Honest, Abe--You’re Loved in Redlands : History: The city is holding its 59th annual observation of the Great Emancipator’s birthday. Archives hold large collection of Civil War letters and manuscripts.

This small city in southwestern San Bernardino County is hardly what most people would think of as the “Land of Lincoln.”

Yet, the nation’s 16th President would likely feel at home here.

Each year, Redlands hosts one of the biggest birthday celebrations in the nation for “Honest Abe.” The observance is centered on the town’s Lincoln Memorial Shrine, the only shrine to Abraham Lincoln west of the Mississippi.

With more than 500 original Lincoln and Civil War letters and manuscripts, and nearly 10,000 Civil War books and pamphlets, the shrine will again serve as the backdrop of a four-day celebration that culminates tonight--Lincoln’s birth date--with the 59th annual Lincoln Memorial speech. This year’s speaker will be historian Richard N. Current of the University of North Carolina, the author of seven books on Lincoln.

Previous speakers in the lecture series have included outstanding Lincoln biographers such as Carl Sandburg and James M. McPherson, author of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War book, “Battle Cry of Freedom.”

This year’s celebration kicked off Saturday, when more than 1,000 Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Explorer, Cub and Tiger Scouts paraded through the streets of downtown Redlands in the Scouts’ 52nd annual pilgrimage to the marble octagonal Lincoln Memorial on the grounds of Redlands Library.

On Sunday, at an open house hosted by Donald McCue, the public got its first glimpse of some of the shrine’s newest acquisitions, including a Lincoln letter dated Aug. 5, 1861--purchased for $8,500--naming Fletcher M. Haight federal judge for Southern California.

Considering that Lincoln was never in Redlands and never saw California, one might wonder why Redlands--a half-continent removed from Lincoln’s roots--is home to one of the finest collections of Lincoln material in the country.

The shrine, dedicated in 1932, was a gift from oil magnate Robert Watchorn, who worked in the coal mines of England from when he was 11 until he was 22 and came to America as a penniless immigrant.

His was a rags-to-riches story. He became the first secretary of the United Mine Workers of America, a U.S. commissioner of immigration and president of his own oil company.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Redlands was the Palm Springs of Southern California, the winter home of Watchorn and other wealthy Easterners who wanted to escape the miserable weather.

Watchorn spent his life collecting Lincoln material. When he was 86, he spent $100,000 erecting the shrine to his hero. He also left an endowment, now valued at $250,000, to support the shrine.

Watchorn filled the shrine with his collection and Lincoln items donated by many of his friends, including Presidents Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Norman Rockwell, another friend, donated his painting “Thoughts on Peace on Lincoln’s Birthday,” which appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on Feb. 12, 1945.

The shrine is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.