The Purchase, Squatting and Founding of Piedmont
Piedmont and the greater Bay Area sit on what was originally Ohlone Land. Currently the City of Piedmont does not have an official Land Acknowledgement or formal statement that recognizes and respects Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Oakland, Piedmont and Berkeley sit in the territory of Huichin, part of the stolen land of the Chochenyo Muwekma Ohlone, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County.
We acknowledge the land and labor of the Ohlone people, whose connection to this land we remember, and whose presence—past, present, and future—we respect. As part of Piedmont's mission of supporting and fostering learning through the generation and dissemination of knowledge, we acknowledge that the land we are living on today is the original homeland of Ohlone people.
(Mills College originally created this statement and I am adding Piedmont as well)
More local information is being researched and will be added to this page in the future. (Nov 2023)
The history of Piedmont's purchase seems to vary depending on who you ask. According to City of Piedmont's website (page is now removed) in 2021, it said Walter Blair "bought 600 acres of land from the Peraltas for $1.25 per acre." Other sources say it was through the US Government. This page is an attempt to put some of the historical pieces together and find a more accurate representation of what happened during that time. If you have more historical information about this purchase, please contact me and I will be happy to add it in.
1820-1852,
The Peraltas and “Rancho San Antonio”
On August 3, 1820, 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. From this point northward, the grant embraced the sites of the cities of San Leandro, Oakland, Alameda, Emeryville, Piedmont, Berkeley, and Albany. [Source] The area bounded by modern-day Piedmont overlapped two parcels , but the precise boundary is not known.
According to Piedmont's now defunct newspaper, The Piedmonter, on Jan 11, 1957, page 3, Walter Blair didn't buy his Piedmont land from the Peralta's. In 1820, today's Piedmont was called “Rancho San Antonio” and remained there until 1842 when Don Peralta divided his ranch between his four sons. Rancho San Antonio was sparsely populated except for cattle and their tenders. the site that Piedmont now occupies was included in the portions belonging to Jose Domingo and Viciente Peralta. With the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and California’s statehood in 1850, title to these lands was disputed. After lengthy litigation, the Peraltas obtained title to some of their land holdings, but these gradually passed out of their hands and became property of the United States Government.
The Piedmonter continued to say when California was admitted to the union in 1850, there was some dispute about the title of the current city of Piedmont. “Endless litigation followed so it happened that the US government held title to a considerable amount of land in the East Bay when Walter Blair appeared one day in 1852 at the U.S. Land Office in San Francisco and asked to buy some."
Filed by Kellersberger on September 2, 1853, this map shows José Domingo Peralta's "reserve" to the far left. José Vicente Peralta's "reserve" is in the center.
The map is centered on Vicente Peralta's 700 acres reserve, showing the intersection of three roads which would become Alcatraz Avenue, Claremont Avenue and College Avenue, with Alcatraz Avenue noted in pencil in an early hand. The map extends north to Cerity Creek, Albany Hill Park, Golden Gate Fields and the Berkeley Hills, south to the Oakland Estuary and the west part of Alameda Island, and east to Piedmont, Indian Gulch, Panorama Hill and Tilden Regional Park. [Source]
1852,
Who owns the hills?
The book History of Alameda County California 1928 - Volume I, Chapter XVI Piedmont describes the Peralta land on p529-530:
Piedmont, like its larger neighbor, Oakland, traces its origin to the Peraltas. What is now Piedmont was included in the domain of more than fourteen thousand three hundred and thirty-eight acres granted to Don Luis Peralta by the Spanish Government on June 3, 1820, under the regime of Col. Pablo Vicente de Sola, the last Spanish governor of Alta. California. These lands remained intact until 1842, forming the rancho San Antonio, which then occupied the future site of Oakland and its satellite towns. In 1842 Don Luis divided the rancho among his four sons, as equally as possible, in tracts extending from the Bay to the hills. To Jose Domingo he gave the northwest quarter, and to Vicente he gave the next part adjoining, which included the Encinal del Temescal, then an oak grove. Piedmont now occupies a site that was partly within both these grants, although the major portion of Jose Domingo’s patrimony became the present City of Berkeley, while on the larger share of that of Vicente was reared the present City of Oakland.
With the influx of American settlers, the squatter problem arose. The Peralta brothers themselves made subdivisions, with the result that when California was admitted into the Union on September 9, 1850, the title of these lands was in dispute... Great confusion arose because of the transient character of many of the landmarks used by the Spaniards and Mexicans. Stream, sand hills, even corrals, clumps of trees and plants were used as landmarks in various sections of California.
So great was the confusion that in 1849 and 1850 Congress ordered investigations, and reports were submitted on the subject of California titles. It was not until 1851, however, that Congress was able to agree upon a definite policy. In that year, on March 3rd, the famous Land Act was passed by which a Board of Land Commissioners was created to hear the claims of the Spanish grantees or their heirs. Had the United States Government adhered to the letter of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which guaranteed that the property held in the ceded Mexican territory would be "inviolably respected," the Land Act would not have been necessary. The act, however, threw many titles into uncertainty, and endless litigation followed.
Domingo and Vincente Peralta were forced to have their titles quieted under this act, and accordingly, on January 21, 1852 filed their claims to ownership before the Board of Land Commissioners which had been set up in San Francisco. The commission acted favor upon their claims on February 7, 1854, but this decision was not made binding until the United States Supreme Court handed down an opinion on February 19, 1858. On this date, the country's highest tribunal "recognized and confirmed the title and claim of Domingo and Vicente Peralta to the tract of land known as San Antonio." The United States patent was recorded in the office of Recorder Thomas A. Smith of Alameda County, at the request of H.P. Irving, on March 14, 1877. Gradually the Peralta holdings, like those of other early Californians, passed out of the hands of their original owners and their decedents. The Peraltas often surrendered a parcel of land in lieu of the purchase price of a bill of goods or in payment of some other debt.
1858 - 1859 official map of the "Northern Part of the Rancho San Antonio finally confirmed to Vicente and Domingo Peralta." [The Online Archive of California and the California Digital Library.]
This map is 6 years after Walter Blair supposedly camped and bought land in 1852, which means it should include Blair's camp but doesn't. Did he come after 1852, was he squatting or did this map just not include him?
California Historical Society quarterly, by California Historical Society, 1922:
In 1850, squatters rushed in and laid out Oakland on the San Antonio rancho in complete disregard of the Peralta family's rights.
Some details that were left out of the book above were that "by 1856 when the American courts finally said that the Peraltas owned the land, the sons had sold a lot of land to pay for lawyers. Then a group of squatters complained to the court and the Peraltas had to go to court again and lost more land just to pay the costs of going to court. The rancho was shrinking fast. The Peraltas sold some land for good prices before court costs and swindlers took it all. In 1897 Antonio’s daughter Inez Galindo sold the last 18 acres of Antonio’s land. [Source]
1851,
Squat it till you've got it in Piedmont
Vol II, 1892 (About 40 years after the fact):
EDWARD DANA HARMON, a landowner of Lorin, Oakland township…
In 1853 he came by way of the Isthmus to California, leaving his home in Ohio, March 14, New York on the 22d, and arriving at San Francisco April 15, by the steamer Golden Gate from Panama. He was accompanied by his brother, John B., now of San Francisco and Berkeley. They bought a tract of 120 acres, squatter title, with a house upon it, near what is now Piedmont on the north side of lake Merritt; he followed farming there till about 1857. Then selling out, he purchased a squatter's title to 172 acres lying on the western shore of Lake Merritt. In December, 1857, he obtained a Spanish title, and sold out to Edson Adams in September, 1860; at the present time it is known as " Adams Point.” After remaining on that place until November, 1861, he moved to his present location...
In 1851, Edson Adams, A. J. Moon and Horace W. Carpentier, without paying the slightest regard to the rights of Peralta, the owner of the land, squatted on the Rancho San Antonio near the foot of the present Broadway street. They made no attempt to buy or lease any of the land, but seemed to have adopted the resolution of possessing themselves of it by other means than those of right and justice. They boldly assumed that it was Government land, and proceeded to parcel it out among themselves. They were soon followed by other squatters, and the lawful owners found themselves hemmed in on everyside by the trespassers. The thousands of cattle belonging to Peralta, roaming among the oaks and feeding upon the plains, were stolen and killed. His timber was cut and carried away without being paid for. The courts at that time were unorganized and justice was tardy.
Oakland Tribune - Fri -Sep. 18, 1903
"Buying a squatter's title to what is now Piedmont, a suburb of Oakland, he farmed 120 acres of land until 1857."
San Francisco earthquake: contemporary articles by Gregory, Ernest Leonard, Publication date 1906:
(In Sunset Magazine by Southern Pacific Company. Passenger Dept
October 1907, "Oakland and Roundabout by Joseph E Baker, Editor of the Oakland Tribune )
Looking down from the Berkeley, Piedmont or Claremont hills by daylight one can realize the wondrous transformation that has been wrought on the Rancho Peralta since the American settlers squatted in the early fifties on that noble demesne, in defiance of its owners and their Spanish grants of title. A magnificent grazing and farming estate comprising many leagues of lowland tilth and picturesque upland, dotted with noble oaks and carpeted with succulent grass decked with wild flowers, has been made the site of a bustling, thriving commercial and manufacturing city, growing by leaps and bounds and overflowing into the surrounding hills and grain- fields at a rate that excites the wonder even of its dwellers.
...Gradually the American squatters dispossessed the original owners of the land, and laid out towns here and there. Among the first of the squatters was Horace W. Carpentier, one of the founders of Oakland, who played an important part in the struggle for possession of the water front, then a vast expanse of mud flats, but now studded with wharves and factories and traversed by railway lines reaching deep water by huge moles. In the infancy of the city communication was had with San Francisco by means of a small flat-bottomed steamer which pushed its way up to the foot of Broadway by way of San Antonio creek, winding tortuously through a wide expanse of marsh.
In The History of Alameda County California vol 1 published in 1928 on p530-531, it writes about in 1852, the first known settler in the Piedmont area (after the Peraltas), was Walter Blair:
Walter Blair arrived in San Francisco from Vermont. He crossed the Bay to Oakland in a row-boat, walked to the foot-hills and camped at what is now the corner of Blair and Highland Avenues. In that same year he purchased from the United States Government, which held part of the old Peralta grant, some 600 acres paying $1.25 an acre. Land was then the cheapest goods in the possession of the United States Government, it had just received and empire from Mexico.
Did Walter Blair squat/"camp" on the Peralta's land and then purchase it from the US Government after squatting lawsuits forced the Peralta's to sell land to cover legal fees? If anyone has any more information on this I would like to read it. I also can't find any deed, official news or records within 50 years of this time about him buying the land for $1.25.
In 1943 the Folsom Telegraph said that "after the discovery of gold the Peraltas were harassed by squatters who killed and drove off the cattle and involved the land in litigation...eventually all the home sites passed from the hands of the Peraltas."
The Folsom Telegraph - Fri - Oct. 29, 1943
1st mention of $1.25 in any book I could find
Land in California : the story of mission lands, ranchos, squatters, mining claims, railroad grants, land scrip [and] homesteads
by Robinson, W. W. (William Wilcox), Publication date 1979:
First mention of $1.25 I've seen (from a book published over 120 years after the fact)
in violence and was condemned throughout the state, the claims of the squatters there were not different from those of squatters elsewhere. In complete disregard of the rights of the Peralta family, squatters in 1850 rushed on Rancho San Antonio and laid out Oakland. It was many years before deeds and compromises cleared Oakland’s title from squatter taint. So large was the squatter population in California that politicians began bidding for their vote. Governor John Bigler, in his message to the legislature on January 4, 1854, called for legislation on their behalf and referred to the squatters as “bona-fide settlers.’’ He believed that compensation should be given anyone who had been evicted after putting up a house on land he thought belonged to the government. He also thought the government should not charge $1.25 per acre to California settlers on the public domain when it was giving away land in Oregon. Finally, in 1856, the legislature passed a law providing that all lands in the state were to be regarded as public until the legal title should be shown to have passed to private parties. This extraordinary statute was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Its passage, however, showed that squatters were a power in the land. There were squatter governors, squatter legislators, squatter courts, and squatter judges.
The squatter troubles of the ’fifties, ’sixties, and ’seventies occurred primarily because so many land titles had not yet been confirmed by the Land Commission or, if confirmed, were still in the courts on appeal or were awaiting governmental survey before a patent could be issued. Everywhere the original California rancheros, or their successors, were harassed by squatters and often impoverished by the expense of fighting claims. With an uncertain title, too, a ranchero found it hard to sell and convey even though there was a settler buyer who could well use part of a huge acreage. When valuable land was involved, such as the so-called Suscol grant in Solano and Napa counties, the rejection of the title of its claimant by the Land Commission or by the courts resulted in a rush
to it by squatters. Or, when the government's survey excluded valuable land from the boundaries of the area claimed-as in the case of the Sobrante grant in Contra Costa County or the Azusa de Dalton and adjoining Dalton grants in Los Angeles County-squatters swarmed in upon the excluded parts.
Even after a title had been perfected and the United States had issued its patent, the rancho was not always free from the harassment of squatters whose lawyers would undertake to prove that some requirement of Mexican law had not been fulfilled by original owners or that the government survey took in too much territory, and that, therefore, the land was public domain. This kind of attack-though never successful, since the Supreme Court holds that a United States patent issued in confirmation of an earlier Spanish or Mexican title is binding and conclusive as against squatter claims--has continued, although in an ever-diminishing degree, almost to the present time. Hence, the story of squatting is a continuous one throughout California's history, violent in its early phases, but tending toward court battles in its later phases. As the large ranchos were broken up, squatters found less and less to excite their cupidity, and squat-terism as a political issue eventually died out. California's titles today do not originate in squatter claims, but the pressure of squatters on government and individuals, as happened in San Francisco and Oakland, compelled compromises that were partial victories for squatters.
Oakland Tribune - Sat - June 14, 1884
San Francisco Chronicle -
Sun - Aug 16, 1906
Oakland Tribune - Tues - Blair - Jan. 17, 1888
Victoria's legacy by Waldhorn, Judith Lynch; Woodbridge, Sally Byrne
Publication date 1978:
Before 1850 the area now called Oakland had no permanent settlers. The land had been granted by the Mexican government to the Peralta family, who grazed their herds of cattle in the grassy fields studded with venerable live oak trees. In the year 1850 three men—Horace W. Carpentier, Edson Adams and A. J. Moon—disturbed the rural quietude by becoming squatters on the Peralta land in the hope that the Mexican grant would be invalidated by the United States government. These men were described in Thompson and West's 1878 New Historical Atlas of Alameda County as "decisive, far-seeing men, who unquestionably had an especial care for their own interests, but in that particular were not distinguished above most Americans who sought their fortunes upon this coast in 1849 and 1850." By 1852 Carpentier had enough political influence in the state legislature to bring about incorporation of the area, which he asked General Mariano Vallejo to name. Since "the Encinal" was the name already in use, Vallejo proposed its English translation, Oakland, which was accepted. In 1853 Oakland was platted by Julius Kellersberger, a Swiss-born surveyor and city planner. The new city extended from Lake Merritt to Market Street and from the Estuary to 14th Street. Broadway, then called Main, was the principal street. On either side of Broadway some blocks were planned as public squares. By 1868, when Dr. Samuel Merritt became mayor, these squares were planted and fenced in as parks. Today Lafayette, Jefferson and Madison squares remain.
During the years 1858, 1869 and 1870 there was somewhat of a “boom” starting with Bushy Dell Creek
The San Francisco Call - Sun - March 22, 1891:
PICTURESQUE PIEDMONT.
Glimpses of a Region of Delightful Homes.
The Piedmont Cable Company and Its Enterprise—The Attractions at Blair’s Park. Views of Surpassing Grandeur.
Piedmont has always been considered one of the most favored as well as famous of Oakland’s charming suburbs. Although the hillsides and valleys that bound Oakland on the north and east, and which, speaking generally, are sometimes called Oakland Heights, were early taken up by settlers, who made them famous for grazing and stock raising, there yet seems to have been no definite conception of their great future value until comparatively late days.
PIEDMONT SPRINGS
The ranch heretofore has been known as Bushy Dell, on account of the rural and romantic character of the ravine or canyon in which the springs are situated, were famous in early days as a watering place, much resorted to. It was these springs that first called public attention to the locality. During the years 1858, 1869 and 1870 there was somewhat of a “boom” and Piedmont lands began to be sought after. This died away, however, and, except that the springs were always popular, but little attention was paid to the locality.
The progressive history of Piedmont may be said to have had its commencement with the formation in 1877 of the Piedmont Land Company, composed of James Gamble (President), James de Fremery, George W. Beaver, L. A. Booth and T. L. Barker, all well-known and prominent citizens. They owned a considerable tract of land at Piedmont since the time already named. Having thorough confidence in the future and, moreover, possessing the courage and the means to accomplish their purpose, these gentlemen summoned William Hammond Hall, the distinguished civil and landscape engineer, to the task of laying out and subdividing the property. This he did, with the assistance of MG King, CE of Oakland. To their labors is due the admirable method upon which Piedmont is planned, with its winding avenues which follow natural undulations of the ground and add artificial grace to the high inherent beauties of the spot. Upon the completion of this work the property found ready sale, and many handsome and elegant residences arose within the parklike region. To this company is also owing the fact that Piedmont is so admirably supplied with water. In addition to the numerous springs which break forth spontaneously at different points the main pipes of the Contra Costa Water Company are led through the section, the connection being made with the main reservoir in the mountains, affording a head of water of great strength. A horse car line supplied access. This closes the second period in the history of Piedmont.
The progressive mind of the present day has seized upon the immense value of Piedmont as a health and pleasure resort, a place for residences, and a water and stock supply. Among those who were foremost in this conception and improvement of Piedmont, resulting in its being brought rapidly into prominence, was Mr. Walter Blair, who has been prominent in this movement since 1872. He was the originator of the Piedmont Land Company, composed of James Gamble (President), James Freeny, George W. Beaver, L. A. Booth and J. H. Baker, all well-known and prominent citizens. They saw at a considerable distance ahead. Having those things in view they have laid down thorough lines for the future, and, moreover, recognizing the courage needed in business, to accomplish great and unexpected results, have employed William Hamann, Esq., the distinguished civil and landscape engineer, to the task of laying out and subdividing the land in a first-class manner and as one of Mr. Hamann’s well-known methods, “to terrify to the time,” the admirable method upon which Piedmont is planned, with various grades of land from low, middle and highlands, is extremely practical and will produce in the high central resort a unique location of the highest standard of the kind.
THE PIEDMONT OF TO-DAY
In the creation of the past three years, and its service, and its growth, which Is only yet gathering head-way, is matter of astonishment.
Right here it is proper to say that Piedmont has been singularly fortunate, not only has she wonderful natural advantages, but she has had energetic and capable men to profit by these and daringly to undertake and carry out stupendous works to make these advantages available. Chief among these, of course, is
THE PIEDMONT CABLE-ROAD
The task present to whose projectors was not only to construct a road of great engineering difficulty, but to create a traffic for the road when built. How this is being accomplished makes an interesting story.
The Piedmont branch of the Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company’s line, the only one as yet constructed, is some three miles in length and formed the bond of connection between the heart of Oakland and the summit of Piedmont ridge. Their gigantic engine-house is situated on the low ground just at the head of Lake Merritt. Two cables are operated, the one serving the lower city portion of the present line and the other is the upper, or Piedmont section. It his this latter that has especial interest for us. It is carried over a rolling and difficult country, crossing deep ravines on trestle bridges and rising at a rapid pace to the terminal point on Vernal avenue, which is at an elevation of about 400 feet above the city of Oakland. A novel device was adopted from the terminal point, where the grip,
THE GRAVITY LOOP.
Strangers' Guide to San Francisco and Vicinity
A Complete and Reliable Book of Reference for Tourists and Other Strangers Visiting the Metropolis of the Pacific, with a Map Showing the Distances to Different Points
By William C. Disturnell · 1883:
From the Piedmont Springs Hotel located about four hundred feet above sea level a magnificent view of the bay and surrounding country is obtained Near by in a ravine filled with a luxuriant growth of trees and shrubbery is a romantic spot known as Bushy Dell In this dell are the springs three in number from which flow about eight hundred gallons per hour of water strongly impregnated with sulphur iron and magnesia Other pleasant drives are to Alameda via the bridge which extends across San Antonio Creek from the foot of Webster Street and to Fruit Vale by a drive through East Oakland to Adams
The Piedmont Land Company and the rise of Piedmont
San Francisco Chronicle - Fri - Mar 04, 1870
The Piedmont white sulphur springs, two and a half miles northeast from the Broadway station in Oakland, owned by the Piedmont Land Company, are to be fitted up for the accommodation of visitors. It is intended to build an extensive hotel at some future time and lay out and embellish the grounds so as to make it a first-class watering place. A splendid route for a drive will be opened by way of Lake Merritt and Mountain View. The water of the springs is thoroughly impregnated with sulphur and its medicinal qualities not excelled by anything in the white sulphur spring category.
Early cadastral map of Piedmont, California, based upon the work of William Hammond Hall and M.G. King, from the collection of William F. Boardman. The present map is likely the same map that was filed on April 2, 1877 with the Alameda County Recorder.
SAN FRANCISCO NEWS LETTER
April 7, 1877.
RUS IN URBE.
It has at last occurred to some clear-sighted gentlemen in our midst that it would be an immense advantage to the community to have country homes within easy reach of the busy city. After long deliberations and careful thought, they formed themselves into a company and set to work to carry out their object. The result of their scheme was the formation of the Piedmont Land Company. Piedmont is situated in the foothills, or upon what may be called the “Oakland Hights.” The entire tract, as originally surveyed, contains about 800 acres, 350 of which belong to the Piedmont Land Company, and have been laid out and platted as a park. With admirable forethought the company engaged the services of two competent landscape engineers, Mr. William Hammond Hall and Mr. M. G. King, to commence a thorough topographical survey of the land, with a view to laying out the property in winding avenues and further improving the natural beauty of the site by making every building site a perfect and most desirable location for intending purchasers. That most indispensable luxury, water, abounds in profusion all over the company's tract; the climate is more equable than even that of San Rafael, and the view one of the most beautiful in the world. With regard to the title to this lovely park, the pamphlet issued by the company speaks for itself as follows:
“The property forms part of the Vincente and Domingo Peralta rancho (upon which the city of Oakland is likewise situated), and has been in the hands of the present owners for over seven years. The title was originally passed upon by Messrs. McCullough & Boyd, attorneys, and has since been approved by one of the principal Savings Banks of San Francisco, which loaned largely upon the property. An abstract of title is now in the hands of the agents of the company, showing the property to be clear of all incumbrances. The Piedmont Land Company is a corporation represented by James Gamble (President), and James de Fremery, Geo. W. Beaver, L. A. Booth and T. L. Barker as Trustees.
The mineral springs of Piedmont Park are one of its pleasantest features. They are situated in Bushy Dell, near the hotel. The waters of these springs contain sulphur, magnesia, iodine and iron, and are claimed by those who have used the waters to have great curative qualities for rheumatism, neuralgia, dyspepsia and other diseases. Telegraphic communication is established by means of the wires of the Western Union Company, and the cars of the Oakland and Piedmont Railroad run constantly to the tract. Another line of cars will shortly connect with the Park via Lake road, thus rendering access to this lovely spot perfectly easy. Several avenues are already graded, macadamized and lined with trees of several years’ growth, and others will be opened and improved as the property is disposed of; and but a short time is necessary to render Piedmont the ne plus ultra of suburban retreats.
All deeds given for lands sold in the Park will contain a covenant running with the land, that no intoxicating liquors shall ever be sold upon the property purchased, so that the purchaser need have no ulterior fear in his heart that his neighbor may ever keep a corner grocery. And here the reader pauses and says: “You have drawn us a beautiful picture of a lovely home, picturesque surroundings, perfect peace, rest and quiet and a veritable paradise on earth, but what is all this going to cost?” The question is easily and satisfactorily answered. You can choose a villa lot, a cottage lot, or a large homestead, according to your means, and in years to come you will laugh when you think of the small price you paid for it. In order to bring lots in this beautiful location within the reach of everybody the terms of sale are but one-fifth cash and the balance in four ANNUAL deferred payments, drawing eight per cent. per annum. If any one, after reading the account of this remarkable chance for a favorable investment, fail to examine carefully into the merits of the plan, then he has only his own indifference to thank. But Piedmont Park recommends itself so fully that further details are almost unnecessary. Interested parties, however, can obtain the fullest information from Messrs. James de Fremery, James Gamble, George W. Beaver, L. A. Booth, or T. L. Barker. The sale of this tract will take place next Tuesday, April 10th, at the rooms of H. M. Newall & Co., the auctioneers.
Still not confirmed, the text on the map about the price is printed long after the 1883 map of Piedmont Park
Courtesy of the Oakland Library / Oakland History Center
The Overland Monthly - December 1901
Overland Monthly, 1901, p513 - slide 3 above:
The white man thought the land was only to be seen and straight-way seized. This idea gave rise to many internal dissensions, and the Spaniard held rigidly to his rights until proper agreement could be made.
No historical record of Piedmont can be found, but several old settlers have kindly given us some authentic facts of interest. Although without the city limits, Piedmont Park and Springs is virtually an extension of Oakland. A portion of the Piedmont Park property originally belonged to Mr. Walter Blair , but he sold it to the “ Piedmont Land Company," and it now is included in the Park. “
The Piedmont Land Company" was incorporated April 14 , 1853, with Mr. James Gamble as its President, and five directors. Its object, as set forth in the original certificate, was to " engage in and carry on the business of buying and selling real estate in Alameda County," and to make such improvements as should be necessary.
Mr. James Gamble suggested the pretty name of Piedmont, derived from the Piedmontese hills of Italy, meaning " at the foot of the mountain ." No more appropriate name could be found. A hotel was built on the site of the present Club House, and the sulphur Springs were Piedmont Driveway. somewhat improved , blue gum trees were planted, and rustic seats were prepared. In those early days it became a very popular resort. At first the grounds were open to the public, but some years ago the tract passed into the hands of the Realty Syndicate, which company has made all the varied improvements mentioned at the commencement of this article. The original hotel was burned down, and the new modern Club -House is not only frequented by the public during the day, but is rented for private affairs, dinners, etc. , in the evening. In early days that portion of Piedmont known as Blair Park, was thronged by thousands on Sunday, when open- air con certs and balloon ascensions were given with a view to attracting the public. The present owners desire to keep the Park artistic and refined , and intend to make it the most beautiful pleasure ground in California.
Nestling at the foot of the mountain, on the outskirts of a thriving city, its location is unexcelled ; wondrously gifted by Nature, and aided by men who seek to let Nature be her own surveyor as far as possible, it is romantically charming.
If its old trees could speak, what stories they could tell of those mysterious first days of Alameda, when Indian and Spaniard dreamed beneath their shade until the vigorous white man put all their dreams to flight. A traditional Past of intense interest has “ Piedmont in the Hills ." With all these advantages we predict a brilliant and long- lived future for this section of beautiful Alameda County.
Oakland Tribune - Sun - Nov. 12, 1972
A summary of Piedmont from Oakland Realtor advertisement - August 1981.
(To learn more, click on the links)
Within a decade of Blair’s arrival, seven families owned the land that would become piedmont. Stock, grain and dairy products were did the principal yield of that area. The rolling hills were dotted with oaks, a few redwoods and buckeyes. In the 1870’s Australian eucalyptus trees were successfully introduced.
During the 1860’s Blair and Samuel Howe became partners in building a horsecar line from 7th and Broadway in Oakland to the entrance to Mountain View Cemetery, which had been established in 1863(sic). The horsecars encouraged settlers. Businessmen, seeing the potential growth of the area, organized the Piedmont Land and Water Company in 1868, with Blair as one of the owners.
Sulfur springs were discovered near the site of the present high school, and a park was created around them. In 1870 the Piedmont Springs Hotel was built in what is now Piedmont Park. Blair then extended the horsecar line though his field to the hotel. For the next 17 years the popular spa flourished, attracting a series of notable guests, including Mark Twain. A disastrous fire on New Year’s Day in 1887 destroyed the hotel and signaled the end Piedmont’s era as a vacation resort.
The extension of the horsecar line to the hotel has made Moraga Canyon, south of the cemetery, accessible to the public. Walter Blair developed the area into an amusement park. Blair Park attracted many visitors because of its tree-shaded picnic tables, band concerts and thrilling balloon ascensions.
In 1870 Isaac Requa, a mining engineer who had made his fortune in the Comstock Lode, began construction of the fourth home in Piedmont, “The Highlands.” The main street of Piedmont, originally called Vernal Avenue, now takes its name from this house. The Requas were the first of many wealthy San Franciscans who preferred a country estate to a house on Nob Hill. The yellow mansion with its high cupola was an Eastbay landmark easily seen from the ferries crossing the bay.
As a result of the area’s growth, Alameda County hired its first teacher in 1878. Three years later a school was built near the intersection of Piedmont and Pleasant Valley avenues.
By the late 1880’s citizens of Piedmont felt the need for better transportation facilities. Because cable cars had been operating successfully on San Francisco hills, a similar system was installed on Oakland Avenue in 1890. However, three years later the “Bobtailed Car Line” was replaces by an electric line on a right of way south of Moraga Avenue.
Oakland Tribune - Sun - Apr. 23, 1916
Perhaps the only industry ever attempted in Piedmont was the Ladies Silk Culture Society. This venture failed 1895, after an unsuccessful ten-year attempt to complete with oriental production of silk.
"The future of Piedmont is not hard to predict. It is the finest
suburb of a magnificent city to-day, and in time to come the beautiful hills will be dotted with the homes of refined people and these homes will be pointed out as exemplars of architectural and aesthetic beauty.
This is a prediction that may as safely be made as that night follows day."
- Overland Monthly, October 1903 Vol 42, issue 4.
1900s - 1907
A quake and a city's future at stake
(cont.) A summary of Piedmont from Oakland Realtor advertisement - August 1981.
1900
In the first years of the twentieth century, F.M. (Borax) Smith and Frank C. Havens became partners in a real estate syndicate which built the Claremont Hotel and subdivided 13,000 acres of the East Bay hills, including part of Piedmont. In 1904 Smith established the interurban electric train and ferry system, linking the East Bay with San Francisco. The “Piedmont Line,” the second line built in the East Bay, carried passengers from the ferry to 41st Street and Piedmont Avenue. This extended transportation system encouraged more wealthy San Franciscans to settle in the surroundings of the Piedmont Hills.
The disastrous San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 brought many refugees to the East Bay. When it became evident that Oakland, anxious to augment its tax rolls, was about to annex the Piedmont area, a charter was hastily drawn, and on January 30, 1907, Piedmont was incorporated. Varney Gaskill was the first mayor of the approximately 1,000 residents. Because there was no time to surveying the boundary lines, those of the Piedmont Sanitary District were adopted; thus over 100 homes and 1 church are bisected by the city’s boundaries. Two years after Piedmont’s incorporation, Oakland annexed all adjacent territory, and Piedmont became unique as one city entirely surrounded by another.
Many Piedmont streets today bear the names of early settlers (Bell, Blair, Craig, Requa and Sharon). Although most of the original homes have been destroyed and the estates subdivided, two houses remain from that early era. The Wetmore house, built by Jesse Wetmore between 1877 and 1892, is on the corner of Bonita and Vista Avenues. At one time it had a carriage house and cowshed at the rear and was surrounded by formal gardens. Mr Wetmore’s son Clarence was the first student ever to register at the University at Berkeley. The home is now in the National Register of Historic Places. The home of Hugh Craig, Piedmont’s second mayor, was built in 1880. It was moved in 1912 to its present location at the upper end of Craig Avenue.
Berkeley Daily Gazette - Tue - May 1, 1906
Wickhams Havens advertised (above) that not a chimney fell while the book The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906 Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission, of 1908, page 433 said, "A house near old Blair Park, in the present Piedmont district of Oakland, was badly damaged." Maybe the chimney didn't fall at that house.
On the morning of April 18, 1906, there was a 7.9 earthquake in San Francisco. Thousands fled across the bay to safety and many never returned to San Francisco. This caused a population boom and Piedmont grew 10 times bigger in just one year.
Famous Bohemian of Piedmont, "The Crowd's" Xavier Martinez's wife, Elsie Martinez:
We moved to Piedmont in 1902, a short while before my father took his first trip to Mexico. Piedmont was then cattle country with its golden hills upon which was raised hay for the cattle ranches on the other side of our Skyline...
Each summer our boys scouted the ranches to find the day for the cattle drive and we never failed to be there to watch this truly beautiful spectacle. And it was with sadness and regret that the year following the earthquake the cattle drives stopped and we lost our greatest thrill of the year. After the earthquake, the sleepy town of Oakland, jolted awake by the earthquake, rapidly developed into a city. And our golden hills, on which was raised the hay to supply the cattle ranches with feed for the cattle and horses, succumbed to progress and homes and tracts crept up the hills and topped the Skyline.
Oakland Tribune - Nov. 17, 1909
Until 1907, what is known as Piedmont was an unincorporated area of Oakland. The city of Oakland's boundaries were expanded to annex forty-four square miles of territory and two hundred miles of streets, which brought several unincorporated areas within the city limits. According to the Piedmonter on Jan 11, 1957, in the latter half of 1906 it was obvious that annexation by Oakland was inevitable unless quick action was taken for approval from the State Legislature.
The San Francisco Call -
Sun - Jan. 27, 1907
April 4, 2019
Why Is Piedmont a Separate City From Oakland?
Oakland city leaders kept eyeing new territory, and soon Piedmont was squarely in its crosshairs.
“The City Council took a measure to vote an annexation of all the land in what is now Piedmont, and a whole bunch of other East Oakland hamlets,” said Steve Lavoie.
Oakland’s City Council set the vote on annexing Piedmont for January 1907.
But then something went wrong. In their paperwork, they failed to name one of the districts that they wanted to annex and the vote was postponed until March. This left a really big opening for mayhem.
"In the meantime, a group in Piedmont who opposed annexation jumped on the opportunity to try and incorporate Piedmont, as a way of preventing annexation into Oakland," said Lavoie.
During the delay in Oakland’s vote, some Piedmont residents, a mix of bohemian artists and business people, filed a petition to hold their own election to become a city. If they could beat Oakland to the punch, they hoped Piedmont would remain rural and undeveloped. They saw how densely populated Oakland was, and they didn’t want any part of it.
[...]
The big vote on whether Piedmont should incorporate happened in January 1907.
"Eighteen more men voted to become a city than voted to not become a city," Swift said.
Piedmont was officially a city.
But here’s where it gets tricky. Oakland’s vote to annex Piedmont still went forward. And in March a majority of Piedmont residents voted to join Oakland. The vote was 63-43. But this was impossible now that Piedmont was its own city.
"The only thing that the opponents in the Piedmont hills can do is to hold an election to disincorporate [Piedmont]. So they hold another election in September, and more people voted to become part of the city of Oakland, to disincorporate Piedmont, than voted to stay a city," Swift said.
So then why is Piedmont separate today?
"It's one of those little nuggets of law that people don't know much about or care much about until they have to. It requires two-thirds vote of the people to disincorporate a city, and they failed to get two-thirds," Swift said.
Piedmont stayed a separate city but its edges weave in and out of Oakland. This is because in their haste to file paperwork to incorporate Piedmont, proponents grabbed the only map they had on hand to define the boundaries — a map of the sewer lines that snaked underneath the houses in Piedmont.
What does that mean for the borders of Piedmont today?
"It means that there are 136 parcels ... a portion of which are in Piedmont and a portion of which are in Oakland, and/or, where one side of the street is in Piedmont and the other side of the street is in Oakland, like Rose Avenue,” Swift said. “Sewer boundaries wouldn't ever be what you would want to use in defining city boundaries. You’d want to use streets or major roads. But they didn't have that choice, so we're stuck with it."
Berkeley Daily Gazette
- Fri - Mar. 15, 1907
One hundred and thirteen years ago, Piedmont declared independence. But the town’s special character was shaped long before that
January 25, 2020
Looming behind the fidgeting public was a familiar force: the Realty Syndicate. According to an Oakland Tribune article from September 4, 1907, in January Craig cited the “beneficent influence” of the Syndicate as a key reason for incorporating. From the Syndicate’s perspective, annexation might have meant disrupting the system of land, transportation infrastructure, and water rights it had spent the prior decade buying and developing.
But the same article cites Craig, in September, outing the Syndicate as the hand behind a new movement in Piedmont. Pro-annexationists wanted to disincorporate and reverse a decision that they feared would raise their taxes. Craig, one of Piedmont’s five elected trustees, suspected the Syndicate had been alarmed by his suggestion that the new city raise tax rates on unimproved land.
The Oakland Tribune called Craig a liar: “Every person familiar with the facts knows this is not true,” it published September 4, but he may have had a point. Leading the disincorporation movement was Piedmonter Edward Engs, who is listed in the 1907 census as the Syndicate’s attorney.
On September 7, 92 men voted for disincorporation, and 63 voted against it. But this time they were a dozen votes short of the requisite two-thirds. Piedmont remained its own city, and by 1909 Oakland had annexed the remaining surroundings, locking in the borders as we know them today.
[...]
Many of the values that guided the fight for Piedmont’s independence continue to shape life in this hillside community. The limits on commercial business development keep the town quiet, uncongested and superficially unchanged, and ensure that a “blot” the likes of the hotel saloon can never resurface.
They also keep Piedmont racially homogenous. In the decades immediately following the city’s incorporation, Piedmont’s exclusiveness would be codified into something exclusionary: discriminatory practices known as redlining, designed to keep minorities out of town.
[Read more about Piedmont redlining on our city's Sidney Dearing site]
Oakland -Tribune -Wed - Sep. 4, 1907
The San Francisco Examiner -
Wed - Sep. 4, 1907
"Piedmont citizens claim conspiracy"
Residence of exclusive Piedmont, the storeless, spotless and uncommercial "city" of northeastern Oakland, are incensed over what they declare is an attempt of a combination of real estate dealers "to deliver the city of Piedmont to Oakland at an election to be held next Thursday to vote upon the disincorporation of Piedmont."
[SF Gate 2012]:
Piedmont historian Gail Lombardi described Piedmont at the time as a quiet mix of middle-class and affluent families who "didn't want to be gobbled up by Oakland. They wanted to be their own city."
For Piedmonters, it's the small-town atmosphere they prize most, said Shirley Price of the Piedmont Historical Society.
"It's always been a wonderful place for families. That's why I came here, and I've never been disappointed," she said. "Oakland, with its reputation and its crime. ... We don't want to live in that kind of city."
(For the record -- not all of us living in Piedmont have a distain for Oaklanders.)
Oakland Tribune – Sun – Jun. 22, 1952
Piedmont, of course, was once larger than it is now. When James Gamble, an early settler, suggested the name “Piedmont,” meaning “foot of the mountain,” the area extended down to 26th street in Oakland, east to the present Diamond Canyon, and included the hill lands.