The two photos shown above often come up as topics of conversation on social media. They are seldom shown as a pair, however. These photos were taken minutes apart some time after 1906. The photographer stood on the east side of Park Street and Central Avenue.
The first lived on a small estate name ‘Homebush’
Part one
Vigilante James Farwell, Consul Frederik O’Hara Taaffe and Steamboat Captain Robert R. Thompson and their families once lived on an estate that became Lincoln Park.
Workers are currently removing railroad tracks on Clement Avenue that began carrying trains more than 100 years ago.
In 1890 this station at Park Street and Tilden Way replaced the one that A. A. Cohen had built for his San Francisco & Alameda Railroad in 1864. Cohen sold his railroad to the Central Pacific Railroad in 1868. The very first transcontinental railroad train stopped here on Sept. 6, 1869.
Homeowners on College Avenue own property with a chain of title that stretches back to San Francisco Sheriff and Texas Ranger Jack Hays and his deputy sheriff and fellow Texas Ranger, John Caperton.
In its Nov. 21, 1935, edition, the Oakland Tribune informed its readers that “The largest mail load ever carried by an airplane was placed aboard one of Glenn L. Martin Company’s flying ships China Clipper.
Ask a Japanese child to count to three.
John Barton owned the Union Pacific Salt Company that produced 20,000 tons of salt a year. He had this 15,000-square-foot home built on Broadway in 1879 and lived here with his wife Isabella and children William and Grace until his death in 1900.
Editor’s note: Under normal circumstances, Alameda Sun publishers Eric J. Kos and Dennis Evanosky would be leading history tours for the city’s “Alameda Walks” program this time of the year. Instead, Eric and Dennis are presenting six weeks of history stories.
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