Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 60

OAKLAND TRIBUNE, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2f. 1934 OAKLAND'S CITY HALLS, PAST AND PRESENT LEAN iz zzzzzzn UOWS TRIBUNE IPv- 'JLi IN I A CITlf HALL HEWS BERKELEY WAS OF 74 IS ODDLY iviiB.iong PASTORAL AREA LIKE Firs! Executive Sat in State Council Aokn Conprp5s for Harbor Police 'Auk Larger Jail, Records Show II Ff, r.il.lUh Fir.l Edition. I I II i iy V- y--: -f- L'K r-r i -V'' MM I i Mm jilH ii ii so ii i The city of Oakland todav an- thorized the Mayor to telegraph to Oakland representatives in Congress, asking the immediate improvement of Oakland harbor." This resolution, on the minute books of the Oakland City Council for February, 1874. reads exactly like something which might have been on the minute books of the Oakland City Council for February, 1934, according to City Clerk W. Chappell.

who has dug up thp records for the year when the Oakland Tribune was founded, and has observed, some amazing similarities between conditions then and now. For Instance: "A petition for the formation of new county, the county of Oakland, was received. His honor, the Mayor, approved and wanted action. "The President of the of trustees, of the town of Alameda complained against the service and the draw of the Webster i Street bridge." PROTESTS CONTINUED" That was in 1874, and the city officials of the present day point flllt that "the against the Webster Street bridge kept cominfi In until the Posey Tube was built nd the bridge was taken away. The Mokelumne water works, fop the nine EastBay cities, was beginning construction in 1D24, yrt the City Council records of 1874 Hate that public officials were ever then Starting talk about water, act? -rding to Chappell, who pointed sev-erl council notes of 1874, sa; "ng: special committee van appointed to draft an act auf horlzinR the city to provide water works." Nothing was done about it, according to the records, although "a communication was received from A.

Chabot, president of the Contra Costa Water Company," who offered to sell his water works to the public. FAST GROWING CITY Oakland was a fast-growing city In 1874, as "the police department asked larger Jail accommodations and the commissioner of police was authorized to furnish them." Recently, attorneys have declared that there might have been some uncertainty as to when and how the county of Alameda acquired title to Us present courthouse site, but Chappell said that the City Council records of February 2, 1874, shows that the council adopted "an act granting the Board of Supervisors permission to' tfKtt the county buildings of said cgpflhty on Washington and Franfeitf plazas, and granting said plazas to the county." At about the same time, the council adopted resolution "offering reward for $500 for the arrest and conviction of the party who set fire to the Felton engine house." POUNDMASTER'S PAY On March 30, 1874, the council adopted an ordinance establishing a alary for the city poundmaster. Prior to that, he had been a sort of an unofficial functionary, but tince that date he has been a duly paid city official. "Property owners on East Fourteenth Street asked the grading and curbing of the street from Sixth to Fifteenth Avenue. Hiram Tubbs addressed the council "in violent protest," but nobody knows why.

By ordinance, the official grade of Telegraph Avenue was established. A resolution was adopted unanimously against the proposed changing of the name of Lake Merritt. The Oakland Paving Company wa successful bidder for the grading and paving of Fifth Street. WOODEN SIDEWALKS An ordinance levying a tax for the opening of Park Street was adopted. A protest was received against SAN LFANDRO.

Feb. 20 -Both the City of San Leandro and the Oakland Tribune are celebrating their sixtieth anniversary now. San Leandro was incorporated In 1874. and the Tribune began publication the same year. Like The Tribune, San Leandro has grown almost out of recognition, according to a comparison of old records and the memories of "old timers." John J.

Gill. 558 Joaquin Avenue, who rame to San Leandro with his parents ns a boy of nine years. In 1.868. is one of the city's oldest, residents. San Leandro.

originally laid out. as a town site by the old F.studillo family in 185fi. when the county seat was considered for San Leandro, was incorporated 18 years later, with Joseph Collingridge as mayor and J. M. Estudillo.

a scion of the old Spanish family, as town clerk. BUT 500 INHABITANTS The city then comprised all the present city east of San Leandro Creek, with slightly more than 500 inhabitants. The town's first ordinance book and minute book of town council sessions, shows that in February, 1874. Wells, Fargo and Company were paid $22 75 for their work in copying in "longhand." the town charter. Wages at that time were somewhat small.

F.studillo receiving $20 a month. H. C. Grigsby. rity treas-nrcrer, getting and Fred Bryant, town marshal, receiving $15.

Trustees with Collingridge on th first, board, included A. T. Cnvell, M. C. LaGrange, George H.

Payne and Alex Baldwin. At that, time, Luis Castro, of the famous Guillermo Castro family whose home was in what is now Hayward. was town engineer. TWO MAJOR STORES San Leandro, then, had only two major stores, according to Gill's memories, one of them a general store run by Ferdinand Meyers, on the site of the present Herscher Building, Washington and Ward Streets, and the other a general store on the site of the present Thomas Drug Company, Ward and East Fourteenth Streets. A famous hostelry in those days was the old Weber Woure.

still standing at Clarke and Davis Streets, owned by Frank Weber. During the seventies, said, the main sport in San Leandro was horse-racing, along the street new known as Joaquin Avenue. Later, the races were held along Estu iillo Avenue. But whtn Joaquin A was the "race tr ack," Gill horsemen like A Voger, Ki ink Weber, and J. A.

Gallatl, the raced their f.ixorile mounis. DESCRIBES OLD TOWN "Just to ihow you how the town has grown," Gill "When look down East Fourteenth St.cet now, built up a'nir-: solidly froi.i Lake Merritt to Wayward, try to wav ing nelris of barley and beat, growing almost solidly alcng Fast Fourteenth Street from San Leandro down to rif'ecnth in Oakland." Transportation. C0 years ago. consisted of 1 he one or two trains daily between Wayward and Oakland on the old Cohen Railroad, then taken over by the Central Pacific; or the intermittent stage" run by Gallatt from his livery stable to Oakland, then rix miles away. "In those said, 'Oakland was San Antonio, clustered around Thirteenth and Fourteenth Avenues.

"From there on West, where the heart of Oakland is now, was nothing but mud flats and marshland. We used to take the ferry to San Francisco from the main channel at the spot where the Southern Pacific trains' Thirteenth Avenue station near Eight Street now is." third (lower left) was built on the foundation of the second after it burned in 1877. I he present city hall.was completed in 1913 at a cost of $1,794,000, and was dedirated at rxrrrisrs in which President William Howard Taft look part. Oakland has had four city halls in the 82 years of its existence. I he first (upper left) was in a rented store on Rroadway between Second and 1 hird Streets.

The second (upper right) was built in 1868 on the present site at Fourteenth and Washington Streets. the In Office. and Exercised Veto Over Council Arts. I Oakland's Mayor was not a mcm- bcr of the City Council back In 1874, but maintained a dignified aloofness in his own office, where he vetoed council measures Just as the President of the United States dops those of Congress. And.

like Congress, the City Council often overrode fhe veto The early city records are full of accounts of such tussles for suprem acy between the executive and legislative branches of the rity government, which in those days were kept clearly distinct. The Council of seven members was headed by a president of its own choosing who had nothing to do with the yor's office, and who, like the Vice-President of the United States, voted only in case of a tie. The Mayor in 1874 was well suited by nature and attainments to the role, of lofty solitude in which the city charter of those days cast him. He was Dr. Henry F.

Durant, president of the College of Califor- nia, which, under his leadership, later became the University of California The president of the Council was Mack Webber, and his fellow members were Wallace Everson, J. K. Mason, N. Spaulding, W. S.

Snook, Israel Knox and James Larue. The City Clerk was H. Hilde-brand. As there were no typewriters, Hildebrand had to keep all of the Council's records in longhand and accordingly made them considerably briefer than those of today. CITY HALL FIRE The fire which razed the old Oakland City Hall on the night of August 25, 1877, was a red-hot affair, not only as a public spectacle, but as a later political Issue when citizens criticized, the fire department for bungling.

It was 20 minutes after the fire was' discovered before the first fire engine arrived. This, however, was considered good time. But the engine in the fire house adjacent to the City Hall was undergoing repairs, and was one of the last to reach the scene. Engines from West Oakland and Brooklyn found little to do when they arrived. To cap the clmax the hoses of the various engines got snarled, and that of Phoenix 'engine snapped.

Meanwhile the hall burned to the ground. A piece of molten metal retrieved from the ruins was made into a fireman's badge which is now owned by Fireman Ed Laperie of Engine 8. the building of a plank sidewalk on Twenty-eighth Street. J. D.

Elms was appointed as night watchman for the city hall, at $75 per month. The Oakland Street Railway Company was granted a franchise to run horse cars along Telegraph Avenue. All these items, culled from the City Council records of January and February, 1874, arc liberally interspersed with requests "for permits to chop down oak trees." Every person who wanted to clear off land for a new home had to chop down some oak trees. The land was covered with them, according to the records, which declared that there was much reason for naming the town "Oak-land." Cleaning of in on in in 'Birth of Tribune Saw City's Beginning Amid Village! Of Half a Dozen Buildings BERKELEY, Feb. 20.

Berkeley's population In 1874 was much higher in cattle and poultry than it was in human beings, and there was no municipal ordinance then, as now. prohibiting roosters from crowing or cows from mooing in the middle of the night. In the year of The Tribune's birth Berkeley wax a pastoral community, consisting- a farmhouse here and there, one or two "villages" of half a dozen buildings here and there, and plenty of pastures in between. Its proudest, municipal boast was horse-car line, which provided transit to Oakland. It is true the University of California had just constructed two building and moved its classes there, but students and faculty lived elsewhere and the future of the institu tion was a matter of grave doubt.

The horse cars, the citizens felt more nearly consiuutca a sure thing. SETTLEMENTS GROW These small settlements which seemed so ynassoeiated with each other have grown into- the present: day business districts of West Berkeley, North Berkeley at the University, and Shattuck Avenue, and "have each become an Important factor. In the present city of Berkeley. Looking eastward into the hills one could then discern only a few newly constructed buildings of the University W'ajMrornia which became ready for occupancy in the Fall of 1873. Life at the campus in these early days, was for the most part un comfortable and inconvenient ns the neighborhood around the college grounds grew but slowly, the roads were in poor condition the year around and what living accommodations there were in the form of small lodging houses were uncomfortable and inadequate.

People seemed to be awaiting some proof of Berkeley's being a town before making their homes here. Communication with Oakland had been established in 1872 by a line on which horse drawn "bobtail" cars were run. However, it was not until 1877 that this service was improved with a dummy engine which greatly reduced the running time into Oakland. West Berkeley was as early as 1877 destined to be a manufacturing district. There were already in that year six factories along the waterfront making a brave start toward the present day industrial section of Berkeley.

Had there been an organized government in Berkeley in these early years the city's progress would no doubt have been more rapid but being hindered as it was by this lack, Berkeley's growth for a time seemed slow. BERKELEY CONSOLIDATED The opponents of consolidation of the various districts argued that the sections were too far apart to become one town and their interests too varied. However, after four years of opposition, Berkeley was finally consolidated and granted its charier in the year 1878. If progress before this time was slow it has been equally rapid since then. With kaleidoscopic rapidity the pattern of the community changes during the years of the past half a century and tells of progress and development in the history a hamlet destined to bpcome a city of prominence.

The great spaces between build ings were rapidly built, up into resi dential and business New civic and school buildings were er ected. The home loving people of Berkeley built both cottage and palatial residence, each year pushing farther and higher into the Berkeley hills. The campus scene of 1873 with its few buildings and small student body has changed to that of a world famous institution of learning with 10.000 students enrolled yearly in its classes and with 1500 professors and instructors on its staff. The growth of Berkeley rity government and public school system has also played a prominent prut bringing Berkeley yito the foreground as a progressive city of the nation. Today, Berkeley, with a population of close to 90,000, is the acknowledged educational center of the West; a city of culture and refinement, of lovely homes, beautiful churches, and with a clean and comparatively economical municipal government.

Site for City Hall Bought For $17,000 When Oakland purchased its city hall site in 1868, it paid only $17,000 for the tract of land occupied by the present city hall, plus the land now used for the Memorial plaza on Washington Street between Fourteenth Street and San Pablo Avenue. Prior to the purchase of the site, the city fathers used a rented store Broadway between Second and Third Streets as the city hall. When the site was chosen, many citizens thought that it was too far out. in the "open country" to the north of the town. The first of Ihrp eitv hnlts In stunH on thp site was constructed for $.10,000, and served until it was burned down 1877.

The hall was quickly rebuilt, and remained in use until completion of he latest city hall 1913, at a cost of $1,794,000. William Howard Taft, then President of the United States, participated in the dedication of the city hall. The old building, which stood where Washington Street was cut through, was demolished, making way for the street opening. SHARK KILLED A 20-foot shark was killed in Oakland Harbor in 1888. of T.

of 1. of to of Alameda City Government Formed Just Two Years Before Tribune's Birth grant was made in recognition of Peralta's services In the Crown and the' title was confirmed by the United States when California was admitted to the Union. The Peralla heirs sold the F.ncinal in 1851. however, to W. W.

C'hapin and Gideon Aughinbaugh for $14,000. Bv 1874 the assessed valuation of the eitv had risen to $1,938,790 and 1 by V.VY.i to OLDEST RESIDENT The oldest living while child born in Alameda. Police Judge H. B. Another official of that period was credited with "knowing his noli lice Thai A Barber.

who was appointed in 1855 oy i ii'Min-ni i ic-m mm sei vi-n nppan is one or Hie very lew uv-' continuously in that capacity until persons who fJWIs the Alameda 1889. serving both Republican and of 60 years ago. Bork in Wesl Ala- Deinocral ic adminisl rat ions. It was just 60 years ago that F. K.

Krauth became Alameda's first chief of police. The town, 'which had emerged from an earlier consolidation of three communities, Kncinal, Woodstock and Alameda, was heavily wooded. Two trails ran from east to west the length of the island and deer and quail abounded. About that time. Russian sailing smacks were engaged in hunting fur bear- meda on November 2.1.

1858, Judge Tappan grew to boyhood and played on the beach at the south end of Webster Street with children from the nearby Spanish settlement. We recalls the horse drawn stage coach that carried passengers over a partially planked road between the Alarncda ferry terminal and San Jose. We recalls "dolling up" for the arrival of the first Central Pacific Railroad train. Later, he was to become one of the city's most ALAMKOA. Feb.

20 -The Ala- meda City Government is two vearsi Tlin 1. Ill, -Ii I'; I celebrating its sixtieth birthday this vear. Back in 1872. when Ihe rity gov ernment was formed. Alameda was a community of 1557 persons, rich in the romance and tradition of Indian and Spanish culture.

Nursing this government through ils infancy were such men as II. II. Haight, who was later to become governor of California: K. H. Mas-tick, Fritz Boehmcr, J.

Clcnient and Henry Robinson, who composed Alameda's first City Council. Alameda had no mayor until the year There was a school board, how- over, which comprised W. P. Gib bons. W.

Hollz. Cyrus Wilson. Nathan Porter, Fred Hess and F. K. Kiauth.

Sr. Perhaps it was because of Ala-mrda's traditionally healthful climate that It was not until 1KII7 that a group of progressive citizens visualized the need of public health work in the fast growing com I ins seals in the waters adjacent to i picturesque characters, often hold-Ihe site of the Bay Farm Island jnj; court on the curb as he sat on horseback during the early days of i and an apex of the aviation indus-his judgeship 55 year ago. try. claiming the distinction of Such was life in the F.ncinal City having two major airports within when the present Alameda and The its city limits. munity and established a board of)ne IS CELEBRATING HAYWAnn.

Feb. The City of Wayward, two years younger the Oakland Tribune, is celebrating its fifty-eighth this year, and its growth from a hamlet less than souls in 1874, to a city of more than 5000 inhabitants today. Although its population lias increased by more than ten times. Hayward's city limits now enclose only about two city blocks of terri tory not included in the original town. This new area, known as the Cotter tract, on Foothill Boulevard and Colter Way.

was incorporated within the rity two years ago. Manzer. president of the city's first board of trustees, served with D. Auctin, Joseph Pimentel. A.

Cunningham and Lcander Linikcn. W. W. Allen was town clerk, and George Horn was marshal and poundmaster. Samuel Wootten was Justice of the Peace, with John Wootten as assessor and George Brown as town treasurer.

FIRST WHITE SETTLER William Wayward, the first white settler in Ihe district, was the owner of the famous Hayward's Hotel, loCnled on the site of the present Montgomery Ward Com pany store at A and Main Streets. Ten years before The Tribune was started. Wayward and the commun ity's olhrr leaders reviewed the Wavward Home Guard Company, eady for action in the closing year the Civil War. The community's first fire com pany, liaywarn fire l.ompany no. formed in 1872, had Hayward as its fire commisisoncr and C.

1. Ward, as chief engineer. Wayward, then more than 12 miles from what is now Oakland, and was then known as San Antonio, was more than an hour's "buggy ride." James D. Smallcv, city water department superintendent and son D. S.

prominent livery man in the early seventies, remembers. "The rarers thought they were making marvelous lime when they did the distance from San Antonio Wayward in less than an mallry said, "And moM of them look a little more than an hour." HORSE TRANSPORTATION Except for intermittent staje CPiich service from Hayward to San Antonio, residents rode saddle-horses or trains on the old Cohen taken over early in the seventies by the Central Pacific. The Cohen line, Smalley remembers, ran from Alameda to Hayward, and to the ferry wharf, then located at what is now the foot Thirteenth Avenue, Oakland. Steady stage service, then, how ever, ran irom Maywarn inio inp Sacramento. Santa Clara and San Joaquin Valleys, Smalley said.

IWY FOR A LIMITED Tribune were born. Today. Alameda, wilh a population of approximately .15.000, ranks as a residential and industrial renter sale discount ippltes hff Mes. super regulars TIM6 A NEW laundry serv-ice that eliminates all home laundering and priced by the pound which will materially reduce your laundry bills. Every item ironed and ready for use, this service was designed for family work.

Prompt, clean and sanitary the kind you will enjoy. We also specialize in fancy tfiork priced by the piece. Bridge. NO AKV THEN But what may be most surprising of all to the new cilmcrs and younger generation is the fact that there was no tidal canal or estuary. A strip of land connected Fast Alameda with Fruilvale and steam trains from Oakland crossed into kncinal City in the vicinity of Pearl Street and ran down Lincoln Avenue to connect with the ferryboat Flora Temple, which took one hour to make the trip tu San Francisco.

Historic documents preserved by City Assessor and Auditor Fred J. Croll show that Alameda, once part of the Rnnchn de San Antonio, was granted to Louis Peralla in 1820 by Pablo Vicente rie Sola, governor of California, who derived his authority from the King of Spain. The 0 ON THE RUN is (fiwii to nil SULLIVAN OF-riCli tenants. Hriplit, clieerful office, funiislic'l or unf iirimlinl, i with expert plur awl bookkeeper on cull. Mil il ami message.

'service. Suites, small offices ami desk space available; a real opportunity re duce overhead. SULLIVAN OFFICES With Secretarial Services 1 629 Telegraph Avenue enceurt 5833 seRVice health. Members of the first board of health were Dr. S.

S. Simmons, F. W. T. Mocbus.

Joseph R. Know-land, D. L. Randolph and Miller. EARLY OFFICIALS There was a tax collector in the person of T.

A. Smith. The assessor was E. Minor Smith, who held that office from the year 1872 until 1909. Only once in Alameda's history has that, office changed Smith was succeeded in 1909 by Fred J.

Croll. the incumbent. to PORTLAND DE LUXE NITECOACHES Convenient daily service. Enjoy a good night's sleep in a comfort-Hie full length berth at remarkably low cot. FARE INCLUDING BERTH ONI WAT OM0 TBII $m5 125 $0055 I.t.

S. F. p.m. Ii. Oakland 6:53 p.m.

Arrive Port'aod p.m. LeT 1'ortlmd 7:00 p.m. Ar. Omkltnd 6:2 1 p. m.

Ar. S. F. 7: 1 5 p. m.

DEPOT Mfc a MISSION Ttl. DOutlal Mt OAKLAND: 107 San Pablo Tl. LAkatia proa I here no better tire made than Indian, to thm is a real opportunity t( put life" rubber is Tour car. Headquarters for Brake Adjustment and Relining Battery and Ignition Service (Willjirrn Superior French Laundry Washing, Polishing, Lubrication, Stor-age and General Repair Work. and Dry RETAIL CENTER GARAGE 471 Eleventh 6t.

HOlliday 9965 Between Broadway Washington OJL PGOOUCrS 2212 POPLAR1.