A STEEPLE
AMONG THE OAKS
A CENTENNIAL
HISTORY OF THE
FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH
1862-1962
By
ALBERT E. NORMAN
Page 11
It is
unfortunate that this is the only photo available of the First Methodist Church
built at the southwest corner of Ninth and Washington Streets in 1864.
Oak trees
obscured the view of the photographer atop the Wilcox Building at Ninth and
Broadway.
During his stay in Oakland
Rev. Rich found more and more demand upon his time. Besides preaching, he was
Superintendent of the Sunday School for his newly established church. He was
also Superintendent of Alameda County Schools in these formative years of the
county. But First Church was his honest pride and joy. He remained nearly three
years, and he directed the construction of the second structure to house First
Church. The second edifice was at the southwest corner of Ninth and Washington
Streets.
His life was crowded with incessant
toil and heroic service. Rev. Rich lived to be 76. He died June 10, 1909.
When Rev. Rich began his
second year in Oakland the Sunday School membership totaled 35 members. At the
1863 Conference the lot and church at Sixth and Washington Streets were sold to
the African Methodist Church and the building was moved to Seventh and West
Streets. The lot at Ninth and Washington Streets was purchased for $1,000.
Plans were drawn for a church to seat 300 persons, the completed church to cost
$6,000.
Page 12
When Bishop Clarke
dedicated the structure on December 14, 1864, there was an indebtedness of
$2,000.
In closing his pastorate
Rev. Rich reported 20 registered members, 10 probationers and 91 in the Sunday
School.
Rev. Rich had remained in
Oakland long enough to see the San Francisco & Oakland Railroad inaugurate
service on Seventh Street; trains connecting at Gibbon’s wharf with the ferry Contra
Costa. There was every indication that First Church was on solid ground.
Oakland continued to grow. The old cemetery between 17th and 19th
Streets that extended out between Webster and Harrison Streets was being moved
to the foothills northeast of town, and henceforth would be called Mountain
View Cemetery.
The tiny Contra Costa
Academy that the Alameda Circuit Riders had watched Congregationalist Henry
Durant organize at Fifth and Broadway as early as 1853 had now expanded into
the College of California and had a campus that extended between 12th
and 14th Streets and Franklin to Harrison Streets. Each year new
buildings were going up for a growing enrollment.
In 1865 the annual
Methodist Conference sent the Rev. Charles Miller to First Church to succeed
the Rev. Rich. It was a year of trial to the church, although membership kept
apace of the growing population. Rev. Miller was a transfer to the California
Conference in 1862 from New Jersey and Oakland was his first charge. First
Church membership totaled 38 when he departed.
His successor was the Rev.
H. H. Hartwell, who remained through 1866, followed by the Rev. Lysander
Walker, who was in turn succeeded by the Rev. T. S. Dunn (1869-72) and then by
W. J. Maclay (1872-73).
Maybe you will recall that
the Rev. Rich was Sunday School Superintendent during his three-year stay here.
On his departure it was James Stratton, who once taught at old Prescott School
in Oakland, who took over direction of First Church’s Sunday School. He held
the post from November 24, 1866 to November 23, 1870.
Under James Stratton’s
leadership the Sunday School grew and prospered.
By this time First Church
was on its way to statewide recognition. The second structure was a substantial
edifice in an excellent location.
Page 13
Was it any wonder
they called Seventh Street “Railroad Avenue” back in 1869?
This was the
line of steam trains that ran from Gibbon’s Wharf, down at “The Point,” and to
the eastern boundary of Oakland.
Note the
boardwalks, and the coaches lined up awaiting the evening train.
From 1862 to
1864 First Church was but two blocks away to the left at Sixth and Washington
Streets.
When this
photograph was taken in 1869 First Church was three blocks distant (right) at
Ninth and Washington Streets.
On the post
in left of photograph is the first gas light installed on Oakland streets
December 31, 1866.
Looking back at that Sixth
and Washington Streets establishment the Rev. Rich must have smiled at his own
courage. The Civil War was beginning to make itself felt on the Pacific Coast
when he had fastened the roots of First Church solidly to Oakland soil. Even
though far removed from battle scenes, Oakland and First Church shared in both
the joy and grief generated by the war between the states.
At the war’s end the
western expansion caused eyes to focus on Oakland as a railroad terminal. Rails
were rapidly spanning the nation. The Rev. Dunn was pastor of First Church the
day the first transcontinental train rolled into town November 8, 1869. It was
also Dunn’s good fortune to witness the first horse car operation up Broadway
to Telegraph Avenue and out to 36th Street. When this railway
franchise was first granted it was the Rev. H. H. Hartwell who was in the
pulpit, but bickering held up actual operation of Oakland horse cars until late
in 1869.
Page 14
Three years before Oakland
boasted of horse cars and bragged about being the western terminus of the
transcontinental railroad, the town went wild over gas lamps along its main
streets. The first gas lamp was installed in December of 1866.
By that year First Church
was already at Ninth and Washington Streets. Sewers were another Oakland
improvement in 1866. Already there were demands for more street railway
franchises. Residents were elated with the new transportation. A few even
disposed of their horses and buggies once the horse cars put in an appearance.
First of
Oakland’s three City Halls, to stand on 14th Street at Washington
Street was erected in 1869.
Fire destroyed
it August 25, 1877 - less than one year after First Church was dedicated
diagonally across the street.
Page 15
During the Rev. Lysander
Walker’s pastorate at First Church in October of 1868 an earthquake rocked the
community. Damage in Oakland was negligible, but the tremor flattened the San
Leandro Courthouse, killing one man. July of 1868 was highlighted by a smallpox
epidemic. One year later, July 1869, Oakland opened its first public high
school in connection with Lafayette Grammar School at 12th and
Jefferson Streets.
Pastors Dunn and Maclay
ushered in the 1870’s, but it was the Rev. C. V. Anthony, Rev. Robert Bentley,
and Rev. Thomas Guard who filled out the next decade with a long list of
accomplishments.
The Rev. Charles V.
Anthony had been in charge of the Alameda Circuit with Rev. J. E. Wickes in
1861 and had visited Oakland. He was a native of Portage, N. Y., born February
22, 1831. He first arrived in San Francisco March 20, 1851, but in 1853 he
returned to Fort Wayne College in Indiana for a year of schooling. The winter
of 1854-55 found him back in California and teaching at Santa Cruz. He joined
the California Conference in May of 1855. Eighteen years later (1873) he was
welcomed as pastor of First Church in Oakland, a post which he held for three
years. He was a son-in-law of Charles Campbell, Oakland’s second mayor.
During Rev. Anthony’s
pastorate in 1875 the Ninth and Washington Streets church building was sold for
$500 to the German Methodist Church. These folk moved the church to the north
side of 17th Street, between San Pablo and Telegraph Avenues.
Meanwhile the lot at Ninth and Washington was traded for a 100 x 200 foot lot
at the southeast corner of 14th and Clay Streets.
Once again First Church
was moving farther uptown. There would be a bigger and more modern edifice at
14th and Clay Streets.
In the meantime the Rev.
Anthony needed a meeting place for his Methodist faithful. He found it in Dietz
Opera House at 12th and Webster Streets. Once-upon-a-time this was
Brayton Hall on the College of California campus. Now that the campus was moved
to Berkeley, A. C. Dietz bought the hall and had it converted into a theater.
Our Methodists forefathers found it convenient.
Page 16
Brayton Hall
was one of the buildings on the College of California campus, which was located
from 12th to 14th Streets between Franklin and Harrison
Streets, from 1860 to 1873.
A. C. Dietz
had Brayton Hall moved to the northeast corner of 12th and Webster
and called it Dietz Opera House.
Members of
First Church used the theater structure for a church while their new edifice
was being built at 14th and Clay Streets, 1875-1876.
All of this First Church activity
came on the heels of other major changes. East Oakland Methodist Church was
established in 1874 in Washington Hall at the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue
and East 12th Street. Its original membership was made up chiefly of
First Church members. Early in 1875 First Church lost a few more members. They
established Centennial Church on Campbell Street near Eighth Street, down on
“The point,” in West Oakland.
Oakland was growing by
leaps and bounds. Church membership was likewise booming.
In 1871, the year Snell’s
Seminary was established on 12th Street between Clay and Jefferson
Streets, Mills College moved to Oakland from Benicia and established a campus
in East Oakland. One year later (1872) Oakland annexed Brooklyn, and in
December of 1872 the city arranged that all homes and business firms henceforth
carry street numbers.
The year Rev. Anthony
arrived here (1873) was the same year the Courthouse was moved from San Leandro
to Brooklyn. The Grand Central Hotel was completed in June that year, occupying
a whole block along the south side of 12th Street between Webster
and Harrison Streets. It was destroyed by fire March 8, 1881. More exciting to
youngsters was the snowfall in December 1873.
Page 17
On February 21, 1874, the
Oakland Tribune appeared on the streets for the first time. The publishers were
Dewes & Staniford.
In 1875, while Rev.
Anthony and his trustees studied plans for their new church at 14th
and Clay Streets, Alameda County opened its new courthouse in Washington
Square, Broadway at Fifth Street. Franklin Square, across on the east side of
Broadway was held for erection of a Hall of Records the following year. The
year 1875 was also the year California Conference founded Pacific Grove on the
Monterey peninsula for use as a retreat center.
Camron Hall
is in the center of the block on the south side of 14th Street
between Broadway and Washington.
The
photographer aimed his lens across the plaza from the City Hall.
Methodist
church services were held temporarily in Camron Hall while the 14th
and Clay Streets church was being constructed.
Page 18
Despite such marked
progress in Oakland during these early years there was trouble ahead for First
Church.
When the Rev. Anthony
arrived in 1873 he found a great asset in Eli W. Playter, who had been Sunday
School superintendent since 1870. Playter turned the post over to W. H. Rouse
at the end of 1873, but was again superintendent in 1875-1876.
First Church had traded
its old Ninth and Washington Street lot for the larger 100 x 200 foot property
at 14th and Clay Streets and contracted for a new $25,000 church
building. That was in June of 1875. To help defray expenses they sold the south
75 feet of their new land acquisition that extended down Clay to 13th
Street. This added another $4,000 to their bankroll.
Ground was broken for the
new church in June, only a few days after the contract was let. Cost had been
estimated at $25,000 but now the lowest bid was $30,000. The trustees groaned,
but work went ahead. Then came a financial crash. Stocks fell, and banks
failed. Worst of all, subscriptions for the church building fund came to a
standstill.
The trustees were
disheartened. They considered giving up the project and probably would have
done so had not the contractor assured them that he would ignore strict
compliance of the paragraph regarding payments. But when church trustees found
it necessary to hold up payments for two months the work came to a halt. The
frame of the church steeple pointed skyward, and scaffolding was everywhere.
But there was no industry. There stood First Church, hardly a good example.
“After many vicissitudes,
much hard work and noble sacrifices on the part of those having the matter in
charge, the building was eventually dedicated,” Rev. Anthony records. “But I
hardly think First Church would have survived had it not been for the
generosity of Eli W Playter,” he adds.
The task of completing the
new church structure created enough of a problem to give the Centennial Year of
1876 a double meaning for Pastor Anthony and his trustees. Fortunately, the
worry was eliminated after a short time, and on May 21, 1876, the new church
was dedicated.
The initial sermon on
Dedication Day was preached at 11 a.m. by the Rev. F. F. Jewell, but special
rites were conducted later in the day by the Rev. J. H. Wythe. Church debt on
Dedication Day was $17,000. Total value of the property, in round numbers, was
$50,000.
Page 19
Because of the
construction delays brought about by the financial panic of 1876, Rev. Anthony
found he was unable to hold on to the Dietz Opera House for temporary services.
A second temporary home was secured after much scampering about. This was in
Camron Hall on 14th Street between Broadway and Washington Street,
across from the City Hall Plaza and but a short distance from the new church.
Records of church trustees
in that year of 1876 tell of an official motion appointing a committee to
procure hitching posts for in front of the church. These posts were to be
installed at intervals at the street edge. How times have changed! Now we bump
into the parking meters.
These same records say the
Rev. Anthony closed his labors in Oakland in September of 1876 with a church
membership of 314. He was succeeded by Rev. Robert Bentley.
FIRST
METHODIST CHURCH - 14th and Clay Streets
The Rev. C.
V. Anthony and his church trustees had some headaches getting this church
built, but it served as First Church for 36 years after it was dedicated in
1876.
Again the
photographer works from the upper floors of the City Hall at 14th
and Washington.
Page 20
Rev. Robert Bentley, a new
pastor at First Church, was a native of England. He came to California via
Chicago, but after his arrival in 1874 he was sent to Oregon. He remained in
the Pacific Northwest until 1876. Upon returning to California he was
immediately assigned to Oakland.
Rev. Bentley served First
Church with unusual ability, being especially active in benevolent work. He
remained here from 1876 to 1878.
Following Rev. Bentley in 1878
was the Rev. Thomas Guard. Rev. Guard was a native of Ireland who had been in
South Africa and Australia before coming to America. He transferred to the
California Conference from Baltimore. His sermons were popular, though he
sometimes spoke for two hours.
Rev. Thomas Guard’s
service brought to a close the second decade of First Church activities in
Oakland. Meantime there were constant improvements in the community.
EAST OAKLAND
METHODIST CHURCH – 1876
While First
Church struggled to complete its downtown towers in 1876, this is what the
Eighth Avenue Methodist Church looked like.
It stood on
the west side of Seventh Avenue between East 14th and East 15th
Streets.
Page 21
During Rev. Bentley’s stay
the submarine cable beneath San Francisco Bay linked (1876) Oakland and San
Francisco by telegraph. One year later, August 25, 1877, the City Hall, almost
across the street from First Church, burned to the ground. Emma Nevada, an
unknown girl from Austin, Nevada, graduated from Mills College in the spring of
1876. She returned to Mills in the fall to teach German there, and in the
spring of 1877 she departed for Europe with the Adrian Ebell party. Emma Nevada
became world famous as a concert vocalist.
Robert Louis Stevenson
arrived in Oakland shortly before Christmas in 1879, seeking Fanny Osborne, his
bride-to-be. They wed in 1880 and spent a summer honeymoon on Mount St. Helena.
Former President Grant visited Oakland in September 1879, and President Hayes
the following September.
The towering steeple of
First Church at 14th and Clay Streets would mark Methodist
headquarters here for more than three decades (36 years) and witness a parade
of seven more pastors before giving way to progress and a new era in the
history of First Church.
They’ve been
to church, and now they’re off for an outing in Trestle Glen. These 1880
Oaklanders were fresh air fiends.
Or was it
simply because those tall top-hats needed sky room?
Page 22
INTERURBAN
RAPID TRANSIT – 1880
Who said
Oakland was a “one horse town”? Car No. 1 of the Oakland, Brooklyn &
Fruitvale line and its two-horse hitch waits at the famous Tubbs Hotel, East 14th
Street and Fifth Avenue in 1880.
Rev. E. S. Todd arrived in
Oakland in 1880 to take charge at First Church, and remained until autumn of
1881. He was followed by the Rev. C. A. Holmes, who held the pulpit at First
Church from 1881 to 1882. After Rev. Homes came the Rev. C. C. Stratton, who
had come west in 1858 to join the Oregon Conference, coming on to California
from Salt Lake City. He was a rapid speaker. There may be members of First
Church today who remember his sermons that were rattled off in rat-a-tat-tat
machine-gun fashion. Prior to coming to Oakland he had served as president of the
University of the Pacific on the College Park campus in San Jose. In 1887 he
was president of Mills College, but left there in 1890 to return to Oregon.
Rev. John Coyle was next
to take over at First Church and remained one year longer than any of his three
predecessors. He was here from 1884 to 1887. Rev. Coyle came to California from
the Newark Conference, where he had 12 years of work. He arrived in California
in 1863. His two stations before coming to Oakland were the Powell Street
Church in San Francisco, and the charge at Stockton.
Page 23
After leaving Oakland the
Rev. Coyle saw service at Napa, Alameda and Berkeley in addition to serving the
San Francisco district as a delegate to the General Conference and the 43rd
Conference at Pacific Grove in 1895. He was a talented man and an efficient
pastor.
Back in those hectic days
when the Rev. Charles V. Anthony and trustees were struggling to complete the
new First Church at 14th and Clay Streets there were some goings-on
outside Oakland that made excellent sin-and-punishment themes for ministers
everywhere, as well as from the pulpit of First Church. It was the “Black Bart”
era, and the romantic “Po-8 highway-man” had everyone agog with his 27 stage
coach holdups.
6Oakland had a special
interest in this stage robber and his attacks on the money boxes of Wells
Fargo. J. J. Valentine, president of Wells Fargo, was a resident on 13th
Avenue in East Oakland. J. B. Hume, chief of Wells Fargo detectives searching
for “Black Bart,” lived at 1466 Eighth Street. Former Alameda County Sheriff
Harry N. Morse was now a special Wells Fargo detective devoting full time to
hunting “Black Bart”. Morse, too, was an Oakland resident. It was Morse who
played such an important role in “Black Bart’s” capture in 1883.
Oaklanders not only read
about “Black Bart.” They heard about him and his civil ways from the Sunday
pulpits.
Mass transportation was by
this time having its influence on church life. It made travel easier. Those who
felt they lived too far from church now used the car lines for convenience. But
there were still those who preferred the horse and buggy, and others who liked
to stroll via boardwalks shaded by the massive oaks that gave Oakland its name.
THE GOOD OLD
DAYS - NO TRAFFIC
One of the horse
cars of the Oakland, Brooklyn & Fruitvale line, called the Hiram Tubbs’
line, heads from Oakland to Brooklyn, crossing the 12th Street dam.
The view is
across Lake Merritt, looking north.
The cow is
grazing just about where the Oakland Municipal Auditorium now stands.
Page 24
THE
SANCTUARY, 14th AND CLAY STREETS
Many members
of First Church today hold cherished memories of this sanctuary at 14th
and Clay Streets. Ten of our 25 ministers preached here, shaping many young
lives and keying them to high ideals.
The Rev. Coyle departed in
1887, and now Oakland was introduced for the first time to the Rev. Elbert R.
Dille. Anyone who met Rev. Dille would remember him well. His first term in
Oakland was from 1887 to 1892. Then the Rev. Alfred Kummer was here for five
years, 1892 to 1897, after which Rev. Dille returned for a ten-year stay from
1897 to 1907.
Years later, after Rev.
Dille retired from the pulpit, he remained a resident of Oakland and was
honored as the dean of Pacific Coast Methodist ministers. He died on June 4,
1933.
Rev. Dille was born in
Middleport, Illinois, April 7, 1848. He was a soldier in the Civil War when but
16 years old, the army life giving him much valuable material for church
sermons that were to come. After the war there was schooling at Frankfort
Seminary in Indiana. In 1870 he was licensed to preach.
He transferred from the
Indiana Conference to California and in 1874 was ordained as elder. In 1886,
the year before he came to Oakland, he won a D. D. degree from the University
of the Pacific.
Page 25
From that time on his
success in the ministry was outstanding. It has been unsurpassed by any member
of the California Conference. He had the charge at San Jose in 1875, and in
1884 he was at Sacramento. Petaluma enjoyed him in 1878, Rev. Dille being
succeeded there by the Rev. Charles V. Anthony.
Everywhere Rev. Dille
served there was regret when he departed.
In Oakland he stacked
record upon record. His 15 years here alone was a record for First Church. No other
pastor before has such a tenure. Unique among all other records was his 1,000
pastoral calls in one year made on a bicycle. Rev. B. H. Fleming, his
assistant, was so inspired he took his bicycle and made a number of calls.
The Rev. Dille is also credited
with raising the necessary funds for a Sunday School annex to the church at 14th
and Clay Streets. He personally supervised a three-year financial drive to
complete the annex before he departed from Oakland in 1892.
Rev. Dille’s record of 15
years service here has never been approached. Runners-up have been Rev. George
W. White and the Rev. John Stephens, both with nine years each, and both the
immediate successors of Rev. Dille in Oakland. Rev. Elbert R. Dille was the
first of two Pastors Emeritus at First Church.
Walking to
church on Sunday morning was eliminated for many Oaklanders in 1869 when horse
cars of the Oakland Railroad Company began operating on Broadway and Telegraph
Avenue.
This photograph was taken in 1887, in front of
the car barns at 51st Street and Telegraph Avenue.
Page 26
He won this honor for his
long and energetic service. Also winning this honor was Rev. Edgar Allen
Lowther, of whom more will be said later.
Looking back from this
point, the records show that the debt on the 14th and Clay Street
church was paid in full during the administration of the Rev. John Coyle in
1884.
In 1885 a branch Sunday
School was started in the Temescal District, the church school being set up on
48th Street just east of Telegraph Avenue, where Woodrow Wilson
Junior High School now stands. The land and building was contributed by a Mrs.
Chick. The Rev. John Coyle was then pastor.
In 1889 the Chick Sunday
School building on Temescal’s 48th Street was moved to the northwest
corner of 34th and Market Streets where it became the Grace
Methodist Church. Grace Church developed an exceptionally active Sunday School.
During the three days
following the disastrous earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, more than
100,000 person poured into Oakland by ferry, railroad and other transportation
means.
Oakland’s
second City Hall on 14th Street was erected on the same foundations
as its first.
The city continued
using this building while present City Hall was constructed, 1911-1914.
First Church
edges into the picture at the left.
Page 27
SAN
PABLO-BROADWAY AT 14th STREET – 1892
Women in
white and man wearing straw hats at midsummer.
First Church
is two blocks west, to left of photograph.
This was equal in number
to Oakland’s entire population of that day.
Many of these persons were
almost insane with terror. The large majority were definitely destitute, having
nothing but the clothes on their backs.
All churches in the East
Bay Region were generous in extending relief. Also efficient was the Citizens
Relief Committee, and the various fraternal organizations. All were given
shelter and sustenance. Churches throughout the area were turned into
dormitories, clothing depots, dining halls, employment and information centers,
and hospitals.
At First Church, relief
work was organized by Dr. Margaret Wythe, who demonstrated a positive genius
for administration work. An organization was set up within 12 hours. Within
that time meals were served hungry multitudes, and the auditorium of First
Church took on the appearance of a dormitory. The stains on the carpets and
mars on the woodwork were scars of glory. It was worthwhile to see our refined
and cultured young ladies rise before dawn to work on the early shifts during
those strenuous days. They were relieved late in the day by a second group, and
the second group by a third group. They worked around the clock.
Page 28
A CABLE CAR
AT 14th AND WASHINGTON – 1892
Looking south
on Washington Street from 14th Street in 1892.
First Church
was but one block down 14th Street to the right of photograph.
Bicyclists in
the picture reminds that this was the day when “Daisy Belle” was the popular
tune.
When this
hotel was first built in 1892 it was called Laundry Farm. The name was changed
to Leona Heights in 1894.
Many Sunday
School picnics centered at this memorable inn with its park-like setting.
Page 29
THE TRESTLE
ACROSS INDIAN GULCH – 1898
Oakland’s
early-day trolley car transportation brought picnickers to what is now known as
Trestle Glen.
The exhausted were
sleeping on cushions in the pews of First Church. Our restaurant set-up fed
1,500 daily. A similar number were housed in a dormitory, while the employment
bureau worked long hours taking care of applicants for work. At our free clinic
was an Army surgeon aided by a group of nurses to help with first aid. Clothing
was dispensed at a supply station, and there was a nursery for infants.
The Rev. E. R. Dille, who
was then pastor of First Church, said he had never in his life been so proud of
people as he was of First Church workers in those hours of dire need and
emergency.
The last Sunday at 14th
and Clay Streets was March 17, 1912. That date marked the close of 36 years for
First Church in that location. At 7:30 p.m. that March night the Rev. George W.
White preached a short sermon, followed by testimonials by congregation
members. Memories stirred many that evening.
Page 30
The building had been
dedicated May 21, 1876. It had cost the enormous sum of $40,000 to complete.
Now the building and real estate had been sold for $275,000.
Before March of 1912 was ended
the Rev. White was conducting services in Maple Hall at the northeast corner of
14th and Webster Streets. Maple Hall remained temporary headquarters
for First Church until dedication of the present edifice on January 18, 1914.
During the stay at Maple Hall there were numerous occasions when pastor and
congregation would gather early on Sunday evenings at 14th Street
and Broadway for street preaching before retiring to the Maple Hall auditorium
for regular service.
The land on which the new
First Church was to be erected was obtained at a cost of $80,000. The building
and furnishings would run another $205,000. Simple arithmetic shows the total
investment to be $285,000.
Ground was broken on
September 9, 1912. There was an address by Trustee George Miller, and a talk by
J. S. Burpee, of the Building Committee. Miller was one of the oldest members
of the church at the time and he turned the first spadeful (sic) of earth for
the foundation.
IN THE HORSE
AND BUGGY DAYS – 1905
The Central
Bank Building is on the northeast corner of Broadway and 14th
Street. It was built in 1895.
Left of the
bank in the two-story Syndicate Building housing Ye Liberty Theater that opened
in 1903.
To the right
of Central Bank Building (but not in photograph) was the Walter Mackay
furniture store.
The Colonial
Cafeteria was there later.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source:
Norman, Albert E., “A Steeple Among The Oaks, A Centennial History of the First
Methodist Church, Oakland, CA, 1862-1962. Oakland, California. 1962.
© 2010 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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