I spent two nights in this central coast county seat and spotted a few sidewalk stamps. These are arranged roughly old to new.
Morganti is attested in a newspaper piece in 1909, a pair of brothers. Presumably one of them used this stamp later than that.
It’s odd, and probably a coincidence, that Oakland’s Frank “Borax” Smith was named Francis Marion Smith.
The next three are WPA work, from the Depression years.
A worthy destination for sidewalk freaks.
709 Broadway
Andrew J. McNicoll started his elevator company in 1886, in San Francisco, and the company was acquired by the Otis Elevator Co. after the 1906 earthquake. That year, Otis, McNicoll and seemingly every other elevator company in America were involved in a historic district court case in which the companies agreed to compete honestly in the elevator business. It established a precedent, for better or worse, of settling disputes by consent decrees instead of expensive trials that can unearth embarrassing facts, like guilt.
McNicoll’s steel was handsome and sturdy, although the elevator, which once served the building hosting the Have a Heart dispensary, probably doesn’t work any more.
1606 San Pablo Avenue
William F. Wilson (1839-1912) was once a major name in San Francisco. He was born in Germany, presumably with a different name. According to a laudatory article in the San Francisco Examiner in 1891, Wilson came to California in 1856 and soon made his name in San Francisco as a highly competent provider of plumbing services in large, prestigious building projects. Later he served on the Board of Health but was removed by new mayor P. H. McCarthy in a late-night coup in 1910. He died in 1912, leaving a large estate. His company was liquidated in 1933.
1427 Broadway
I spot-checked Oakland and San Francisco directories plus the newspapers and found nothing whatsoever about this guy.
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.
581 18th Street
The Ingram Hardware Company formed in 1902 to take over the long-established business of E. R. Tutt, who sold it to concentrate on large plumbing contracts in San Francisco. The firm’s founders were William Ingram, William McCaslin and John S. Gallagher and the store was at 511-513 13th Street, where the City Center development is today. They sold lots of stoves, furnaces, household wares, and plumbing, gas and electrical supplies.
After failing to win a contract for part of the construction of the new City Hall, the firm went bankrupt in 1912.
William Ingram, Jr. (1852-1934) had a strange and scandalous story. He was doing business successfully in Sacramento as part of the firm Schaw, Ingram, Batcher & Company when in 1901 he “disappeared one day, and for nearly a year his whereabouts baffled the efforts of shrewd detectives. Voluntarily he came back, but never told his experiences. It was learned, however, that Mr. Ingram had followed the vocation of a common farm laborer and that his contact with nature in the fields had wrought in his mind a calm which restored him completely and which has reinstated him as a useful member of society.”
He spent the time at farms in Hollister, recovering from overwork and intense frustration with his partners’ failure to buy him out. His dream was to run a stock ranch! Nevertheless, he ended up in Oakland running a hardware business. The 1920 census shows that he had divorced and gotten his farm, up by Laytonville. In his last days he returned to Oakland, where he died and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery.
1442 Franklin Street
James Graham (1842-1896) was a Canadian immigrant who came to the East Bay in 1874 and started a foundry in Newark eight years later. The James Graham Manufacturing Company grew to become the largest maker of stoves and ranges on the west coast, and the Wedgewood Stove he created is a favorite among collectors.
His life is detailed in an informative biography of uncertain origin. His obituary in the San Francisco Call noted, “Mr. Graham was a public-spirited citizen and was very kind to the poor, performing unostentatiously many acts of charity.”
It isn’t clear to me how old this fixture is or why it says “San Francisco.” The firm established a San Francisco salesroom the year after Graham died, managed by his son George, so that may be a clue.
Oakland Underfoot 