A few of the illustrations from the 1885 Oakland and Surrounding compared to modern-day or an earlier date.
Nichol Block
The Nichol Block was built in 1878 and is now a part of “Old Oakland.” It is located at the northeast corner of 9th Street and Washington.
Northeast corner of 9th and Washington Streets. Arlington Hotel in circa 1937
Downtown Property Owner’s Association.
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.
Oakland and Surroundings Illustrated and Described, showing its Advantages for Residence or Business, was published in 1885. W.W. Elliott was the publisher.
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
I thought I would share some beautiful illustrations from the publication. You can view the entire document here.
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
Oakland and Surroundings: illustrated and described,
showing its advantages for residence or business.
1885
I found the following article when I was doing the research for my post on the Hays Canyon Murder and another I am working on. I immediately went searching for the paintings, and I found photos of them. Absolutely beautiful. Sharing what I found. The first painting is somewhere in the hills above Piedmont.
Oakland Tribune Feb 24, 1886
The artist William Keith spent some time in Piedmont Hills painting the following.
View from Piedmont Hills – c 1886
“View from Piedmont Hills,”
oil on canvas, unsigned, canvas: 15.75″h x 29″w.
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.
In my curiosity about the street names, I noticed the phrase “gold star streets” come up. With further research, I found that many of the streets of Oakland are named after and in honor of soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and World War II and lived in Oakland.
From the Oakland Local Wiki Gold Star Streets
The name came from the custom of families of servicemen hanging a Service Flag in the window of their homes. A blue star represented living service members. A gold star represented those who had lost their lives.
In 1919, an article in the Oakland Tribune entitled “170 Names on Oakland Honor Roll” listed all the Oakland men who lost their lives in the World War. See below
Oakland Tribune February 9, 1919
Oakland Tribune February 23, 1923
Oakland Tribune November 26, 1928
Oakland’s street commissioner W.H. Parker was quoted in a 1928 Oakland Tribune article as saying,
“Veterans who died during the World War and whose home had been Oakland are honored in the naming of many streets, and a special street sign has been designed with red, white and blue colors and a gold star for use on streets named for these veterans.” Oakland Tribune May 20, 1928
By 1932 the street department reported that there were “101 gold star streets named in honor of Oakland soldiers who died in France.” A total of 170 soldiers from Oakland were lost in battle. The names of 69 soldiers are still on the list of available street names. Oakland Tribune February 15, 1932
Oakland Tribune February 15, 1932
Oakland Tribune June 15, 1944
Montclair’s Krohn Lane is the only street named for a Korean War casualty named for Second Lt. Jered Krohn, who was killed in Korea in 1951.
Oakland Tribune November 23. 1955
This was just brought to my attention. Pfc Donald R. Colgett died on March 2, 1951, while serving with a machine gun squad with the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marine Division at Hoensong. This street is a part of the Crestmont Subdivision.
In 2016 I created a Google Map of the streets based on a list of 170 that was printed in the Oakland Tribune. From what I have determined, not all the names were used. According to one article, it was left up to the “Street Numberer” in the Department of Streets. The list was given to the department in alphabetical order, but the names were picked randomly. Some names were too difficult to spell; a veteran’s name was used whenever possible.
I also started an Oakland Local Wiki Page – Gold Star Streets
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. I looked up the area’s history. I lived in the area until 2012. The area is now called Eastmont Hills (boring). Its history 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 there.
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.” I solved that one. Well, not really, but close.
Oakland Tribune July 26, 1925
Maybe now, some smart people who read this blog can help me determine where the range was. Maybe someone remembers it.
From the Oakland Tribune October 29, 1929 – Major fire in the Oakland Hills – threatens the rifle range. Map of the fire below –
Oakland Tribune October 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 April 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, at the 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 March 10, 1927
California Guardsmen Brochure circa 1925
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.
