Early Photos of Montclair

Some old photos of the Montclair District of Oakland – all are from the Oakland Public Library History Room.

When I can, I will show you the area now.

I will start off with one of the earliest photos of Montclair that I have seen. This is circa 1886. I hope that there are more like this.

Then

Students and teachers at Hays School in front of the school.
Circa 1886
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Now

Montclair Fire House – Google Maps

Another photo of the Montclair Firehouse

Storybook firehouse on Moraga Avenue in the Montclair
Circa 1934
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

The photo below is overlooking the area that is now Montclair Elementary School, and in the distance, you can see the intersection of Thornhill and Mountain Blvd and the Women’s Club.

Tracks for the Oakland, Antioch and Eastern Railway
(later Sacramento Northern Railway) in Montclair
Circa 1925
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Then

LaSalle Avenue looking down the hill towards Mountain Boulevard
Montclair Real estate offices and trolley depot in view.
circa 1927
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Now

Looking down LaSalle Ave towards HWY 13 – Google maps

The photo below is probably on LaSalle Ave from Mountain Blvd. the small building is where Highway 13 is now.

Sales offices of real estate broker and home builder Cos Williams in Montclair –
circa 1925 Eston Cheney, photographer.
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

The photo below is probably taken from where Highway 13 is now. Off in the distance is the Sacramento Northern Station. Located at what is now the top of LaSalle Ave, as seen in the above photos.

Graded and staked lots in the undeveloped Montclair
Signs for the Cos Williams Montclair sales offices
circa 1925
Eston Cheney, photographer.
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room

Then

Northeast corner of Mountain Boulevard and Medau Place
Fred F. Chopin on Montclair Realty Co.
circa 1950
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Now

Corner of Mountain Blvd and Medau Place – Google Maps

Then

Sidewalk construction on Mountain Boulevard near Antioch Street Montclair
Circa 1958
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Now

Looking Up Mountain Blvd. Google Maps

Then

Construction Scout Road and Mountain Boulevard in the Montclair
circa 1955
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

Now

Scout Road and Mountain Blvd – Google Maps

The photo below is overlooking the area that is now the intersection of Oakwood and Thornhill Drives. Showing houses on Oakwood Drive

Looking out towards the bay from near the ridge-line above the Montclair
Several winding dirt roads and homes in view.
circa 1930
Eston Cheney, photographer
Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.

The End

A Forgotten Tunnel…

I recently found an article from 1961 about the discovery of an underground tunnel in what was the MacDermont Mansion in West Oakland. Here is what I discovered when I looked into the mansion.

Updated July 2024

Forgotten Tunnel Revives Dimming Memories

In 1961, the Peralta Villa, a 20-year-old WWII housing unit, was being demolished to make room for new low-rent apartments. It was located in the area bounded by 7th, 8th, Center, and Cypress Streets.

While clearing the land, a workman discovered a long-forgotten concrete-lined tunnel that was never recorded in the city records.

Was it a WWII bomb shelter? Did rum runners use it during prohibition?

The guesses proved to be wrong, but it was an exciting story.

Oakland Tribune Mar 23, 1961

The Tunnel

The tunnel (built between 1905 and 1910) was the work of Louis MacDermot, the son of a prominent early Oakland family who owned the land. The MacDermont’s home (1407 8th St) was built sometime before 1876 (some say it could have been the French consul). Charles F. MacDermont’s name appears on title records as early as 1870.  The home was a showplace with landscaped grounds covering the entire block.   In the 1920s, the city proposed buying the site for a park, but the plan fell through. The home stood empty and decaying behind a wooden fence until 1941, when it was razed to make way for war-time housing. The tunnel went undetected then.

The MacDermont Property 1407 8th Street Oakland CA

The concrete-lined tunnel ran across the stable yards from the brick boiler room near the family home to a machine shop. It was about 3 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet high. There were L-shaped hooks with oval rollers embedded on the sides.  Conductors for electrical wire had were installed on the ceiling.  The hooks held steam lines that heated the machine shop.

The man who built Railroads – the small ones

Louis MacDermot – 1901 From the ppie.org

Railroad buffs might know Louis MacDermot. He built miniature railroads and, with his mechanics, designed locomotives, freight cars, and coaches in great detail.

From the ppie100.org

In 1913, he was awarded the concession to build and operate an intramural railway at the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), due to open in February 1915.   He set out to design and develop the locomotives at home and assembled the railroad cars in a large building nearby. However, during construction, PPIE management expressed concern about pedestrian safety in crowded areas and found more convenient means of transportation. 

Three of the Overfair locomotives under construction at the MacDermot estate before the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Photo from the Swanton Pacific Railroad Society collection.

The success of the Great Fair was not transferred to the Overfair Railway. First, they were relegated to the very edge of the fair, thus reducing its economic potential.  MacDermont absorbed most of the railway’s costs out of his pocket.

  The first completed locomotive was the working engine No. 1500, an 0-6-0T type.

The Railway earned only slightly more than $22,000 in revenues. By contrast, B. F. Fageol’s Auto trains earned over $307,000 in nickels and dimes. Exposition management claimed the Overfair’s buildings and right-of-way were a leasehold improvement, so they kept them. The railway cost MacDermot an estimated $250,000 to build.

Altoona Tribune Mar 10, 1915

The Overfair Railway ran along the Marina between Fort Mason and the Presidio. A 10-cent fare provided transportation to the Polo Field, State and foreign buildings, the California Building, Exhibit Palaces, the Yacht Harbor, and The Zone.

Over open Railway on the Marina –  San Francisco Bay -1915 –SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Oakland Tribune 1915

The Decline of the MacDermot Estate

After the Fair, MacDermot became an eccentric recluse, quartered on the deteriorating grounds of the family’s Oakland mansion.

Old house of Chas. McDermott N. E. corner 7th and Center Sts. Jesse Brown Cook CollectionBancroft Library

Unfortunately, this fate was also shared by the Overfair Railway wooden passenger and freight cars.  The locomotives had the luxury of spending their “retirement” in sheds. The others did not fare so well.

MacDermot  Estate c 1940 -Swanton Pacific Railroad

Another photo of the MacDermot home with one of the cars in the yard – OMCA

The Mountain Lion Railway

Oakland Tribune Nov 10, 1940

In 1941, he agreed to build the “The Mountain Lion Railway” for the Oakland Zoo. He moved three engines and the twelve best passenger cars to the Alameda County Zoological Gardens (today’s Oakland Zoo).  The operation started on August 1, 1941, with two cars running behind a forlorn No. 1913.  The faithful Pacific lost its boiler jacket and leading truck, relegating No. 1913 to a 0-6-2.  The Overfair equipment had substantially deteriorated, and MacDermot’s increasingly erratic behavior soon forced the Zoo’s management to eject the Railway.  Please see – Swanton Pacific Railroad Society Newsletter January 2008

Louis MacDermot with Sid Snow – 1941 from the  Swanton Pacific Railroad Society Newsletter – February 2004
Moving Day 1940 or 1941 and Overfair train coming up the grade at the Oakland Zoo with Sid Snow’s home in the background – (which I believe is from the Talbot Estate and not the Durant Estate as noted) from the  Swanton Pacific Railroad Society Newsletter December 2007
Moving Day

Various photos at the Oakland Zoo – Photo from the Swanton Pacific Railroad Society collection.

Lost Dream

Louis MacDermot died in poverty on February 28, 1948. His passion for perfection, like his health, had long since eroded. For the princely sum of $5,200, Billy Jones bought all the disassembled Overfair locomotives from MacDermot’s trustee in 1948. Jones’ purchase undoubtedly saved the miniatures from the junk pile. Under his guidance, the fleet was restored to its Exposition glory. The engines, however, were converted from coal to oil, a more practical fuel in California. Mechanical lubricators were added. See

Oakland Tribune Jan 1959
Oakland Tribune 1968
Oakland Tribune 1969

The Railroad Today

Swanton Pacific Railroad in Davenport, CA

The Swanton Pacific Railroad serves as an operational memorial to Al Smith, who acquired and relocated the trains to the Swanton Pacific Ranch. The rolling stock consists of three one-third-scale Pacific-type steam locomotives built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a diesel switcher locomotive, and a variety of passenger and maintenance railcars.

 Cal Poly’s Live Steam Railroad –  Swanton Pacific Railroad

Until Al Smith’s death in December of 1993, the Swanton Pacific Railroad was essentially a partnership between Smith and Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture. Although volunteers came from “all walks of life,” to build, maintain, and operate the railroad, the University has been central to the preservation and continued operation of the Overfair Railway.

Al Smith left for the University’s College of Agriculture, both the Swanton Pacific Ranch and Railroad. Smith also created an endowment for the railroad to provide operating capital. Al Smith had secured the future of the Overfair Railway.

History Lost

In August of 2020 the CZU Lightning Complex Fire tore through northern Santa Cruz County, the rail yard for the Swanton Pacific Railroad, the ⅓-scale passenger train system was heavily damaged, along with adjacent buildings. At least two steam locomotives — built by Oakland inventor Louis M. MacDermot for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco — also burned. The Mercury News – August 29, 2020

The front smoke box of a burned locomotive is stamped with the name of its maker, Louis MacDermot, who built the railway for the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition.

Following the fire, the volunteers who had maintained the railroad for decades were once again rolling up their sleeves to pitch in with the rebuilding.

University Announces Plans to Close Historic Bay Area Railroad Permanently

A dean with Cal Poly University emailed the volunteer-run Swanton Pacific Railroad Society to inform them that the school intends to donate the antique steam engines and equipment to an outside organization rather than rebuild and operate the popular railroad that’s run on the land since the 1980s. The school said it would instead focus on educational pursuits on the land. 

Though invaluable from a historical perspective,” wrote Dr. Andrew Thulin, dean of Cal Poly’s School of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, “the railroad does not fit within the strategic intent of the ranch when viewed through that lens.” 

NBC Bay Area

For more on the railroad – 

The End