I’ve always been curious about the meaning behind a street name. Some are obvious, like Broadway or Main Street. I’ve lived on Capricorn Ave (zodiac), Thornhill Dr. (Hiram Thorn), Georgia St. (the state), Athol Ave (still haven’t figured that one out), and Lynde St.
Lynde Street was declared a public road in 1886.
Lynde Street is in the Fruitvale District.
George L. Lynde owned the land in 1878
Published by Thompson & West, Oakland, Cala., 1878
Lynde Street was named for George L Lynde, a landowner. I don’t know precisely when he purchased the land in the Fruitvale District. I found him living there in 1866.
George Lee Lynde was born in about 1838 in the state of Vermont. By 1860 he was living in California with his parents and siblings. In 1861 he married Cassandra Jane Hewitt in San Francisco. They had four children.
- George W. Lynde 1862-1941
- Matthew A. Lynde 1868-
- Martha V. Lynde 1868-
- Frank H. Lynde 1876-1939
The 1877 Oakland City Directory has Lynde living in Fruitvale near East 27th, right by Lynde Street.
Cassandra and George were divorced in 1880, and she moved to Arizona. By 1899 George was living in San Francisco and was remarried. He died in 1915.
Lynde and Howard – Tin Shop
George co-owned a Tin Shop (plumbing, hardware, and gas fixtures) located at 683 East 12th Street.
The shop suffered a significant fire in 1878.
Misc Articles
A playmate accidentally shot Lynde’s son while they were playing “robbers” out by the barn. Not sure if the name of his son is correct.
What a marvelous bit of history. Thanks.
I glad you enjoyed it.
I enjoyed this. I would like to get information about the Dog Town area in West Oakland. I’d like to know how that area goet its name and its origins.
Here is a little info on Dog Town – https://localwiki.org/oakland/Dogtown
This is so exciting! Are the pages of the Thompson and West map available online, or must one go to the History Center in the main library to see them?
Thru the magic of Ancestry dot com, I was surprised to learn that my 2nd great uncle and aunt – Mary Elizabeth Brandenburg Gallagher and Stephen Gallagher – were “pioneers” of Fruit Vale. The men in the family were teamsters. They arrived from Leavenworth KS around 1878 and built a modest house (still there!) near the intersection of Lynde Street on a street then called Persimmon, now named Humboldt. The Gallagher family place backed up to Peralta Creek, directly across the creek from the Antonio Peralta historic park. This appears to be just off the right edge of the map you have posted.
Another question – is the Thompson of “Thompson and West” the same person who operated the Thompson Artesian Water Works at Cortland and Thompson Streets, south of High Street, in the 1870s?
I have a friend who is a longtime neighborhood resident. She says that in the 1950s and ’60s Peralta Creek was still biologically sound, with fish and frogs. It was badly impacted by the construction of the large houses of worship at the top of Lincoln in the mid-1960s.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful research.
Amelia
Hi,
We live along Peralta Creek. It goes under our building and is open in our back yard.
Here is the link to the Thompson and West Map. https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/view/search/who/Thompson%2B%2526%2BWest?q=oakland&sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No
Thompson & West is an Oakland Company but I know if they have a connection to Thompson Water Works. Here’s some info about the company.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104257128/history-of-thompson-west-publishing/
It’s sad what they did the street signs in Oakland. Some of the streets in Oakland were named after soldiers who lost their life fighting for our country. As new streets needed a name hey were given the name of a soldier from Oakland who was killed. And so everyone knew that was an Oakland resident how lost their life a red what and blue shield was placed after the name of the street. VERY SAD the city spent millions to replace all of those signs are forget the Oaklanders who sacrificed their live for us today.