In 1905, John Alfred Kimberly, a co-founder of the Kimberly-Clark paper company, purchased the home to escape the Wisconsin winters, giving the family name to the property.

Before her death, Mrs Shirk challenged the city of Redlands to raise the funds to purchase 39 acres (0.06 sq mi; 0.16 km2) of the property around the home and turn it into a botanical park.

[4] Prior to the conversion to a museum, the mansion served as one of the filming locations for the 1981 movie Hell Night, starring Linda Blair.

The three-story Victorian mansion was designed in the Châteauesque style by Oliver Perry Dennis and Lyman Farwell, a Los Angeles-based partnership.

The gardens that surround Kimberly Crest are exquisite examples of the Italian style favored by Victorian homeowners at the turn of the 20th century.