Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipelago in San Francisco Bay, consisting of Alameda Island, Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, along with other smaller islands. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 78,280.
History
Ohlone era
Alameda originally occupied a peninsula connected to Oakland. The area was low-lying and marshy, while higher ground was part of one of the largest coastal oak forests in the world. A local band of the Ohlone tribe inhabited the region for more than 3,000 years. They were present at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the late 18th century. The Ohlone created numerous oyster shell mounds across the peninsula, some as large as 14 feet tall.Spanish and Mexican eras
Spanish colonists called the area Encinal, meaning "forest of evergreen oak". What is now Alameda, and much of the East Bay was included in the vast Rancho San Antonio granted to Don Luis María Peralta by the Spanish king who claimed California. The grant was later confirmed by the Republic of Mexico after its independence in 1821 from Spain. Over time, the place became known as Bolsa de Encinal or Encinal de San Antonio.Early California era
The city of Alameda was founded on June 6, 1853, following the Mexican–American War of 1848 and the subsequent acquisition of California by the U.S.The name Alameda is Spanish for "grove of poplar trees" or "tree-lined avenue" and was chosen in 1853 as city's official name by popular vote.
At the time, Alameda comprised three small settlements:
- Alameda — a village at Encinal and High streets
- Hibbardsville — located at the North Shore ferry and shipping terminal, and
- Woodstock — on the west near the ferry piers of the South Pacific Coast and the Central Pacific Railroads. Eventually, the Central Pacific's ferry pier became the Alameda Mole.
In his autobiography, writer Mark Twain described Alameda as "The Garden of California."
The first post office opened in 1854. The first school, Schermerhorn School, was opened a year later in 1855. The San Francisco and Alameda Railroad opened the Encinal station in 1864. The early formation of the Park Street Historic Commercial District was centered near the train lines. Encinal's own post office opened in 1876, was renamed West End in 1877, and closed in 1891.
On September 6, 1869, the Alameda Terminal made history; it was the site of the arrival of the first train via the First transcontinental railroad to reach the shores of San Francisco Bay, marking the first coast to coast transcontinental railroad in North America.
The Croll Building, on the corner of Webster Street and Central Avenue, was the site of Croll's Gardens and Hotel, used as training quarters for some of the most popular fighters in boxing from 1883 to 1914. Jack Johnson and several other champions all stayed and trained here.
The need for expanded shipping facilities and increased flow of current through the estuary led to the dredging of a tidal canal through the marshland between Oakland and Alameda. Construction started in 1874, but it was not completed until 1902, resulting in Alameda becoming an island.
Modern era
In 1917, a private entertainment park called Neptune Beach was built in the area now known as Crab Cove, which became a major recreation destination in the 1920s and 1930s. It was sometimes referred to as the "Coney Island of the West". The popsicle was first sold to the public at Neptune Beach in 1923. The park closed down in 1939.The Alameda Works Shipyard was one of the largest and best-equipped shipyards in the country. Together with other industrial facilities, it became part of the defense industry buildup before and during World War II, which attracted many migrants from other parts of the United States for the high-paying jobs. In the 1950s, Alameda's industrial and shipbuilding industries thrived along the Alameda Estuary.
In the early 21st century, the Port of Oakland, across the estuary, has become one of the largest ports on the West Coast. Its operators use shipping technologies originally experimented within Alameda. As of April 2006, Alameda is a "Coast Guard City", one of six then designated in the country.
In addition to the regular trains running to the Alameda Mole, Alameda was also served by local steam commuter lines of the Southern Pacific. Alameda was the site of the Southern Pacific's West Alameda Shops, where all the electric trains were maintained and repaired. These were later adapted as the East Bay Electric Lines. The trains ran to both the Oakland Mole and the Alameda Mole.
In the 1930s Pan American Airways established a seaplane port along with the fill that led to the Alameda Mole, the original home base for the China Clipper flying boat. In 1929, the University of California established the San Francisco Airdrome located near the current Webster Street tube as a public airport. The Bay Airdrome had its gala christening party in 1930. The Airdrome was closed in 1941 when its air traffic interfered with the newly built Naval Air Station Alameda.
In the late 1950s, the Utah Construction Company began a landfill beyond the Old Sea Wall and created South Shore.
On February 7, 1973, a USN Vought A-7E Corsair II fighter jet on a routine training mission from Lemoore Naval Air Station suddenly caught fire above the San Francisco Bay, crashing into the Tahoe Apartments in Alameda. Eleven people including the pilot died in the crash and fire.
Geography
Alameda's nickname is "The Island". Today, the city consists of three major sections:- Alameda Island – The main original section created by dredging a channel between Oakland to the north, with the former Naval Air Station Alameda at the west end of Alameda Island, South Shore along the southern side of Alameda Island,
- Bay Farm Island – Part of the mainland proper, and attached to Oakland.
- Coast Guard Island – A small island between Alameda Island and Oakland, home of Integrated Support Command Alameda.
The area of the former NAS is now known as "Alameda Point." The South Shore area is separated from the main part of Alameda Island by a lagoon; the north shore of the lagoon is located approximately where the original south shore of the island was. Alameda Point, Bay Farm Island, and South Shore are largely built on bay fill.
Not all of Alameda Island is part of the City of Alameda; a small portion of a dump site west of the former runway at Alameda Naval Air Station extends far enough into San Francisco Bay that it is over the county line and therefore part of the City and County of San Francisco. Ballena Isle, an even smaller island, is also part of Alameda.
Climate
This region experiences warm, dry summers, and cool, wet winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Alameda has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. Annual precipitation is about, all rain.Hazards
The low-lying island has seen sea-level and groundwater level rise threaten its infrastructure and people not just through flooding events, but through the increased liquefaction risk from more saturated soils. The locations of increasing groundwater-induced risks and flooding risks may be most precise in private insurance company maps.Demographics
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2000 | Pop 2010 | % 2000 | % 2010 | ||
| White alone | 37,921 | 33,468 | 32,152 | 52.48% | 45.34% | 41.07% |
| Black or African American alone | 4,350 | 4,516 | 4,399 | 6.02% | 6.12% | 5.62% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone | 365 | 247 | 173 | 0.51% | 0.33% | 0.22% |
| Asian alone | 18,757 | 22,822 | 25,107 | 25.96% | 30.92% | 32.07% |
| Pacific Islander alone | 407 | 342 | 356 | 0.56% | 0.46% | 0.45% |
| Other race alone | 235 | 278 | 556 | 0.33% | 0.38% | 0.71% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial | 3,499 | 4,047 | 6,102 | 4.84% | 5.48% | 7.80% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 6,725 | 8,092 | 9,435 | 9.31% | 10.96% | 12.05% |
| Total | 72,259 | 73,812 | 78,280 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
2020
The 2020 United States census reported that Alameda had a population of 78,280. The population density was. The racial makeup of Alameda was 43.6% White, 5.9% African American, 0.6% Native American, 32.5% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, 4.1% from other races, and 12.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.1% of the population.The census reported that 98.0% of the population lived in households, 0.8% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1.2% were institutionalized.
There were 30,980 households, out of which 30.2% included children under the age of 18, 47.7% were married-couple households, 6.6% were cohabiting couple households, 28.7% had a female householder with no partner present, and 17.0% had a male householder with no partner present. 28.3% of households were one person, and 11.2% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.48. There were 19,640 families.
The age distribution was 19.9% under the age of 18, 6.7% aged 18 to 24, 28.4% aged 25 to 44, 27.4% aged 45 to 64, and 17.5% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 41.4years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males.
There were 33,009 housing units at an average density of, of which 30,980 were occupied. Of these, 48.3% were owner-occupied, and 51.7% were occupied by renters.
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 25.4% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 65.4% spoke only English at home, 6.7% spoke Spanish, 6.6% spoke other Indo-European languages, 20.1% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 1.2% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 93.4% were high school graduates and 60.3% had a bachelor's degree.
The median household income in 2023 was $132,015, and the per capita income was $72,245. About 4.8% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line.