Alden Bordwell


Left: Dr. Alden Bordwell and his mother, Anna Rice Bordwell at the dedication of Bordwell Park, March 1967. Right: Dr. Alden Bordwell.

More than 3,000 Riversiders born between 1931 and 1978 were ushered into the world by Dr. Alden Bordwell. Dr. Bordwell, however, is connected to many more residents than those babies and their families.

For those who played Little League, Dr. Bordwell started Little League in Riverside in 1953. Those who attended Magnolia Elementary School, Poly High School, or Riverside City College share an alma mater with Dr. Bordwell. Many young athletes who played football or ran track had Dr. Bordwell as a team doctor. The city of Riverside named the Bordwell Park after Dr. Bordwell in 1967 in recognition for his service to youth athletics.

Dr. Bordwell also founded an osteopathic hospital which is today Knollwood Hospital on Brockton Avenue.

Born in 1905 to parents Anna and Joseph, he grew up at 214 Brockton Avenue in a house that you can still see, on property where his mother ran a dairy.

Anna named her son Alden after her ancestor, John Alden, who came to America and helped found Plymouth Colony, marrying Priscilla Mullins, another passenger on the Mayflower. Anna’s father, Captain Charles T. Rice, fought in the Civil War and moved to Riverside in 1880, working with one of Riverside’s most noted builders, Augustus Boggs. His work with Boggs included the magnificent John T. Jarvis Victorian home at 12th and Redwood, among others.

The Bordwell side of the family arrived in America 50 years after the Aldens and settled in Boston. Dr. Bordwell’s grandfather, Herbert, moved to Riverside in 1890 and was one of the first five trustees of the Riverside municipal power company formed in 1896.

Alden Bordwell was buried at Evergreen after his death in 1978.

  • Alden Bordwell age 19