Alameda County historical landmarks include properties of
historical importance in California that are currently
designated as significant resources in three state registration
programs: State Historical Landmarks, Points of Historical
Interest, and the California Register of Historic Places. Below
is a list of the State Historical Landmarks for Alameda County.
This data is provided by the Office of Historic Preservation -
California Department of Parks and Recreation and is also
available in the California Historical Landmarks Book.
NO. 107 JOAQUIN MILLER HOME - Joaquin Miller, 'Poet of the
Sierras,' resided on these acres, which he called 'The Hights,'
from 1886 to 1913. In this building, The Abby, he wrote Columbus
and other poems. He planted the surrounding trees and he
personally built, on the eminence to the north, the funeral pyre
and the monuments dedicated to Moses, General John C. Frémont,
and Robert Browning. 'The Hights' was purchased by the City of
Oakland in 1919.
Location: Joaquin Miller Park, NW corner of Joaquin Miller Rd
and Sanborn Dr, Oakland
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-66000204
NO. 241 LIVERMORE MEMORIAL MONUMENT - Robert Livermore, first
settler of Livermore Valley, was born in England in 1799. He
arrived in Monterey in 1822 and married Josefa Higuera y Fuentes
in 1830. On his Rancho las Positas, where he settled in 1835,
'Next to the mission fathers, he was the first man to engage
himself in the culture of grapes, fruit, and grain.' He died in
1858. The Livermore hacienda was a short distance north of this
spot.
Location: Portola Park, Portola Ave and N Livermore Ave,
Livermore
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LIVERMORE
NO. 246 RANCHO SAN ANTONIO (PERALTA GRANT) - Governor Pablo de
Sola, last Spanish governor of California, recognized the forty
years' service of Don Luís María Peralta by awarding him the
43,000-acre San Antonio Grant on August 3, 1820. From this point
northward, the grant embraced the sites of the cities of San
Leandro, Oakland, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley, and
Albany.
Location: In city park at NW corner of E 14th and Hays Sts, San
Leandro (southern boundary of rancho)
NO. 279 ESTUDILLO HOME - Site of the last home, built about
1850, of José Joaquín Estudillo, grantee of Rancho San Leandro,
and his wife, Juana Martínez de Estudillo. The family founded
San Leandro, built a hotel, and donated several lots, including
the original site of St. Leander's Church, to the city.
Location: 550 W Estudillo Ave, San Leandro
NO. 285 PERALTA HOME - The first brick house built in Alameda
County, the Peralta home was constructed in 1860 by W. P. Toler
for Ignacio Peralta, early San Leandro Spanish settler. His
father, Don Luís María Peralta, received the land grant from
Spanish Governor Don Pablo Vicente de Solá on October 20, 1820.
Location: 561 Lafayette at Leo Ave, San Leandro
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: SAN LEANDRO
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-78000654
NO. 299 CAMINO OF RANCHO SAN ANTONIO - The Camino of Rancho San
Antonio ran from Mission San Jose to Fruitvale, and later to San
Pablo by way of Oakland and El Cerrito. The word camino means
trail, road, highway, or line of communication that is in
general public or private use.
Location: SW corner of Oakland and Santa Clara Aves, Oakland
NO. 334 MISSION SAN JOSE - On June 9, 1797, troops under
Sergeant Pedro Amador, accompanied by Father Fermín Lasuén, set
out from Santa Clara for the spot that the natives called
Oroysom in the valley of San Jose. The following day a temporary
chapel was erected, and on June 11, the father presidente
'raised and blessed the cross. In a shelter of boughs he
celebrated holy mass.' On the 28th Fathers Isidoro Barcenilla
and Agustín Merino arrived to take charge of the new mission.
The mission, except part of the padre's quarters, was completely
destroyed in the earthquake of 1868.
Location: Mission Blvd at Washington Blvd, Fremont
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: NILES
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-71000131
NO. 335 SITE OF SHELL MOUND - It is said that the Indians who
came to this site camped just above the shoreline. The shells
they threw aside from their catches of shellfish eventually
covered some hundreds of thousands of square feet, marked by
several cones. When the University of California excavated this
site in the 1920s, they found that the mound consisted mostly of
clam, mussel, and oyster shells, with a plentiful mixture of
cockleshells.
Location: 4600 block of Shell Mound St, Emeryville
NO. 440 ALAMEDA TERMINAL OF THE FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD
- With the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 authorizing construction
of a railroad and telegraph line, the first concentration of
activity was east of Sacramento. Subsequently the line was
opened from Sacramento to San Jose. During June 1869
construction was started near Niles, and by August a temporary
connection had been made at San Leandro with the San Francisco
and Alameda Railroad. On September 6, 1869, the first Central
Pacific train reached San Francisco Bay at Alameda.
Location: NW corner of Lincoln Ave and Webster St, Alameda
NO. 45 SITE OF COLLEGE OF CALIFORNIA - The University of
California, chartered March 23, 1868, used buildings of the
former College of California between Franklin and Harrison and
12th and 14th Streets from 1869 to 1873. Henry Durant, who
founded the Contra Costa Academy in June 1853, was elected first
university president in June 1870. The university moved to its
present site in Berkeley in September 1873.
Location: NE corner of 13th and Franklin Sts, Oakland
NO. 46 VALLEJO FLOUR MILL - In 1853, José de Jesús Vallejo,
brother of General M. G. Vallejo, built a flour mill here, on
his Rancho Arroyo de la Alameda. Niles was once called 'Vallejo
Mills.' The stone aqueduct built to carry water for the mill
parallels Niles Canyon Road.
Location: Vallejo Mill Historical Park, NE corner Niles Canyon
Rd and Mission Blvd (Hwy 238), Fremont
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: NILES
NO. 503 SITE OF FIRST COUNTY COURTHOUSE - This is the site of
Alameda County's first courthouse where county government began
on June 6, 1853. Officials met in a two-story wooden building
erected by Henry C. Smith and A. M. Church as a merchandise
store. The seat of government moved to San Leandro in 1856,
following an election in December 1854.
Location: 30977 Union City Blvd and Smith St, Alvarado District,
Union City
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: NEWARK
NO. 510 FRANCISCO SOLANO ALVISO ADOBE - This building, erected
in 1844-46 by Francisco Solano Alviso, was the first adobe house
to be built in the Pleasanton Valley. It was originally called
Alisal-The Sycamores. Following the Battle of Sunol Canyon,
General John C. Frémont withdrew to this building, which became
his headquarters for several days.
Location: 3459 Foothill Rd, 3 mi south of Dublin
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LIVERMORE 15
NO. 586 CRESTA BLANCA WINERY - Here Charles A. Wetmore planted
his vineyard in 1882. The Cresta Blanca wine he made from its
fruit won for California the first International Award, the
highest honor at the 1889 Paris Exposition, first bringing
assurance to California wine growers that they could grow wines
comparable to the finest in the world.
Location: 5050 Arroyo Rd across from Veterans Hospital, S of
Livermore
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LIVERMORE
NO. 641 CONCANNON VINEYARD - Here, in 1883, James Concannon
founded the Concannon Vineyard. The quality it achieved in
sacramental and commercial wines helped establish Livermore
Valley as one of America's select wine-growing districts. Grape
cuttings from this vineyard were introduced to Mexico between
1889 and 1904 for the improvement of its commercial viticulture.
Location: 4590 Tesla Rd at S Livermore Ave, 2 mi SE of Livermore
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: LIVERMORE
NO. 642 LELAND STANFORD WINERY - This winery was founded in 1869
by Leland Stanford -- railroad builder, Governor of California,
United States Senator, and founder of Stanford University. The
vineyard, planted by his brother Josiah Stanford, helped to
prove that wines equal to any in the world could be produced in
California. The restored buildings and winery are now occupied
and operated by Weibel Champagne Vineyards.
Location: From I-680 take Mission Blvd N 0.5 mi to Stanford Ave,
turn E to winery in Mission San Jose District, Fremont
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: NILES
NO. 676 SITE OF SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE - Site of Saint Mary's
College, 'The Old Brick Pile,' 1899-1928. Plaque placed by Saint
Mary's College Alumni, April 25, 1959.
Location: 3093 Broadway and Hawthorne, Oakland
NO. 694 CHURCH OF ST. JAMES THE APOSTLE - This church, founded
under authority of Bishop Kip, first Episcopal Bishop for
California, has given uninterrupted service to this community
since June 27, 1858.
Location: 1540-12th Ave at Foothill Blvd, Oakland
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
NO. 768 SITE OF NATION'S FIRST SUCCESSFUL BEET SUGAR FACTORY -
E. H. Dyer, 'father of the American beet sugar industry,' built
the factory in 1870 on a corner of his farm. It began to process
sugar beets on November 15, 1870, and produced 293 tons of sugar
during its first operating season. The plant has since been
completely rebuilt on the original site.
Location: 30849 Dyer St, Union City
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: NEWARK
NO. 776 SITE OF FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL IN CASTRO VALLEY - This site
was part of the original Don Castro Land Grant. In 1866 pioneer
settler Josiah Grover Brickell donated it for 'educational
purposes only' and paid the salary of the teacher, who taught
children in the one-room schoolhouse by day, and farmhands by
candlelight at night.
Location: 19200 Redwood Rd, between James and Alma, Castro
Valley
NO. 824 SAN LEANDRO OYSTER BEDS - During the 1890s the oyster
industry thrived until it became the single most important
fishery in the state. Moses Wicks is supposed to have been the
first to bring seed oysters around the horn and implant them in
the San Leandro beds. The oyster industry in San Francisco Bay
was at its height around the turn of the century, it reached a
secondary peak by 1911 and then faded away because of polluted
conditions of the bay.
Location: San Leandro Marina, S end of N Dike Rd, San Leandro
NO. 849 MILLS HALL - When Mills Seminary, forerunner of Hue
college, transferred its operations to Oakland from Benicia in
1871, it moved into a long, four-story building with a high
central observatory. The mansarded structure, which provided
homes for faculty and students as well as classrooms and dining
halls, long was considered the most beautiful educational
building in the state.
Location: Mills College, 5000 MacArthur at Pierson St, Oakland
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-71000132
NO. 884 PARAMOUNT THEATRE - This is the 'Art Deco,' or 'Moderne'
style of movie palace built during the rise of the motion
picture industry. The Paramount, which opened on December 16,
1931, is the most ambitious theatre design of architect Timothy
L. Pflueger. Restored in 1973, it has retained an exceptional
unity of style.
Location: 2025 Broadway, Oakland - plaque located at 475-21st St
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-73000395
NO. 896 FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF OAKLAND - Designed in 1889 by
Walter J. Mathews, this solid masonry Romanesque church departed
radically from California's traditional Gothic wood frame
construction. Noted for its world famous stained glass windows
produced by Goodhue of Boston, and for arching redwood spans,
the widest at that time west of the Rockies, the church remains
a significant cultural and architectural landmark.
Location: 685 14th St at Castro St, Oakland
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
NO. 908 BERKELEY CITY CLUB - The Berkeley City Club was
organized by women in 1927, to contribute to social, civic, and
cultural progress. The building, constructed in 1929, is one of
the outstanding works of noted California architect Julia
Morgan, whose interpretation of Moorish and Gothic elements
created a landmark of California design.
Location: 2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: RICHMOND
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-77000282
NO. 925 PERALTA HACIENDA SITE - One of California's original
Spanish colonists, Luís Peralta received the first and largest
Mexican land grant. His hacienda was the nucleus of the Rancho
de San Antonio, which covered the sites of seven present-day
East Bay cities and reached to the Contra Costa frontier. The
rancho's first permanent adobe was located here, and the 1870
Italianate frame house is one of two remaining Peralta
buildings.
Location: 2465 34th Ave and Paxton St, Oakland
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-77000285
NO. 946 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY CAMPUS - These
landmarks form the historic core of the first University of
California campus, opened in 1873: Founders' Rock, University
House, Faculty Club and Glade, Hearst Greek Theatre, Hearst
Memorial Mining Building, Doe Library, Sather Tower and
Esplanade, Sather Gate and Bridge, Hearst Gymnasium, California,
Durant, Wellman, Hilgard, Giannini, Wheeler, North Gate and
South Halls.
Location: University Ave, Berkeley
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND EAST
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-82004638
NO. 954 CROLL BUILDING - This building is closely associated
with sporting events significant to the history of the City of
Alameda, the San Francisco Bay area and the State of California.
Croll's is important in the early development of boxing during
the Golden Age of Boxing in California, a period of great
California champions such as Jim Corbett and James Jeffries.
From the 1890s to about 1910, Croll housed many of the best
boxers in America in his hotel.
Location: 1400 Webster St, Alameda
USGS Quadrangle Sheet Name: OAKLAND WEST
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: NPS-82000960
NO. 957 WENTE BROS. WINERY - Here the first Wente vineyard of 47
acres was established by C. H. Wente in 1883. In 1935 his sons,
Ernest and Herman, introduced California's first varietal wine
label, Sauvignon Blanc. The efforts of the Wente family have
helped establish the Livermore Valley as one of the premier
wine-growing areas of California. In their centennial year,
Wente Bros. is the oldest continuously operating, family-owned
winery in California.
Location: 5565 Tesla Rd, Livermore
NO. 962 SITE OF BLOSSOM ROCK NAVIGATION TREES - Until at least
1851, redwood trees on this site were used as landmarks to avoid
striking the treacherous submerged Blossom Rock, in San
Francisco Bay, west of Yerba Buena island. Although by 1855 the
original stems had been logged, today's trees are sprouts from
their stumps.
Location: Madrone Picnic Area, Thomas J. Roberts Recreation
Area, Redwood Regional Park, 11500 Skyline Blvd, Oakland
NO. 968 SITE OF THE CHINA CLIPPER FLIGHT DEPARTURE - Pan
American World Airways' fabled China Clipper (Martin M/130
Flying Boat) left Alameda Marina on November 22, 1935. Under the
command of Captain Edwin C. Musick, the flight would reach
Manila via Honolulu, Midway, Wake, and Guam. The inauguration of
ocean airmail service and commercial airflight across the
Pacific was a significant event for both California and the
world.
Location: Naval Air Station Mall, in front of Building No. 1,
Alameda Naval Air Station, Alameda (contact Staff Civil
Engineer's Office , 510/263-3712, for permission to see plaque-3
weekdays only)
NO. 970 RAINBOW TROUT SPECIES IDENTIFIED - The naming of the
Rainbow Trout species was based on fish taken from the San
Leandro Creek drainage. In 1855, Dr. W. P. Gibbons, founder of
the California Academy of Sciences, was given three specimens
obtained from the creek. He described and assigned them the
scientific name Salmo iridia. Rainbow Trout are now worldwide in
distribution and are a highly prized game fish.
Location: 50 yards past Redwood Gate entrance kiosk, Redwood
Regional Park, Oakland
NO. 986 PIEDMONT WAY - Piedmont Way was conceived in 1865 by
Frederick Law Olmsted, America's foremost landscape architect.
As the centerpiece of a gracious residential community close
beside the College of California, Olmsted envisioned a roadway
that would follow the natural contours of the land and be
sheltered from sun and wind by 'an overarching bowery of
foliage.' This curvilinear, tree-lined parkway was Olmsted's
first residential street design. It has served as the model for
similar parkways across the nation.
Location: Piedmont Ave between Gayley Rd and Dwight Way,
Berkeley
