A Look Back: Tarwater Store in Murrieta

A loyal friendship between a Basque sheep rancher and one of the townships' first settlers may have everything to do with one of Murrieta's oldest landmarks. Tarwater Store, known today as the Murrieta Country Market, was built in 1917 on the corner of Washington Avenue and B Street by one of Murrieta's pioneers, B.W. Tarwater. He established the small store after purchasing land from his longtime friend, Juan Murrieta, for whom the township and later the city, was named. A native of Spain, Murrieta moved his sheep farming business from the San Joaquin Valley in the 1870s and joined two partners to purchase 52,000 acres of land (at the cost of $1 per acre) that included Temecula and Pauba Ranchos and what is now the Murrieta Valley. "As the only little store at the time, it served as the main meeting place and the center of activity," said Ayleen Gibbo, chairwoman of Citizens for Historic Murrieta who also lives in the Tarwater family's original Murrieta home, built in 1888. The store sold a little bit of everything, including produce, household goods, supplies for livestock and clothing. It also was a place to discuss politics while grabbing a cup of coffee, which was constantly brewed over a pot belly stove, said Gibbo, who is 79...more