Last month I began to tell the history of Alameda Island, including the fact that Alameda was not originally an island, but rather a peninsula attached to Oakland. This month I'd like to complete the tale, including how and when Alameda came to be an island.
By Captain Ray
Published: June, 2015
Last month I began to tell the history of Alameda Island, including the fact that Alameda was not originally an island, but rather a peninsula attached to Oakland. This month I’d like to complete the tale, including how and when Alameda came to be an island.
In the early 1850s, Gideon Aughinbaugh and W. W. Chipman purchased land on the Alameda peninsula from Antonio Maria Peralta, whose father, Don Luis Peralta, had received the land as a grant from Spain in 1820. They planted a large peach orchard, marking the beginning of American settlement in the area. The U.S. Post Office arrived in 1854 and the railroads in 1864.
Several separate settlements grew up on the Alameda peninsula. Hibbardsville was on the north shore along the banks of the San Antonio Estuary. Alameda was the term used for the community at High and Encinal Streets.
Woodstock was to the west, where the Alameda Mole was constructed to allow trains to reach water deep enough to accommodate railroad ferries. At the end of the mole, the railroad cars would be loaded onto ferries to complete their journey to San Francisco. When the Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869, Woodstock was the original western terminus, but the terminus was moved to Oakland just a few months later.
The City of Alameda was officially incorporated in 1884, and both Woodstock and Hibbardsville were incorporated into the newly created city. As the Bay Area’s need for transportation grew, so did the number of railroads, ferries and cargo ships, along with land-based infrastructure to support them. Because it is so protected from the strong winds of San Francisco Bay, the calm waters of the Oakland Estuary (and the Alameda shoreline) quickly became a center of shipping in the East Bay.
In 1902, a channel was dredged connecting the Oakland Estuary with San Leandro Bay. This not only greatly increased space for shipping facilities, but also turned Alameda into an island. At almost 23 square miles, it is by far the largest island in San Francisco Bay! Four bridges and two tunnels now link Alameda Island to the mainland of North America.
For almost a quarter-century, Alameda boasted of a grand amusement park on what was then its south shore. In 1917, in the area now known as Crab Cove, the Strehlow family built Neptune Court. There was a swimming beach and two swimming pools that featured exhibitions by fitness legend Jack LaLanne and movie star Johnny Weissmuller. The park also offered a carousel, a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster, as well as a dance pavilion and barbeque pits. There were even rental cottages available for those wishing to stay for a vacation. The rail line from the San Francisco ferry stopped at Neptune Court’s front gate, making it a convenient destination for people seeking entertainment.
The opening of the Bay Bridge removed the ferry and rail traffic. This, coupled with the Great Depression, greatly reduced the park’s visitors and after 22 years of operation, Neptune Court closed. However, it is not completely forgotten: The Croll Building at the corner of Webster Street and Central Avenue (with its lovely stained glass) and the Neptune Court Apartments a block away are reminders of the amusement park’s existence.
The site was later used by the U.S. Maritime Service as an officer’s school, and it is now Robert W. Crown Memorial State Beach. The present Crab Cove Visitors Center was the base infirmary. The lagoon that wanders through many Alameda backyards marks the approximate location of the original southern shoreline of the island.
In the late 1920s, the marshes south of the Alameda Mole were filled to create Alameda Airport and a yacht harbor. Pan American Airways used this yacht harbor as the operations base for its China Clippers until it relocated to Treasure Island for the 1939-40 World’s Fair. At the beginning of World War II, this filled area was expanded and ceded to the U.S. government for the creation of the Alameda Naval Air Station. The base was closed in 1997. Now known as Alameda Point, it and the surrounding area are gradually being converted to civilian use.
