first two script drafts for the film were written in 1940, in the motel along Route 66 from Victorville, by Herman J. Mankiewicz and John Houseman. The location was chosen by Orson Welles, the film’s director, because Mankiewicz had outrageous drinking habits.

1941 marks the year when the construction of the Victorville Army Airfield started and in October 1947, when the U.S. Air Force was established, this airfield became the George Air Force Base, and it was open until 1992, when it’s land started to serve to other uses.