Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 124

w- eo Continued from Page .15 president of the Highland Park and FruitTVale Railroad, donated the land. oo L. rr Wti. a. 1 1 i-J i ir I I Tor a long time there was no church bell.

Then Ann Morrison and Myrtle Seammon, two young girls, collected enough money to purchase one. Not until 1926 was a new church "built at Hopkins andCoolidge Ave-r nue. It was dedicated the following year. REV. Father Patrick McHugh came over from St.

Anthonys Church in 1904 to organize St Jarlaths parish in Dimond. The first Mass was celebrated in a hall above the volunteer fire station on Champion Street. Land for a church building was donated a short time later and an edifice constructed on the corner of Fruitvale Avenue and Montana was later- tom-down and a second church built a few blocks 3own on Fruitvale. The parking lot for Longs Drug Store now occupies the spot where the first church stood, our informants tell us. In the mid-1900s when the population began to increase in the Dimond District the need for a new school was noted.

The original Fruitvale School was a wooden structure at the comer of Boston Avenue and School Street. Pupils attended from miles around. Allendale, Sequoia, Laurel and Bret Harte schools came several years later. Pioneers of the district also boast that Dimond supported its own bank at an early period. The head man was Charles Parrott.

i mSTi From Htt phot coUtctM Lm SMa Upper Fruitvale viewof Dimond overlooks the big white home of builder S. C. Walker and shows the 1 889-V built Presbyterian Church on Palmetto Street, left of center v' kins Street where a little frame station stood. The station remains a relic of Dimonds pioneer days. It now stands in back of the old American Legion Hall.

-But the ride isnt over yet. On went the rails down Hopkins Street to Fruitvale and off on Champion Street as far down as Nicol Avenue. After one block on Nicol they turn to Fruitvale Avenue and back up to Hopkins Street. A branch of the line ran down Fruitvale Avenue to the Fruitvale Station at Derby Street, connecting with the steam locals of the old Oakland Seventh Street line. In 1882 Sessions electrified his cars, and in l901the company was acquired by the Oakland Transit Company owned by F.

M. Borax Smith. derated the famous double-deck cars designed and patented by E. C. Sessions, president of the transportation firm.

These cars were built by the Pullman Car Company and were very ornate, Sappers tells us. The seats were not only tufted with velvet and the woodwork inlaid, but the floors were carpeted. Upper decks of the cars provided a fine view of the countryside as the 'horses plodded their way slowly up the steep grades to the hill sections leading to the Dimond District. The line ran from the old East Oakland Station of the Southern Pacific at the foot of 13th Avenue to East 22nd Street then swung diagonally across a vacant lot to the comer of East 23rd Street and 14th Avenue. From here the line followed 14th Avenue up to Hopkins Street (only a dirt road at the time) pass-; ing such noted places as Highland Park and old California College where the Highland-Alameda County Hospital now stands.

At Hopkins Street and Ran-. dolph could be seen Beulah Park over on the south side where Bible Revival meetings and campouts were summer attractions. Beyond, at Hopkins Street and Sheffield was the Atlenheim. The original building burned in 1909. It was rebuilt into the structure we know today.

From here the car line descended towards Dimpnd Canyon on a private right-of-way, skirting part of the old reservoir, There were thick berry vines in--patches aiong the rails all the way down to the floor of the canyon. On the west side of Sausal Creek the rails swung over to Hop STREET railway transportation was provided in Dimond by the Highland Park Fruit Vale Railroad in the 1880s. They THE KNAVE fit mg "you USE IT AS A STEREO CABINET STORAGE CREDENZA BUFFET You name the job, this impressive 60' credenza is equal to the task. For you do it yourself-ers, this has got to be the find of the year for your stereo components. For those who need extra storage this well-1 made, handsomely finished cabinet Is tailor-made for the job.

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