Oakland Underfoot

521 55th Street

This is a good example of Oakland’s oldest water infrastructure. The Contra Costa Water Company was founded in 1866 by Anthony Chabot, a name you may recognize. It was Oakland’s largest water provider until its demise in 1907, when it merged with the Oakland Water Company to form the Peoples Water Company, marking the end of the city’s infamous water war.

This is the only piece of street hardware I’ve found that features the full name of the company. If you see any others, by all means post the location in a comment. These unsung bits of history grow scarcer every year.

This gate-pot on Emerald Street next to 41st Street appears to be another example. It’s hard to see in this shot, but the “CC” is followed by a dim “W Co”.

This entry was posted on 31 August 2020 at 7:45 pm and is filed under  Streetscape. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.