Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 92

-1 Annual Number OAKLAND TRIBUNE January, 1912 ALAMEDA'S GROWTH AND PROSPERITY HE city of Alameda, lone known as a I model residence city, and a few years ago1 I I widely exploited as the "spotless town," Is I now reaping the harvest fiom several years oi earnem hiiu hcwvc cAptuiuiuun work. Because Alameda Is first a residence city, and, therefore, minus much of the bustle, noise and excitement that many more streets will have shade trees within a few years, as the municipality, through Its park commission, recently set out a large number of street trees and the work Is constantly being extended. ILARBOH FRONT OF ALAMEDA. On Oakland harbor, Alameda has a valuable frontage extending along the entire northern side of the Island. The municipality owns two sections of this waterfront, one piece being an 1100-foot frontaganear the Webster street bridge and the other being at the north end of Grand street.

A municipal wharf will be constructed on the Grand street site during 1(12. Oakland property-owners have built thirty miles of asphalt and bituminous streets, at a cost of S3, 000,000. marks many purely commercial ami manufacturing communities, even Alamedans havo permitted their home town to rest under the imputation of being a slow-going place. As a matter of fact Alameda is In the van when it comes to up-to-dateness and Perhaps the process of Alameda Is nowhere better shown than In its splendid school department. Two new grammar schools, conceded to be the acme of school modernness as to open air, heating, lighting and ventilating features, were constructed the past year, one replacing an old structure, and the second school building being added as the result of the steady growth of the city.

The high school has added gymnasiums for the boys and girls, and maintains a splendid manual training department, in addition to teaching all of the regular high scllbol courses. The Alameda graduates show by their later success In life the thoroughness of the foundation of their mental and physical education. The Alameda high baseball and football teams have repeatedly won academic school championships. The present Rugby team is also a premium winner. The school department is now planning a system of open-air kindergartens.

Medical inspection and trained nurse are supplied for all the schools by the board of education. SOCIAL AND CLCB LIFE. Social life reaches a high plane in the island city. There are several influential women's clubs, headed by the Adelphian Club, which owns a splendid clubhouse at Central avenue and Walnut street, a property which earns considerable Income for the club, besides serv- Ing as a club home. The Adelphian Club is composed of numerous departments given over to the study of courses designed for the general advancement of women.

The Alameda Tea Club, the Alcyon Reading Club, the Shakespeare Club and the Criterion are the old" established institutions. In addition, there are dramatic, literary and reading clubs, and scores of cards and sewing clubs which form an important feature of Alameda social life. SPLENDID STREETS. The streets of Alameda are an enduring advertisement of the city. They are well-kept, oiled boulevards, smooth as a dancing floor.

One of the city's earliest claims to special notice was because of its fine, level thoroughfares. There are but a few Isolated streets yet to be improved. The municipality has ever been liberal in providing for Its street department the best possible equipment to work with. A new oil heater and engine, which enables oiled streets to be patched with heated oil, finely sprayed on the filling, has been used with marked success the past fall in going over the thoroughfares and putting them in first-class condition for the inter. Mhpv of the streets -lined, and Jl.

i -i JlI. "I I 'li-niii i-Vi iiTiii.im H. W. SCHNERLY, Member Builders' Exchange J. F.

HOSTRAWSER ISO Jessie street J. H. PEDGRIFT San Francisco Telephones Oakland tttt; Home, A-1221 Schnebly, Hostrawser Pedgrift General Contractors and Builders Store and Office Fixtures, Show Cases, Interior Hardwood Finish, Cabinet Work of all Descriptions Estimates Furnished OFFICE AND MILL. 14-t BROADWAY, CAL. smartness as a city of homes.

Its streets are premium winners; its homes and gardens are of more than average attractiveness; Its electric train service is equaled by but few other local train- services and surpassed by none; Its system of parks and playgrounds is one of the most comprehensive on th Pacific coast, and the general air of the entire community Is one of prosperity and happiness. ALAMEDA IS AWAKENED. Residence communities are slow to arouse to the Importance of earnest, efficient exploitation abroad, because when the average man is home he is content to rest quietly and peacefully and let the rest of the world wag on as It will. With his business interests largely in some other section many an Alameda homeowner falls to properly appreciate that he is responsible to his home community in more ways than the simple act of buying a home, keeping his property in good repair and paying his taxes. This spirit of lazy contentment had to be combatted for several years before the Alamedan realized that the vacant lot alongside his home would be an Ideal investment If Interest could be i tirred in real estate.

Finally the spirit of the citizens 'fas aroused, largely by the forced trend of progress, and today Alameda ts offering opportunities for modest, profitable investments in greater ratio than ever before. Everyone knows that the pioneer seldom reaps the material benefits of his hard work, and every one knows that the time to buy is on a rising market. Alameda's market Is now rising, and between the present values and the crest of high prices is a wide margin for the speculator or the more careful Investor. ELECTRIC TRAIN SERVICE. The new electric loop which completely girdles the island affords a train service which can never be else than an Ideal one, largely through the geographical lines of the Island.

To the stranger a good mind picture of Alameda can be secured from inspecting the sole of a shoe. The relative width and length of shoe sole and Island are more than a fanciful figure of speech. They are closely allied to the actual truth. If a pencil loop is drawn on the shoe sole, a quarter of an Inch In from the edge, a fairly good representation of the Alameda electric train service is gained, for the electric cars loop the island in a way which brings a train station within a two or three minutes' walk of practically every portion of the city. The new service also supplies a half dozen new stations, and brings train accommodation Into the very heart of several sections of sparsely settled territory, until recently overlooked by the home builder because the locations were too far from the cars.

The old steam cars supplied a large portion of the city with a good service, but the two lines which ran along the north and the south sides of the Island did not connect and the extreme ends of the Island, and some of the intermediate territory, hid to get along the best way It could. When the two line were Joined on the east and west Into a double track loop, an Ideal service was im-' mediately afforded. How this service boosted the city is, perhaps, best illustrated in the east end, where several hundred new homes have been constructed within the last eighteen months or two years. ELECTRIC STREET CAR LINES. The Oakland Traction Company operates two lines between Alameda and Oakland, and also operates a stretch of local track within the Alameda city limits.

The Alameda-Oakland lines cover the city quite thoroughly. The same geographical lines which make the railway and ferry service of the Southern Pacific unrivaled, apply with almost equal force to the fraction company's street car service. Alameda now has a car line intersecting the heart of the city which runs through East Oakland, across the main Oakland business streets to the Sixteenth street depot. The sec BOWERS ded Gardemi Hose HAS NO SEAMS, JOINTS OR SPLICES. HADE EITHER CORRUGATED OR SMOOTH MADE IN CONTINUOUS LENGTHS And Coiled on Reels ond Alameda-Oakland line traverses practically the entire island from east to west and makes Immediate connection at First and Broadway, Oakland, with a second.

Southern Pacific line running to San Jose, the Santa Cruz mountain region and all points on the main Southern Pacific coast route. MUNICIPALITY ENTERPRISING. The municipality itself has kept pace with the Southern Pacific and other large private corporations in a big program of Improvements for the general betterment and beautifying of the city. Besides the acquisition of three parks and three playgrounds, the city has recently constructed a modern boulevard across the Webster street marsh, connecting Alameda and Oakland, has enlarged and modernized its million-dollar municipal light plant, and is now figuring on building a modern structure for the valuable electric plant equipment. The city Is equipping its departments with auto apparatus to facilitate the handling of municipal business.

The fire department has the first auto fire engine ever purchased by a city on the Pacific coast. Plans are now being formulated to replace all of the horse-drawn fire apparatus with auto equipment. The police and health departments have an auto patrol and an auto ambulance, and the street and electricity departments have automobiles to enable the heads of these departments to quickly cover the entire territory within the city limits. The last municipal Improvement of note during 191; was the enlarging and modernizing of the emergency hospital and -the overhauling of several other department quarters In the city The assessed valuation of the city is Increasing at an average rate of $1,000,000 a year. STANDS 500 POUND PRESSURE I', MADE IN CALIFORNIA BY Bowers Rdbbeir Works SAN FRANCISCO Ask Maxwell Hardware Co.

About It Efttabtlshrd 1851. Capital $1,500,000. THE GRATON KNIGHT MFG. CO. MAIN OFFICE AND FACTORIES lira ik' lies: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee.

Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis. SAN FRANCISCO (Cal.) BRANCH, 30-82 Frcmdnt St. 1: II 'T' it 1..