Oakland Underfoot

24 Eucalyptus Road

This is one of the fancier stamps you’ll see. Gardner Elliot Marshall (1898-1975) was the son of concrete contractor John A. Marshall and brother of architect-contractor John II, but while he left marks on local sidewalks his life took quite a different turn. He seems to have lacked the drive those two men shared and the wealth they both generated, but any family dynamics are now lost to history.

Raised in Berkeley, Gardner was listed in the 1922 directory as a student, living at his parents’ mansion at 18 Tanglewood Road. (UC Berkeley has no record of him.) For the next three years he was listed as a contractor at the same address, and his marks must date from the 1923-1925 period. His stamp included the phone number LAkeside-1780 and the title “Cement and Concrete Construction”; however his firm never appeared in the classifieds or the papers. It was as if his sidewalk work were a vanity project or even a family indulgence.

The senior Marshall died in 1925, and the family soon split up as Gardner’s mother sold the house. The directories have a spotty record; they show that Gardner lived at the Oakland YMCA for the next five years occupied as a mechanical engineer. He lived elsewhere in Oakland in 1933 (“bricklayer”) and 1934, then disappeared until 1941 when he was hired by the city of Alameda as a truck driver.

Aside from a two-year stint in the military during World War II, he worked for the city for over 20 years. One early job title was “concrete foreman,” so his experience did mean something. He took training opportunities in emergency response and forestry that he must have applied in his various roles. He married late and had no children of his own. His brief obituary notes that he was a member of “the American Legion, the American Museum of Natural History, Golden Gate Chapter National Audubon Society, the American Forestry Association, the National Wild Life Federation and the Alameda Municipal Employees Association.”