Oakland Underfoot

Macaulay hardware like these access covers can be seen all over Oakland and surroundings.

The Macaulay company was founded in San Francisco in 1896 by Henry Clayton Macaulay (1854-1938), a native of Rhode Island. He relocated to Berkeley after the 1906 earthquake. The large compound he built at 6th and Carleton Streets, down by the tracks, is now a candidate historic landmark and possibly a renovation target (although that website hasn’t changed in six years). At moment it’s in a state of grand desuetude with the potential for a grand funk revival.

Out front of the plant is this fine commemorative access cover. If you own a foundry, you can make your own custom big iron.

The company operated into the 21st century. The Bancroft Library has a whole shelf of its records.

This entry was posted on 7 June 2024 at 7:55 pm and is filed under  Access covers,  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.