Neighbor News
Historical Society Honors Dowling Family at Beaumont Cherry Festival
For more than a century of service to the community, the San Gorgonio Pass Historical Society honors the Dowling family and Dowling Orchard
The San Gorgonio Pass Historical Society will honor Beaumont's Dowling family and Dowling Orchard for more than 100 years of service to the community during the Cherry Festival this weekend.
The society's history exhibit at the festival will include a tribute to the family, and the society's float, depicting a Dowling cherry orchard, will carry the family in the Cherry Festival parade on June 4.
As early as 1907, Alexander Campbell Stowers arrived in Beaumont. He's the great-grandfather of John Dowling, the most recent owner of the Dowling Orchard business, established by Stowers' daughter and son-in-law: Iola Stowers and Francis Marion Dowling, who married in 1922.
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Their son, Francis Dowling Jr., his wife, Estella, and his son, John, and his wife, Shelly, carried on with the orchard enterprise through successive generations, and operated the popular Dowling Orchard store on Hwy. 60, which opened in 1952 and closed in November 2021, when John and Shelly retired.
Well known for their philanthropic support of the community, the Dowlings were foundational in the city Beaumont for decades. John Dowling is also honored with the Cherry Festival Association's Heritage Award this year.
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The historical society is very pleased to recognize the Dowlings and thanks them for their important contributions to the San Gorgonio Pass.