Steve Lech

Steve Lech is a native Riversider who has been interested in the local history of Riverside County for more than 35 years. He has written 8 books on various subjects of Riverside County history, including Along the Old Roads - A History of the Portion of Southern California That Became Riverside County, 1772-1893, More Than a Place to Pitch a Tent - The Stories Behind Riverside County's Regional Parks, For Tourism and a Good Night's Sleep - J. Win Wilson, Wilson Howell, and the Beginnings of...See more

Steve Lech is a native Riversider who has been interested in the local history of Riverside County for more than 35 years. He has written 8 books on various subjects of Riverside County history, including Along the Old Roads - A History of the Portion of Southern California That Became Riverside County, 1772-1893, More Than a Place to Pitch a Tent - The Stories Behind Riverside County's Regional Parks, For Tourism and a Good Night's Sleep - J. Win Wilson, Wilson Howell, and the Beginnings of the Pines-to-Palms Highway (all self-published); Riverside in Vintage Postcards, Resorts of Riverside County, Riverside's Mission Inn (co-written with Kim Jarrell Johnson), Riverside 1870-1940 (Arcadia Publications); and Pioneers of Riverside County (History Press). He has co-authored a weekly local history column entitled "Back in the Day" in the Press-Enterprise newspaper since July 1, 2012. He is a co-editor of the Riverside County Chronicles, a journal of local history, is on the editorial board of the Journal of the Riverside Historical Society. He has been president of the Riverside Historical Society since 2007, maintains memberships in some two dozen other local historical societies throughout Riverside County and Southern California, and is a member of both the Riverside County Historical Commission and the City of Riverside's Cultural Heritage Board. He has been a docent with the Mission Inn Foundation in Riverside since September, 1988, and is an active member of the MIF History Research Committee which seeks to document the many stories that surround Riverside's historic hotel. See less