Alameda County, California Information

Alameda County Landmarks: Alameda County historical landmarks 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.

OAKLAND LANDMARKS - Oakland landmarks include a handful of interesting attractions such as Heinhold's First and Last Change where Jack London sat at tables that still are used by guests drinking cold ones of hot toddies.

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 Luis Maria 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 Joaquin Estudillo, grantee of Rancho San Leandro, and his wife, Juana Martinez 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 Luis Maria Peralta, received the land grant from Spanish Governor Don Pablo Vicente de Sola 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. 334 MISSION SAN JOSE - On June 9, 1797, troops under Sergeant Pedro Amador, accompanied by Father Fermin 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 Agustin 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. 46 VALLEJO FLOUR MILL - In 1853, José de Jesus 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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

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