the Crocker mausoleum
photo from Our Oakland
Charles Crocker (September 16, 1822 - August 14, 1888) was one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, and one of the “Big Four”. He was responsible for supervising the construction of the western portion of the first transcontinental railroad, and used low-paid Chinese laborers for much of the work. He said, "We none of us knew anything about railroad building, but at the same time were enterprising men, and anxious to have a road built, and to have it come to Sacramento.”1
According to the American National Biography, Crocker “gave nothing to charity … nothing to public institutions of any kind.”
He is interred in the Crocker Mausoleum at Mountain View Cemetery on Millionaire’s Row, next to the mausoleum of Samuel Merritt. Charles Crocker’s wife, Mary Ann Deming Crocker, commissioned architect A. Page Brown to design the Crocker monument following her husband’s death in 1888.
The Crocker Highlands neighborhood was once part of his estate.
1 Quoted in the Oakland Museum's exhibit about the Big Four.
Additional Links
- Mountain View Cemetery, Crocker Mausoleum, Oakland, CA Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD)
- Charles Crocker Lives of the Dead
