Residence of Col. John C. Hays – Oakland History Room
After Hays died in 1883, the estate was sold to William J. Dingee. Dingee built an opulent 19-room Queen-Anne-style mansion and had additional landscaping with gardens, terraces, and waterfalls. He also added such features as a deer park and an elk paddock.
Allendale Terrace is a group of twenty-seven homes built east of High Street on Allendale Avenue. They were built and sold by K.A. Johnson.
Fifteen homes were ready for inspection in 1930. The area is most likely is considered Maxwell Park.
Oakland Tribune May 11, 1930
Twenty -seven unusually beautiful English designed homes. Five, six, and seven rooms, basements, furnaces, water heaters, and laundry rooms. Close to new schools.
All basements are sufficiently large to provide space for a social hall. The five-room homes can be converted to six-room homes by completing another room upstairs, the stairways are already built.
Claremont Circle is a real estate development by the E.B. Field Company. It opened in 1935.
Oakland Tribune Sep 1935
Claremont Circle has a magnificent panorama view of SF Bay, Golden Gate, Marin County, and Mount Tamalpais
Oakland Tribune 1935
Oakland Tribune Sep 1935
Oakland Tribune Sept 1935
Oakland Tribune 1935
Oakland Tribune 1935
The homes of Claremont Circle
Oakland Tribune Aug 1936 38 Sonia Street
Oakland Tribune Sept 1936 Not sure of the location
Oakland Tribune Oct 1936 Not sure of the location
Wide Horizons Display Home
Oakland Tribune Feb 14, 1937 34 Sonia Street
In February of 1937, the E.B. Field Company held a contest to name their newest display home that opened. The winning name was “Wide Horizons.” The house was located at 34 Sonia Street
The Home of Today is located Claremont Circle, a small real estate development by E.B. Fields Co. on Sonia Street. It opened in May of 1937. The address is 58 Sonia Street.
Oakland Tribune Apr 1937 58 Sonia Street
The Home of Today was designed and built by Earl R. MacDonald and Herman A. Schoening
It is located where Foothill Blvd meets Trask Street and 55th Avenue. 55th Avenue was formally called Central Avenue, and Foothill Blvd was often referred to as the Scenic Boulevard. Central Terrace also includes Ruth Avenue, Laverne Avenue, El Camille Avenue, and Kingsland Avenue. The area now is considered to be an extension of Maxwell Park or the Fairfax District, depending on who you talk to.
Mutual Realty Co.’s Central Terrace office,
Foothill Boulevard at 55th Avenue and Trask Street looking north
Cheney Photo Adv. Co., photographers. C 1912
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.
Brochure for Central Terrace
The Mutual Realty Company put the Central Terrace Subdivision on sale in April of 1912. The agent was Fred T. Wood, who later took over the project. Then they added the Central Terrace Extension and Scenic Park Knoll
Earth Sciences and Map Library,
The University of California, Berkeley -Cadastral map. Historic Maps of Bay Area
“Central Terrace is surrounded by modern schools and educational institutions of the very highest standard, the John C. Fremont high erected at the cost of $140,000, the Melrose School, the W.P. Frick School and the Lockwood Grammar School and the famous Mills Seminary for young ladies, all are within short walking distance from any part of Central Terrace”
Sunshine Court is group homes built byPedigreed Home Builders in 1927
Each house had 4 or 5 rooms with separate garage, ranging in from $3950-$4550.
Every Sunshine Court Home had a dining room set, gas range, Hoyt water heater, linoleum, curtain rods, bathroom fixtures, and other time and money-saving extras.
The first six homes went on sale in May of 1927
1425 Sunshine Court.
1638 Sunshine Court.
1645 Sunshine Court
1651 Sunshine Court
1657 Sunshine Court
1665 Sunshine Court
Sunshine Court Model Home
“Le Petit Chateau” was located at 1665 Sunshine Court. The home was entirely furnished by Montgomery Wards.
Ardsley Heights is part of Bella Vista Park and is now considered part of Ivy Hill. The streets of Ardsley Heights are Park Blvd, East 28th Street, Bay View Avenue, Lake View Avenue Elliot Street, and East 34th Street.
Ardsley Heights went on sale in October 1912 by the Realty Syndicate.
Adjoining F.M. Smith’s home
Directly across from the Home Club
Twelve Minutes by car from Broadway
Oakland Tribune Oct 12, 1912
Oakland Tribune Sep 1912
A sign advertising the Ardsley Heights tract Circa 1915
Cheney Photo Adv. Co., photographers.
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.
ohrphoto.districts.148
The above photo shows the house at 1011 Bay View Ave. It was built in 1915.
Bayview Avenue between East 28th and Elliot Streets
in the Ardsley Heights tract, circa 1915 Cheney Photo Adv. Co., photographers.
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.
ohrphoto.districts.147.
The above photo shows the house at 985 Bay View Avenue –
Park Boulevard in Ardsley Heights c 1915 Cheney Photo Adv. Co., photographers.
Previously sold on eBay
View from Ardsley Heights
Showing the Home Club (later the German Pioneer Home) and the Smith Cottages (Home for Friendless Girls). The German Pioneer Home was demolished to make room for Oakland High School.
Home Club and Smith Cottages from Ardsley Heights C 1915 Cheney Photo Adv. Co., photographers
Previously sold on eBay
Hays Canyon or sometimes called “Jack Hayes Canyon,” was the area in hills behind Piedmont. Now known as Thornhill Canyon, Thornhill Drive, and Moraga Avenue. For more info, please see here – Oakland Local Wiki – Hays Canyon
On June 6th, 1894, Manuel Souza Quadros was murdered on the old Thorn Road in the “Jack Hayes Canyon” (Hays Canyon) by an unknown man while returning home. “The assassin did his work well and left no trace behind him.” Quadros had a wife and three children. He had a very “good reputation as a sober and industrious fellow.” He was returning home after delivering milk to the Oakland Creamery.
To reach the Moss Ranch (not sure where this was will have to research more), he had to pass through the canyon pass Blair Park. When found, he was lying on the seat of his wagon “in a lonely place” in the canyon. He was shot in the breast. He was killed instantly by a 44 caliber pistol.
Theodore Medau, a rancher, gives an only clue to the murder. He says, “a middle-aged man, who was very excited,” stopped him and said that a man was dead down the road. The man said he had 15 miles to drive, and he was in a hurry. Medau went down the road a few hundred yards and found the deceased. San Francisco Chronicle June 07, 1984
Miller does not seem to be frightened at the prospect of a noose.
San Francisco Call Nov 14, 1894
Acquitted of Murder
Frank Miller Will Not Have to Stand a Trial
The moment Miller walked out of the courtroom, he said he was going to “start to walk East at once.”
San Francisco Chronicle Nov 21, 1894
Discharged and Rearrested
San Francisco Chronicle Nov 21, 1894
Murdered Man’s Estate
San Francisco Chronicle Nov 24, 1894
Cold Case
Now the question is who killed Manuel Quadros? I can’t find anything on it…yet.
Is this considered a “cold case”?
Is it still on the books?
Does the modern-day Oakland Police Department even know about this murder?
Was he murdered for his estate?
Inquiring minds want to know.
More to come, I hope.
Update
In January of 1886, a man by the name of John Schneider (the name he gave them) was arrested for a stagecoach robbery in Ukiah. When he was arrested, the SF Call published a picture of him. See Below
Attorney Tom Garrity recognized the man as Frank Miller. Garrity was Miller’s attorney during the Manuel Quadros’s murder case. Two other men also identified Schneider as Miller.
Growing up in Montclair (for me), Thornhill Drive was always just Thornhill Drive. But come to find out it was once called Thorn Road (sometimes Thorne Road). Thornhill is a more delightful-sounding name than Thorn. But there is a perfectly good reason why it was called Thorn Road.
The name goes back to 1856 when a man named Hiram Thorn (Hiram Thorne) built the road at a hefty expense. Thorn’s road brought redwood logs to Oakland out of the vast forest known as the Moraga Redwoods, where he ran a lumber mill on Pinehurst Road. Thorn was later given a franchise to run and collect tolls for the road, it was one of 3 toll roads in Oakland. In 1933 Thorn Road officially became Thornhill Drive.
From the 1870 Oakland City Directory
Since I found out about Thornhill Drive, I have been inquisitive about the names of our city streets. You can read more at the Oakland Local Wiki page Street Names if interested.
Every day while taking my kids to school, we would pass a street called Rifle Lane. I thought that was a weird name, and I wondered why (they named it that), as I do many times as I drive around Oakland.
Fast forward a few years later. I looked up the history of the area. I lived in the area until 2012. The area is now called the Eastmont Hills (kind of boring). It goes back to 1925 when the C.P Murdock Company sold it as Melrose Highlands. It was just up the hill from the new Chevrolet Assembly Plant (now Eastmont Town Center). An excellent place to live if you work at the plant.
Oakland Tribune July 17, 1925
In my research, I came across the following article from July 1925. The Upper San Leandro filter plant (7700 Greenly Drive) and the State Rifle Range are adjacent to Melrose Highlands. I thought, wow, there was a rifle range right about where Rifle Lane is now. Solved that one. Well, not really, but…close.
Oakland Tribune Jul 26, 1925
Maybe now, some of the smart people who read this blog can help me figure out where the range waslocated.Maybe someone remembers it.
From the Oakland Tribune Oct 29, 1929 – Major fire in the Oakland Hills – threatens the rifle range. Map of the fire below –
Oakland Tribune Oct 29, 1929
A bit of history
The range has been called the following:
National Guard rifle Range
California National Guard rifle range
State Rifle Range at Leona Heights
Leona Heights Rifle Range
Oakland Tribune Apr 11, 1917
In 1917 the National Guard rifle range was transferred from Marin County to Leona Heights in Oakland. They had purchased “140 acres of land directly back of the quarry for the purpose”. The land was formally the property of the Realty Syndicate. The range opened in 1920. The location varies. Close to Mills College, 2 miles from Mills College, a top of Seminary Drive, and the back of the Leona Quarry.
It may have also been the location of the stables of the 143rd Field Artillery Regiment. I know there were horse stables there.
Oakland Tribune Mar 10, 1927
The California Guardmans highlighted the rifle range in their Feb-March 1925 issue. You can see it here.
“A California National Guard range and local training area located in the Oakland Hills of Alameda County. It may have also been the location of the stables of the 143rd Field Artillery Regiment. The site was developed approximately 1919 and was actively used until at least 1941. The site supported elements of the 143rd Field Artillery, 159th Infantry, and 250th Coast Artillery Regiments. The April 1919 edition of The American Rifleman, stated that there were 60 firing points for rifles with targets placed between 200 and 600 yards. There was also a pistol range with 14 firing points. The range was described as one of the finest ranges west of Camp Perry, Ohio.”
The “Highlands of Oakland” went on sale in November of 1925. It is located area of Tunnel Road and behind what is now the Parkwoods Condominiums. This area was burned during the 1991 Oakland Firestorm, and I assume there are no original homes left.
The “Highlands of Oakland” includes the following streets Bristol Drive, Buckingham Blvd, Charing Cross Road, Devin Way Marlborough Terrace, Norfolk Road,, Sherwick Drive and Westmoreland Drive. The area is right on the border of Berkeley. That area is now called the Claremont Hills.
Cheney Photo Advertising c 1925
Showing the “Highlands of Oakland” of in the distance
The Highlands of Oakland faces on Tunnel Road and is 20 minutes from the business district of Oakland. It consisted of 300 large parcels for a low price of $225.
Fred T. Wood Co. developed this beautiful scenic tract high in the hills of Oakland.
“Highlands of Oakland Entrance to our tract from Tunnel Road. A weekday average of over 6000 automobiles passes this point.”
Cheney Photo Advertising Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Howard-Gibbon
OMCA H89.64.15
In the months before the opening of the “Highlands of Oakland” force of men had been actively building streets. The winding roads cover some of the most beautiful scenic property in the San Francisco Bay –
Highlands of Oakland
The steam shovel, an unfailing sign of progress. Cheney Photo Advertising Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Howard-Gibbon
OMCA H89.64.15
More pictures of the Highlands of Oakland can be seen here – OMCA
Oakland Tribune Oct 1926
“The Oakland Hills has been compared to the Seven Hills of Rome.”
Oakland Tribune November 29, 1925
Oakland Tribune May 1926
Oakland Tribune June 1926
Oakland Tribune May 1926
Oakland Tribune April 11, 1926
“Miss Australia” Beryl Mills visits the “Highlands of Oakland” after touring UC Berkeley.
