History of Alameda County, California. Volume I, Part 54

Author: Merritt, Frank Clinton, 1889-
Publication date:
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 708


USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume I > Part 54


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With the tremendous increase of business in Oakland which fol- lowed the San Francisco fire of April 18-22, 1906, The Tribune re- flected the progress of the community in its own expansion. On June 3, 1906, the first Sunday morning issue made its appearance. New presses were installed in the Tribune building. Portions of the building were under lease by San Francisco business firms, and the transfer to the new home was made during the month of June as rapidly as room was vacated. On June 9, 1906, the business office was established in the new location, and on June 28 the editorial offices were transferred across the street.


W. E. Dargie died February 10, 1911, and the Tribune was pub- lished under the management of the estate until November 3, 1915, when The Tribune Publishing Company was reorganized with Joseph R. Knowland as president and publisher and B. A. Forsterer as sec- retary and general manager.


"Arroyo Sanatorium", the official name given to the tuberculosis hospital of Alameda County, was opened for the reception of patients


620


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


on February 19, 1918. The erection of the institution was started under the direction of the Board of Supervisors during 1916 and 1917. The institution was dedicated on January 12th, when, in spite of a heavy downpour of rain, three hundred people assembled for that purpose. It opened with Dr. R. J. Cary, a captain in the United States Medical Corps, as the first superintendent, twelve patients being admitted the first day. It received 175 patients during the year 1918, 95 per cent of that number being in the advanced stages of the disease. It opened with a capacity of 126 patients.


SIXTY NEW INDUSTRIAL PLANTS IN 1919


Sixty new industrial plants, with an investment of ten millions of dollars, came to the East Bay during 1919. Recent favorable adjust- ment of freight rates from the east to the Pacific Coast, with the ad- vantages of a shorter haul to the Orient, combined with the other nat- ural advantages of Oakland and her sister cities, were responsible for much of this growth. The list of new firms follows:


United States Welding Company, 215 Webster Street, Oakland; See-Dro Separator Company, Third and Gilman streets, West Berk- eley; Refrigerator Cooler Manufacturing Company, 170 Twelfth Street, Oakland, Cal .; Barrel Syrup Company, Incorporated, 1421 Forty-sixth Avenue, Oakland; Horne & Hunter, 3833 Brookdale Ave- nue, Oakland; Household Wire Company, 3702 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland; California Process Company, 1828 Seventh Street, Oakland; Occidental Manufacturing & Supply Company, 176 Twelfth Street, Oakland; Purcell Manufacturing Company, 306 Twelfth Street, Oak- land; Council Bluffs Remedy Company, Howard Warehouse, Oak- land; Magnavox Company, 2701-75 East Fourteenth Street, Oakland; Valqua Products Company, 2701-75 East Fourteenth Street, Oakland; National Lead Co. of California, Melrose Station, Oakland; Sherwin- Williams Company of California, Emeryville, Cal .; Western Can- ning Company, Emeryville, Cal .; Tibbetts Paint & Varnish Com- pany, near Third Street, Berkeley, Cal .; Harbaugh & Prenzel, Second and Addison streets, West Berkeley; Modern Mechanical Engineering Company, 2955 Elmwood Avenue, Oakland; Montgomery-Kimble Motors Corporation, Eighty-second Avenue and East Fourteenth Street, Oakland; The L. & T. Company, 5699 Shattuck Avenue, Oak- land; Affordable Truck Company, 417 Webster Street, Oakland; Con- tinental Machine Works, 465 Third Street, Oakland; Bisceglia


621


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


Brothers Company, High Street and Tidal Canal, Oakland; H. Jones & Company, Twenty-ninth Avenue and S. P. Right of Way; Western Milling Company, Estuary, Oakland, Cal .; Scripps-Booth Company of California, Melrose District, Oakland; Coast Tire & Rubber Com- pany, East Twelfth Street, between Forty-eighth and Fiftieth avenues; United Box Company, 2329 Blanding Avenue, near Park, Alameda, Cal .; Western Steel Package Company, foot of Webster Street Bridge, Alameda, Cal .; Neustadter Brothers, northwest corner East Eight- eenth Street and Twelfth Avenue, Oakland, Cal .; Libby, McNeill & Libby, East Fourteenth Street and Fifty-fifth Avenue, Oakland; Fed- eral Wool Manufacturing Company, Melrose District, Oakland; Cali- fornia Steel Tank & Pipe Company, Third and Harrison streets, Berk- eley. California Bean Company, Third and Bancroft Way, Berkeley, Cal .; California Soda Products Company, 127-9 Second Street, Oak- land; California Food Specialties Company, foot Park Avenue, Emery- ville, Cal .; Diablo Glove Company, College Avenue and Broadway, Oakland; Electric Sales Service Company, 2532 Sixth Street, Berk- eley; Lewis, Gilman & Moore, 766 Fiftieth Avenue, East Oakland; Petrium Sanitary Sink Company, Fifth and Page streets, West Berk- eley, Cal .; H. & G. Regan, Ford and Kennedy streets, Oakland; J. E. Shoemaker Company, 541 Franklin Street, Oakland, Cal .; Morehouse Company, 4221 Hollis Street, Emeryville, Cal .; Madewell Pipe Com- pany, 1180 Twenty-fifth Avenue, Oakland; Sealright Company, 829 Wood Street, Oakland; Occidental Milling Company, Howard Wharf, Oakland, Cal .; Bried Rogers Company, Forty-ninth and Shattuck Avenue, Oakland; Fox Candy Company, Twenty-fifth and Grove streets, Oakland, Cal .; Max Greenburg, 4822 Telegraph Avenue, Oak- land; Ross M. Gilson, 300 Eleventh Street, Oakland; Arborol Chemical Company, 608 Fifty-sixth Street, Oakland; Standard Coal Company of California, Bacon building, Oakland; Patent Cereal Company, 325 Thirteenth Street, Oakland; Ed. Feret, 267 Twelfth Street, Oakland; Nurses' & Doctors' Outfitting Company, 2313 Broadway, Oakland; Levi Strauss Company, King building, Twelfth Street, Oakland.


FEDERAL CENSUS OF 1920


The federal census of 1920 contained many figures in which the East Bay cities could take much pride. Alameda, Oakland, Hayward, Berkeley, Piedmont, Albany and San Leandro were given splendid


622


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


increases over the canvass of 1910. A comparison of the 1920 popula- tions with those of 1900 and 1910 follows:


City


1900


1910


1920


Alameda


16,464


23,383


28,806


Albany


808


2,461


Berkeley


13,214


40,434


55,886


Emeryville


1,016


2,613


2,390


Hayward


1,965


2,746


3,487


Livermore


1,493


2,030


1,916


Oakland


. 66,960


150,174


216,261


Piedmont


1,719


4,282


Pleasanton


1,100


1,254


991


San Leandro


2,253


3,471


5,703


An analysis of census figures from 1880 on brings out the evident fact that the East Bay cities are fast overtaking San Francisco, and leads to the conclusion that the decades are few in number until the former cities will exceed in population the latter city. In 1880 the East Bay cities had a combined population of but 42,863, to 233,959 for San Francisco. During the next ten years San Francisco grew 65,038 in numbers, to 24,182 for the East Bay cities. The increase in San Francisco between 1890 and 1900 was 43,785; in the East Bay cities, 35,611. The increase between 1900 and 1910 was 74,130 for San Francisco, and 129,494 for our own cities. From 1910 to 1920 it was 89,764 and 104,072 respectively. In 1880, therefore, San Francisco was between five and six times as large as the East Bay cities; but in 1920 the latter were almost exactly two-thirds as large as the older city. During the last decade mentioned the East Bay cities grew at the rate of 40.05 per cent; San Francisco at the rate of 21.04. A con- tinuance of the same rate means that about 1937 equal populations will be found on both sides of the great bay.


INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF 1920


The East Bay cities continued their forward industrial march dur- ing the year. Sixty-five new industrial concerns were added to the growing list, involving a capital investment estimated at nine million dollars, another four thousand employees, and an additional payroll


623


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


amounting to approximately seven million dollars per year. At least three of these concerns were large nationally known and nationally operated concerns, namely: the Palmolive Soap Company, the Contin- ental Can Company, and the Ajax Forge Company. During the year sales of industrial property valued at over three-quarters of a million dollars were made, involving the transfer of title to 115.9 acres of land. Extensive development of open-air industrial water-front plants on the Oakland Harbor by the Associated Oil and Standard Oil companies represented an investment of over three-fourths of a million dollars. The year was also marked by the opening of the great Parr Terminal on the western water-front and by the establishment of regular service between Oakland and Baltimore via the Panama Canal by two large steamship lines, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Steamship Company. Another important transition of the year was the successful accomplishment of converting the aban- doned race track into valuable industrial property. One of the outstand- ing events of the year in connection with the industrial development of the city was the formation of a Citizens' Committee of twenty-five, to develop a plan for building a multiple factory building in order that new industries might not be turned away in the future for want of proper housing.


At the close of the year there were seventy-three plants in the East Bay region that employed more than one hundred men. The total num- ber of men on the payroll of these concerns was 36,590, or an average of 501 to the plant. There were thirty-four plants employing between fifty and one hundred employees each, with a total of 2,225 employees. Forty-six plants employeed 1,486, or an average of thirty-two to the plant. Another 134 concerns employed a total of 2,099, or an average of fifteen employees to the plant. Fifty-one concerns located in the cities of our county were engaged in foreign trade, their products go- ing to Japan, China, Java, the East Indies, Australia, South America, the West Indies, and to practically every country in Europe. These exports included cereals, canned fruits and vegetables, cooking utensils, gas engines, blowers, agricultural implements, trunks, calculating ma- chines, tanks, culverts, cotton duck, silica of soda, paper boxes, varn- ishes, flour, fire hose, vacuum pumps, tires, lumber, tents, confectionery, tractors, explosives, borax, soap, comforters, preserved fruits, fuse, dried fruits, air brakes, wheat, rubber belting, air compressors, automo- biles, forgings, stoves, oils and greases, pipes, harvesters, steel castings,


624


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


towels, paints, inks, brass and bronze castings, and contractors' equip- ment.


The new industrial concerns choosing factory sites in Alameda County during the year were the Ajax Forge Company, American Furniture Company, Anderson Filling Machine Company, Apex Bend- ing Company, Associated Manufactures Company, Baer Baking Com- pany, N. J. Baker & Bros. Company, Baird-Bailhache Company, Beco Envelope Company, Blaz-away Company, James H. Boye Manufactur- ing Company, Brown & Swanton, Bushnel Manufacturing Company, California Grain Growers' Association, Carlson Engine Company, Thos. I. Casey Dehydrator Company, Coast Casegoods Company, Col- mar Burner Company, Continental Can Company, F. Dorfman Com- pany, Elkonite Soap Company, Emeryville Chemical Company, Fageol- Moss Shock Absorber Company, Fisk Rubber Company of New York, Flash Furniture Company, General Accessories Corporation, Glidden Company, Gustaff & Moore, Halstead Specialties Company, Heinrich Chemical Company, Hildebrandt & Woods, Hughson-Bacon Company, Jewelry Case Manufacturing Company, Johnson Gear Company, Law- rence-Reynolds Company, Lea-Moran Machine Works, Lloyd Manu- facturing Company, Marine Copper Works, Mas-art Basket Company, Maywood Heater Company, Metals Refining and Chemical Works, Miller Auto Bed Company, Modern Pattern Works, National Wood Renovating Company, E. H. Nielsen Company, Nightingale Phono- graph Manufacturing Company, Novelty Products Company, Oakland Gum Company, Oakland Quality Enameling Works, Pacific Belting Company, Pacific Enameling Company, Pacific Gear & Tool Works, Pacific Power Implement Company, Palmolive Company, Scripps Booth Company, Shartzer Illuminated License Plate Company, Singer Talking Machine Company, Thermo-Catalysis Company, Trent Fur- niture Factory, Tunison Motor Company, Vaccucrete Company, Veg- etable Oil Corporation, Western Aluminum Manufacturing Company, Western Metal Products Company, Walker Motor Car Specialties Company and Wythe Pictures Corporation.


TWENTY-SEVEN SHIPS LAUNCHED DURING YEAR


Twenty-seven ships, with a total tonnage of 242,500, were launched by the East Bay shipyards during 1920. The ships launched by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company, with dates, types, names, and ton- nage, were:


625


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


Name


Date


Type


Tonnage


Dungannon


April


3


tanker


10,000


Durango


April 23


tanker


10,000


Halo


May 15


tanker


10,000


Halsey


.June 10


tanker


10,000


Halway


June 30


tanker


10,000


Algonquin


August 23


tanker


10,000


Franklin K Lane


August 31


tanker


10,200


W. S. Miller


October 28


tanker


10,200


Yoba Linda


November 15


tanker


10,000


Crampton Anderson


November 21


tanker


10,200


Those launched by the Union Construction Company were as fol-


lows :


Hayden


. January 24


Cargo Boat


9,400


Haymon


April 17


Freighter


9,400


Haynie


. June 5


Cargo Boat


9,400


Heber


. August 7


Cargo Boat


9,400


Charlie Watson


August 14


Oil tanker


2,250


Those sent down the ways by the Moore Shipbuilding Company


were:


Narbo


April 18


freighter


9,400


Menton


April 18


tanker


10,000


Vacuum


May 1


tanker


10,000


Mevania


June 26


tanker


10,000


Mursa


. July 3


freighter


9,400


Narcissus


August 28


freighter 9,400


Stockton


August 28


tanker


10,000


C. S. T. Dodd


October 16


tanker


10,000


The Hanlon Drydock Company's launchings included :


Jeptha


. July 1


freighter 5,450


Mendon


August 2


freighter 5,450


Memnon September 29


freighter


5,450


On October 26, the San Francisco Shipbuilding Company launched the Peralta, a 7,500 concrete tanker.


The first transcontinental air mail reached the bay district on Sep- tember 9, 1920. The plane was piloted by Stanhope S. Boggs, youthful


40V1


626


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


Oakland flyer. The flyer brought the DeHaviland government plane across the Sierra from Salt Lake City at a time when there were no well-chartered air routes and when planes and equipment were not as good as those now used. Boggs, living today in the bay region, is the surviving member of a trio of flyers who hopped off from Cheyenne on September 4, 1920, to bring three planes to San Francisco to be used in the air mail service. Walter Stevens, one of the trio, smashed his plane at Rock Springs; and J. P. Woodward, the third flyer, crashed near Ogden. A few days later Stevens was burned to death when his plane fell in Ohio; and Woodward was killed a month later in Wyom- ing. Boggs had a narrow escape in San Francisco on January 4, 1921, when his plane fell at Hayes and Gough streets.


THE YEAR 1921


The year 1921 was one of the most prosperous in the history of Alameda County, and the progress of the East Bay region was note- worthy during the twelve months. Evidences of post-war difficulties and slumps felt in eastern cities and sections of the country seemed to miss the growth and business advancement of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and the other industrial sections of the county. The volume of new buildings erected in Oakland during the year broke all previous records. The building record was greater than for the combined totals of 1916, 1917 and 1918. New buildings in Oakland represented, accord- ing to the permits issued, an investment of $15,791,616, which was a gain of 67 per cent over the figures of 1920; and 1921 had broken all previous records in Oakland. The nation as a whole was experiencing a general business depression, but conditions on the Pacific Coast were recognized as being better than in any other part of the country. The East Bay region advanced despite this general condition, and Oakland was given credit of being more prosperous than and city of similar population in the United States.


While bank clearings in Oakland for 1921 were 2 per cent less than for the previous year, the volume of merchandise handled was in ex- cess of 1921 owing to the appreciated buying-power of currency. Al- though slightly less money was represented in merchandise transactions, the volume was from fifteen to twenty per cent greater owing to this change in the purchasing power of the dollar. Few cities of the nation showed as favorable statistics for bank clearings in a comparison of the


627


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


two years as did Oakland; and during the closing months of the year Oakland's bank clearings even surpassed the record made during the final period of 1920. The temporary financial conditions prevailing in the east for a time interrupted the procession of eastern industries to- ward the Pacific Coast, and the only concerns of national importance to locate in the East Bay during 1921 were the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, Durant Motors, and the Virden Pack- ing Company. The first named company purchased eleven acres; the Durant Motors acquired eighteen acres ; and the Virden Packing Com- pany bought two fruit packing plants, one in Emeryville and the other in Oakland, making an investment of nearly a million dollars. The year also witnessed the decline of the great shipbuilding industry, and over fifteen thousand men were thrown upon the labor market locally. The fact that this radical change in labor conditions took place with scarcely any noticeable effects on the prosperity of the East Bay sec- tion demonstrated to the most skeptical that the East Bay cities pos- sessed a business soundness which few other cities had.


One of the outstanding events of the year for Oakland was the inauguration of regular sailings from Oakland by a number of large steamship companies, including coast-wise, Atlantic-Pacific, and Euro- pean. Local manufacturers and merchants, for the first time in the history of Oakland, were placed upon an equality with those of San Francisco, and were now enabled to receive and forward merchandise shipments from all points with as much ease as similar establishments across the Bay. This accomplishment removed a great handicap. The East Bay cities were also elated during 1921 by the fact that govern- ment engineers had recommended to Congress an appropriation of $1,360,000 for the improvement of the Oakland Harbor, to be expended during the few years following. The two great power companies which served the Bay region announced plans during the year for large addi- tions to their plants, thus giving assurance of an almost unlimited supply of power for still larger cities and industrial centers. Oakland was also engaged in an extensive park and playground development within its limits, and was carrying on a school building program rep- resenting an expenditure of five million dollars. While in 1921 Oak- land ranked second in the United States among cities of from 150,000 to 275,000 in the smallness of its death rate-a rate of but 10.5 per thousand-the city was taking steps to maintain this record by the erec- tion of a new two million dollar public hospital.


628


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


BUILDING RECORD OF THE YEAR


Oakland's building record of nearly sixteen million dollars for 1921 was made in spite of the fact that factory construction was only about half that of 1920. It was also made in a year when there were no large hotels, department stores or office buildings erected. Resi- dential construction was responsible for over half of the expenditures made for new buildings. Out of the permits issued for the year $1,609,- 950 represented apartments, $470,178 flats, $1,070,052 one-and-one- half and two-story dwellings, and $5,192,678 one-story dwellings. There were 2,148 houses erected in the city during the year, of which 1,979 were one-story. Factory construction represented expenditures total- ing $1,090,000. Up to this time the nearest approach to the 1921 record of home building was in 1908, when 2,031 residences had been built following the influx of families after the disaster of 1906. In Decem- ber of that year Oakland's building permits were greater than in any other city west of the Rocky Mountains, except those of Los Angeles; and were twice as great as Portland's and four times greater than Seattle's.


MANUFACTURING STATISTICS ANNOUNCED


During the year government statistics covering manufacturing throughout the nation for the five year period from 1914 to 1919 were announced. These figures, available for the first time, contained many items that were gratifying to those living in California. The percent- age of increase during those five years in the number of persons en- gaged in manufacturing industries was 68.2 for this state, compared with 18.5 for New York, 24.9 for Pennsylvania, 28.7 for Delaware, 33.3 for Connecticut, and 40.1 for New Jersey-typical Atlantic states. Cali- fornia then ranked fifth among all the states in the number of manu- facturing establishments, and eleventh in the number of wage earners. Although the figures for the state were the source of much gratifica- tion, it remained for Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda to furnish even more startling increases. The percentage of increase in persons en- gaged in manufacturing industries in Oakland was 175.3 for the five- year period-over two and one-half times the increase for California. In Berkeley the increase was 71.5; while in Alameda it was 466.8. San Francisco showed an increase of 45.7 for the five years, and Los An- geles 87.9. Considered in connection with the increases in Boston,


629


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia of 14.2 per cent, 15 per cent, 33.2 per cent and 40.1 per cent respectively, the census indicated a most satisfactory growth.


Oakland's manufacturing growth between 1914 and 1919 was many times greater than for the five-year period immediately preceeding. Be- tween 1909 and 1914 the number of wage earners in Oakland increased only 11.6 per cent. In 1914 the value of manufactured products for California was $712,801,000; in 1919 it was $1,981,443,000. Oak- land's share of these totals grew from approximately one-twentyfifth of the total of the state to more than one-fifteenth. More detailed in- formation for the period announced by the government for Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda is given herewith:


Oakland-Population, 216,361


Census


1919


1914


Percent of increase 1914-1919


Number of establishments


593


573


3.5


Persons engaged in manufactures.


26,736


9,713


175.3


Proprietors and firm members ..


643


579


11.1


Salaried employees


2,726


1,428


90.9


Wage earners (average number )


23,367


7,706


203.2


Primary horsepower


50,882


18,950


168.5


Capital


$118,882,000


$36,411,000


226.5


Salaries


5,114,000


1,701,000


200.6


Wages


31,579,000


5,966,000


429.3


Materials


63,977,000


14,999,000


326.5


Value of products


134,756,000


28,522,000


372.5


Value added by manufacture (value


of products less cost of mate-


rials )


70,779,000


13,523,000


423.4


Berkeley-Population, 56,036


Census


1919


1914


Percent of increase 1914-1919


Number of establishments


114


95


Persons engaged in manufactures


2,957


1,724


71.5


Proprietors and firm members


95


78


Salaried employees .


543


318


70.8


Wage earners (average number) . .


2,319


1,328


74.6


Primary horsepower


7,506


3,503


114.3


630


HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY


Capital


$16,565,000


$5,814,000


184.9


Salaries


1,162,000


459,000


153.2


Wages


2,691,000


1,054,000


155.3


Materials


19,492,000


4,769,000


308.7


Value of products


28,332,000


7,321,000


287.0


Value added by manufacture (value


of products less cost of materials). 8,840,000


2,552,000


246.4


Alameda-Population, 28,806


Census


1919


1914


Percent of increase 1914-1919


Number of establishments


51


52


Persons engaged in manufactures ...


7,142


1,260


466.8


Proprietors and firm members


55


48


Salaried employees .


300


125


140.0


Wage earners (average number)


6,787


1,087


524.4


Primary horsepower


9,306


3,492


166.5


Capital


$11,812,000


$3,686,000


220.5


Salaries


688,000


209,000


229.2


Wages


8,788,000


1,028,000


754.9


ยท Materials


10,672,000


1,003,000


964.0


Value of products


25,440,000


2,786,000


813.1


Value added by manufacture (value


of products less cost of materials). 14,768,000


1,783,000


728.3


THE YEAR 1922


Oakland's building record of $15,791,616 for the year 1921-the largest in its history to that date-looked small when compared to the $24,468,233 for the following twelve months. During the month of October alone there were permits issued for 350 new dwellings, costing $1,091,000, The outstanding industrial event of the year was the pur- chase by General Electric Company, the largest concern of its kind in the world, of a 24-acre tract on East Fourteenth Street and Fifty- fourth Avenue, and the erection of its plant. During 1922 Oakland also secured a still firmer hold on the automobile industry. It witnessed the completion of the Durant plant, one of the finest and most efficient automobile plants in the nation. The plant of the Star Motors, a Dur- ant corporation, was perfected; and the plant of the United States Light & Heat Corporation, a large battery manufacturing concern, was built.




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