Key System Streetcars: Transit, Real Estate and the Growth of the East Bay, Book by Vernon J. Sappers, 1990

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Fourteenth Street Railroad

Broadway & Piedmont Railroad

The Piedmont Railroad (also called the Piedmont Springs Line, 1878/1879)

The Market Street Railroad

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These four roads all were promoted by Walter Blair, a wealthy landowner interested in promoting his property in the Piedmont area. Blair also was involved to a lesser degree with the Alameda, Oakland & Piedmont Railroad.

 

The Fourteenth Street Railroad resulted from a petition seeking a franchise that was presented by organizers of the company to the Oakland City Council on October 23, 1877. The company was headed by Blair, whose associates included James de Fremery, Samuel Howe, Montgomery Howe and C.M. Burleson. The franchise was granted on November 16, 1877, and construction began in June 1878. The stables and car house were built at 14th and Peralta Streets.

 

Service began in 1878 from Seventh and Washington Streets north on Washington to 14th Street, then into West Oakland on 14th Street, Peralta Street, Eighth Street, Wood Street, Goss Street and Pine Street to Seventh Street. The fare was five cents. At the time, West Oakland was the city's major residential section. The line had six cars built in San Francisco by Kimball. The West Oakland route was altered in 1881, with the cars shifted to Eighth Street from Goss Street, between Pine and Wood Streets. On November 17, 1879, construction began on a branch over Peralta Street to 16th Street, then west on 16th Street to the Southern Pacific depot at 16th and Wood Streets. Service began on January 6, 1886.

 

The original stables were destroyed by fire with a loss of 32 horses and one car. The replacement was a brick building, which lasted many more years than streetcars did in Oakland, as it was converted later to industrial use.

 

The section to Seventh and Pine was abandoned in 1895, and the line serving the SP station was electrified in 1893. The conversion to electric was a last-minute decision because the company had planned to replace horse cars with cable operation. Construction of the cable track was partly completed on 16th Street, between Wood and Peralta Streets, when management decided electric operation was more promising.

 

The Broadway & Piedmont was built between downtown Oakland and Piedmont to promote Blair's real estate interests there. Construction began on April 13, 1875, but rail did not arrive by ship from New York until November 9, 1875.

 

Despite heavy rains, tracklaying commenced the following month and the line opened in 1876. The road began at Seventh and Washington Streets and ran on Washington to 14th Street, operated one block on 14th to Broadway, then turned north on Broadway. The line left Broadway at Piedmont Avenue and ran on Piedmont Avenue to the gate of Mountain View Cemetery. Service was hourly and cars connected with steam trains at Seventh Street. Three cars built by Kimball and numbered 1, 2 and 3 were stored at the 14th and Peralta Streets barn of the Fourteenth Street line.

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In 1890, a branch line was built from Broadway and Piedmont Avenue out Broadway to 45th Street. Sources are vague, but the line may have run as far as College Avenue and Broadway or from 45th Street to Manila Avenue and along Manila to Claremont Avenue. There is no evidence, however, that the line ever operated beyond 45th Street and Broadway.

 

The horse cars were replaced in September 1890 by cable operation. Because this undertaking was so large and included significant changes in routes, the cable operation is treated separately under Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company.

 

The Piedmont Railroad was another line built by Walter Blair and it ran from the Mountain View Cemetery to Piedmont Springs. The line began at Piedmont Avenue and Pleasant Valley Road and ascended the hills generally along present Moraga Avenue to Highland Avenue, which it followed to the springs, on a site later occupied by the Piedmont City Hall. The line opened in 1878.

 

An extremely popular open car nicknamed the "Palace Car” was used on the run. The car had upholstered seats and a rug on the floor, extreme amenities for transit in those days. The car was later rebuilt as a special car for all of Blair's lines. The road was extremely successful, carrying 5,000 to 7,000 riders per month in the summer of 1882. The fare was 10 cents. Abandonment occurred on August 20, 1890, when Consolidated Piedmont Cable opened a line on Oakland Avenue that provided more direct service.

 

 

Blair's Market Street Railroad got off to a slow start. It was organized in 1877 to run on its namesake street and construction began on March 12, 1878. The work was delayed by an injunction obtained by a Mrs. Fogg who objected to the line and halted construction. However, the rails did not arrive from New York for a while and by the time they did the dispute had been resolved.

 

The line was completed on Market Street between First Street (at a Southern Pacific station) and 14th Street on April 11, 1878, but service did not begin until June 10, 1881, and then only at irregular intervals to hold the franchise for the street. The company took in five fares in seven days. However, a car barn and stable were established at 16th and Market Streets.
 

Work continued slowly. On October 19, 1881, rail laying commenced north of 14th Street but a terminal point was yet to be selected. In November 1881 the decision was made to operate out Market Street to 24th Street, down 24th Street to Adeline Street, along Adeline to 32nd Street, down 32nd Street to Hollis Street, along Hollis to the Oakland Trotting Park, later part of Shellmound Park in Emeryville. By now it had become the rainy season and there was no more rail on hand, and construction ceased.

 

Before long, citizens began complaining to the Oakland City Council about the road lying unfinished at their doorsteps. So on November 30, 1881, horse cars began operating on a 45- minute headway over the track that was completed. Finally, on August 23, 1886, construction resumed and work was finished at year's end. The Emeryville Terminal was at Hollis Street and Park Avenue. When SP abandoned its Market Street steam train station and moved the depot to First Street and Broadway, the horse car was cut back to Seventh and Market Streets.

 

The Market Street operation was abandoned in 1890. By now Blair was heavily involved in the Consolidated Piedmont Cable road, a venture that would end in failure.