History

What’s in a name? Alameda

Jul 14,2021

Creek and rancho (pictured in the 1878 map on the left), township, town and city: all with the name “Alameda.” So how did our fair city fit into this puzzle? See the story on page 12, and find out even more this Saturday, July 17. Dennis Evanosky’s free 60-minute tour begins at 9 a.m.

The gray areas in this map show the land before the Navy built the air station, whose outline is shown. Three airports are visible on this map: Alameda Airport now buried under runways; Benton Field, now covered by part of the mall and San Francisco Airdrome, on the site of today’s College of Alameda.

Alameda: The Airport City

Jul 08,2021

The Alameda Naval Air Station opened on November 1, 1940. The Navy arrived in a city with an aviation history that stretched back to 1909 and Sunset Aviation Field

To celebrate the 1864 completion of the San Francisco & Alameda Railroad, A. A. Cohen commissioned Joseph Lee to create two paintings. This one features Bird’s Hotel with Cohen’s first train on the wharf in the distance. This area became Woodstock, one of three towns that became part of the City of Alameda 8 years later. See the companion painting and read about all three towns on page 12.

Three Towns Make One City

Jul 01,2021

Before 1872, visitors found three independent towns — Alameda, Encinal and Woodstock — on the Alameda peninsula.

Alameda Museum; Oakland Wiki Caroline Maclean first married William Worthington Chipman, left; five years after William’s death, she married John W. Dwinelle, right.

City Founders Led Tragic Lives

Jun 24,2021

Part two of two

Alamedans today have little connection to the city’s founders. No standing monument to their achievement, no statue or plaque commemorates what the two founding families, the Aughinbaughs and the Chipmans, achieved when Alameda was still a wilderness.

Michael Colbruno Alameda Museum Curator George Gunn spearheaded a movement to mark Gideon Aughinbaugh’s grave at Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery. Aughinbaugh’s grave was unmarked from his death in 1897 until 1981. It remains unclear where his daughter Ella rests.

Two City Founders Led Tragic Lives

Jun 17,2021

Eric J. Kos

Part one

Library of Congress This 1927 map shows the “Fernside Loop” that carried automobile traffic and Southern Pacific electric trains beginning in 1911. Notice that the loop, today’s Fernside Boulevard ran along the San Leandro Bay shoreline. Developers filled land east of Fernside.

Southern Pacific Creates Fernside Boulevard

Jun 10,2021

Dennis Evanosky

Venon Sappers Collection Southern Pacific Railroad used this station on the Alameda Mole as a centerpiece for its new electric train system.

Southern Pacific Railroad Electrifies Alameda

Jun 03,2021

Part one in a series

Francis Marion “Borax” Smith, earned his nickname and a fortune dealing with sodium borate.

On Oct. 26, 1903, Smith’s Key Route system began operating with the ambitious name “The San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose Railway.”

Courtesy Alamedainfo.com The 1878 Oddfellows Lodge at Santa Clara Avenue and Park Street as it appeared before being replaced with the building that stands there now in 1927.

Island City Hosted Vast Collection of Social Clubs

May 12,2021

From the Elks to the Eagles and the Oddfellows to the Masons, social clubs in Alameda left permanent marks on our community. The meeting places of these clubs, many originally restricted to White men only, today comprise some of the most recognizable locations in town. Some clubs still operate.

The Civil War? In Alameda?

May 12,2021

Historians often hear the mistaken idea that California played no role in the Civil War.

In fact, during the Civil War California furnished the Union army some 17,000 volunteers — a number that could make up just under two divisions of soldiers.

BayAreaRailFan.org The red lines on this 1911 map depict the Alameda streetcar system under the aegis of the Oakland Traction Company, which was part of Francis Marion “Borax” Smith’s Key System. The black dotted lines show the Southern Pacific Railroad’s broad-guage tracks that would become part of the East Bay Electic Lines the year this map was created. East Bay Electric Lines carried the Big Reds. Note the absence of today’s Coast Guard Island at the word “Harbor.” The federal government did not create

Borax’ Smith Takes Over

Apr 21,2021

Dennis Evanosky

Part two in a series

Streetcar service began here in 1875, when the Alameda, Oakland & Piedmont’s (AO&P) horsecar line first carried passengers through town from the Central Pacific Railroad Station at today’s Tilden Way and Lincoln Avenue.

Alameda Sun