Living on the Shore of Lake Temescal

In researching Montclair (a district in Oakland), I have come across many interesting stories. Here is one of them.


“Montclair was wild as a hawk,”

Walter Wood

In a 1976 article in The Montclarion entitled “Old Timer Reminisces,” Walter Wood talks about growing up along the shores of Lake Temescal.

Walter was born in 1887 in a small four-room house near the corner of 51st and Broadway, built by his father and torn down to make room for the widening of 51st. His father died in 1886 before Walter was born.

When Walter was attending school, he lived with his mother and stepfather, George W. Logan.   They lived on a farm alongside Lake Temescal, where Logan was the caretaker/superintendent for Contra Costa Water Company’s filtering plant that supplied Oakland’s drinking water.

Oakland Directory 1889-90

Walter started school at the age of 8 in North Oakland. Wood attended Peralta until fourth grade. From 1899 to 1904, he went to Hays Canyon School for the fifth through ninth grades.

Walter and his seven brothers and sisters walked from Lake Temescal to Peralta School in North Oakland.

Walter Wood’s Report Card – The Montclarion 1976

The Hays Canyon School (where the old Montclair firehouse is) was located two miles from the lake when they walked there in the early 1900s. Sometimes, remember Wood, they rowed a boat to the other end of the lake and walked from there.

The Montclarion 1976

The school was a beautiful Victorian one-room building with a bell and cupola. There was room for forty students and one teacher.

When Walter was 11, he was a mule driver with the crew that dug the first tunnel(Kennedy Tunnel) from Oakland to Contra Costa County. He spent a summer working on the project, earning him the honor of being the first person through the tunnel. He was near the front when they broke through, and a man who looked after Walter gave him a shove and pushed him through.

The Montclaron 1976

A Day in the Life

On a typical Day in 1899, Walter Wood would wake up on the farm and, after breakfast, do an hour’s worth of chores.   

Lake Temescal in 1898 – The Monclarion 1976

In addition to their regular chores, the Wood and Logan children were assigned the duty of weed-pulling on the Temescal dam. If weeds grew on the side of the dam, squirrels would dig into the barrier and cause damage.

Oakland Tribune Nov 1902

Playtime came on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. Wood and his siblings had run the area, as it was completely undeveloped except for a few farms.

One of the few farms was the Medau Dairy, where Montclair park is today.

Medau DairyAlameda County: The Eden of the Pacific

Superintendent Logan

Oakland Tribune Feb 1889

George W. Logan started working for the Contra Costa Water Company (now EBMUD) as the Superintendent of the Lake Temescal dam in 1888.

Oakland Tribune 1889

Logan worked at Lake Temescal for 18 years; he transferred to Lake Chabot in 1904 and retired from the company in 1916.

Bubbles Vol. II July 1918

George William Logan (1842-1928)was born in Canada in 1848. He came to California in the late 1880s.

Logan was married twice, first to Elizabeth Robinson (1845-1886)in 1884, and they had two children a daughter, Jessie, and a son Maurice. Elizabeth died in about 1886 or 87.

Oakland Tribune Feb 1906

His second wife was Mary Jane Hayden Wood (1860-1958); they raised eight children, her five children, his two and their one together.

  • Jesse Logan (1884-1961)
  • Maurice Logan (1886-1977)
  • Harry Logan (1889-1959)
  • Ann Wood (1880- ?)
  • Josephine Wood(1882-1970)
  • Juanita Wood(1883-1934)
  • Alfred Wood (1885-1920)
  • Walter Wood (1887-1990)
Oakland Tribune 1913

Maurice Logan

Maurice (1886 -1977) was an American watercolorist, commercial artist, arts educator, a member of the Society of Six, and a professor at the California College of the Arts in Oakland.

Oakland Tribune 1977

Logan grew up on the shores of Lake Temescal, his father, George Logan, stepmother, and brothers and sisters.

The Logan Family – The Society of Six

Later in life, he lived on Chabot Road, close to Lake Temescal.

SF Examiner Oct 28. 1991

More Info:

The End

Hays School District

In March 1886, the Board of Supervisors created a new school district. That took from portions of the Piedmont, Peralta, and Fruitvale districts representing about 44 children. 

Hays Canyon Schoolhouse
Students pose with their teacher, in this photo and of the six children sitting down. Walter Wood is 2nd from the left, his brother Alfred Wood is 4th from the left, Harry W. Logan is seated on the far right, and his brother Maurice Logan (the painter) is standing on the far right. The Logans and the Woods lived at Lake Temescal.
c 1900-1910 Oakland History Room

The new district was called the Hays School District in honor of the late Colonel John Coffee Hays

The superintendent appointed the following residents of the area as trustees:

  • W.H. Mead
  • J.H. Medau
  • Mrs. Susan Hays

Land Donated

Hetty S. Henshaw gave the district the land for the school. The Montclair Firehouse was built on the spot in 1927, using the front part of the lot.

Hays school -
Oakland Tribune July 16, 1886

New School House Built

Requests for bids to build the school were made in July of 1886.

Oakland Tribune July 1886

The completed school was small at only 32×36 feet,  with just one classroom. It was Gothic in design with a graceful-looking bell tower. It had two entrances, one for the boys and the other for the girls, with each entry having a 6×6 vestibule. The sash bars of the windows are all horizontal, copying the style of European schools. 

Hays School House -
Oakland Tribune July 07, 1886

The construction cost about $2,500 and took about two months to build.

Oakland Tribune December 10, 1887

The architects were Goodrich & Newton.

Dedication

The dedication of the school was held in October 1886. It was attended by most of the families that lived in the area. Judge EM Gibson and W.H Mead made opening remarks. Some of the families in attendance:

The students from the school provided entertainment under the direction of their teacher Miss Lucy Law. The following students performed:

  • Clara Gibson
  • Gussie Gibson
  • Carrie Mead
  • Daisy Mead
  • Susie Mead
  • Mattie Mead
  • Edith Medau
  • Louise Medau
Oakland Tribune February 11, 1888
Oakland Tribune November 23, 1889

Graduation 1901

Hays School was the scene of brightness and beauty on Friday, June 14, 1901. Friends and family gathered to witness the closing exercises. The four graduates were:

  • Jessie Logan
  • Robert Shepherd
  • August Carson
  • Scott Monroe
Oakland Tribune June 1901

School Trustees

In 1904, Mr. S. Morrell and Mr. Johnson were appointed to fill the vacancies caused by George Hunt’s and G.W. Logan’s removal.

Attendance for the year ending 1911 for the Hays School was 11 students.

Oakland Tribune August 01, 1911

School Closes

The school was closed around 1913, and the building was demolished. It was probably due to the Oakland, Antioch, and Eastern Railway construction, later known as the Sacramento Northern.   For more on the Sacramento Northern, please go here. The East Bay Hills Project

Montclair Firehouse

The Montclair firehouse was built on the same site in 1927. The storybook-style building was designed by Eldred E. Edwards of the Oakland Public Works Department.

Storybook firehouse on Moraga Avenue in the
Montclair district of Oakland, California. 1934, ohrphoto.districts.031.
Oakland. Buildings Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Misc Articles

SF Call September 12, 1891
Oakland Tribune May 14, 1890
Oakland Tribune November 20, 1889

Controversy

SF Examiner July 12, 1891

The End