Oakland Underfoot

Linden and 21st Streets

The Oakland Water Company was founded by William Dingee in 1893 and competed vigorously — sometimes viciously — with Anthony Chabot’s Contra Costa Water Company. The infamous water war ended in 1898 when the firms merged under Chabot’s name but with Dingee in charge. It was just one episode in a cascade of bankruptcy and failure that ended with public ownership of the water system by East Bay MUD in the 1920s.

Signs of the old private water companies are rare in Oakland streets. EBMUD is interested in preserving them when feasible, and this is a prime candidate.

This entry was posted on 28 March 2026 at 8:04 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.