Minerva: Joshua Tree's Original Influencer

The original desert advocate was Minerva Hoyt. She created exhibitions to show off the desert's natural beauty and commissioned photos that convinced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to create Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936. In 1937, Desert Magazine was launched to celebrate the Mojave for decades, and from 1940 to 1960, more than 50 movies and TV shows were filmed in the High Desert.