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is the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. San Bernardino's estimated population, as of 2006, is 205,010. As of 2006, it was the 18th largest city in California, and the 101st largest city in the United States. San Bernardino is part of the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario Metropolitan Area, which is the 14th largest in the nation and which is commonly referred to as the "Inland Empire". Though much of the housing stock is, on average, older than that of the surrounding region, new homes continue to be built in different parts of the city, with the bulk rising in the Verdemont area on the north side of the city.
The City of San Bernardino, California, occupies much of the San Bernardino Valley, which indigenous tribespeople originally referred to as "The Valley of the Cupped Hand of God." Upon seeing the immense Arrowhead geological monument on the side of the San Bernardino Mountains, they found the life-giving waters of the hot and cold springs to which the rock formation pointed.
The City of San Bernardino is one of the oldest communities in the State of California. Named for Bernardino of Siena on May 20, 1810, San Bernardino, in its present-day location, was not largely settled until 1851 when California entered the Union. The first Anglo-American colony was established by pioneers associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who would later be recalled in 1857 by Brigham Young due to the Utah War. During the interim, the city was officially incorporated in the year 1857. Soon afterward, San Bernardino became an important trading hub in Southern California.
According to the Native American legend regarding the landmark Arrowhead, an arrow from heaven burned the formation onto the mountainside in order to show tribes where they could be healed. During the mid-19th Century, "Dr." David Noble Smith claimed that a saint-like being appeared before him and told of a far-off land with exceptional climate and curative waters, marked by a gigantic arrowhead. Smith's search for that unique arrowhead formation began in Texas, and eventually ended at Arrowhead Springs in California in 1857. By 1889, word of the springs, along with the hotel on the site (and a belief in the effect of the water from the springs on general health) had grown considerably. Hotel guests often raved about the crystal-clear water from the cold springs, which prompted Seth Marshall to set up a bottling operation in the hotel's basement. By 1905, water from the cold springs was being shipped to Los Angeles under the newly-created "Arrowhead" trademark.
Indigenous people of the San Bernardino Valley and Mountains were collectively identified by Spanish explorers in the 19th Century as Serrano, a term meaning highlander. Serrano living near what is now Big Bear Lake were called Yuhaviatam, or "People of the Pines". In 1866, to clear the way for settlers and gold miners, state militia conducted a 32-day campaign slaughtering men, women, and children. Yuhaviatam leader Santos Manuel guided his people from their ancient homeland to a village site in the San Bernardino foothills. The United States government in 1891 established it as a tribal reservation and named it after Santos Manuel.
The California Southern Railroad established, through San Bernardino, a rail link between Los Angeles and the rest of the nation in 1883. In 1905, the City of San Bernardino passed its first Charter. World War II brought what would become Norton Air Force Base. The McDonald Brothers founded the McDonald's brand, along with its innovative restaurant concept, in 1948. In 1980, the Panorama Fire destroyed 284 homes. And, in 1994, Norton Air Force Base closed to become the San Bernardino International Airport.