Broadway

Broadway is the original major thoroughfare in Oakland. It starts in Jack London Square and runs northeast until Highway 24, and then turns east and runs essentially parallel to Highway 24 until ending near the entrance to the Caldecott Tunnel.

Broadway looking south from the intersection with Telegraph Ave. (by mk30)

Note About Naming "Broadway"

Broadway's official name is not "Broadway Ave." or "Broadway St."; it's just "Broadway."  When the town of Oakland was incorporated in 1852, Broadway was known as Main Street. ¹ By the 1853 Kellersberger map, it had been renamed Broadway.

1853 Kellersberger map

History

• By the original charter, the city extended north to present-day 21st Street and Broadway.
• The Oakland City Council voted on April 24, 1864 to pave Broadway from the Wharf to 14th Street. However, it took until 1866 until that section of Broadway was completely 'macadamized.' The science of road building was still fairly primitive at that point.
• The Oakland Gas Light Company lined Broadway with gas lamps in 1867.
• The Oakland Railroad Company opened the first street railway in 1869, using horses to pull the cars up the track. First it went to the city limits, then later was extended to Berkeley.
• Following the 1872 annexation, the city extended north to present-day 36th Street and Broadway.
• Beginning in 1886, the Oakland Cable Railway used cable-pulled cars from 7th and Broadway, up San Pablo Avenue to Emeryville. Later the line was extended down Broadway to Water Street.

Broadway Extension / New Broadway

In the early 1900s, Oakland began discussing the concept of extending and improving Broadway, connecting first to Rockridge and then to the Claremont District. ² In 1905, Alameda County prevailed in a lawsuit against Berkeley Rock Company, confirming that the County held title to property required for this extension through the company's quarry, which was located approximately where Broadway and the Grove Shafter Freeway are now located just west of the College Preparatory School. ^3,4,5 Charles Butters separately gave land for the right of way for an extension to Broadway in 1910, through land separate from and east of his Roselawn estate. ⁶ Caltrans maps showing the acquisition of property for the freeway leading up to the Caldecott Tunnel show that the right of way for the Broadway Extension (later renamed Shafter Avenue) ran behind Chabot Elementary and eventually through a portion of what is now the adjacent recreation area before reaching Chabot Road. ^7,8 This location through the park site may have been why many local organization expressed opposition to the concept of extending Broadway to connect to Chabot Road in 1936. ⁹

Separately, what is now Roanoke Road crossing the Berkeley border and providing a connection between Chabot Road and Hillcrest Road was initially identified as New Broadway on the subdivision map which dedicated this roadway in 1925. ¹⁰ Interestingly enough, the subdivision map filed in 1923 for the property immediately to the west showed that Charles Butters was then the owner of the property subdivided in 1925. ¹¹ A 1938 map shows New Broadway, Broadway Extension, and a New Tunnel Road connecting to the recently built Caldecott Tunnel. A 1939 map shows closer to the present-day configuration, with Roanoke, Shafter, and Broadway.

excerpt of 1938 mapexcerpt of 1939 map

Links and References

1. City of Oakland v. Oakland Water-Front Co. (1897) 118 Cal. 160, 50 P. 277, 280

2. Property Values Are Stimulated San Francisco Call November 20, 1909

3. County Wins Suit San Francisco Call December 9, 1905

4. On Pryal's Quarry Oakland Geology by Andrew Alden, January 21, 2019

5. Origins of the Chabot School Berm East Bay Hills Project (see image 5 of 22)

6. Gives Land to City For Extension of Broadway San Francisco Call February 20, 1910

7. Caltrans Right of Way Record Map R-137.1

8. Caltrans Right of Way Appraisal Map 539.001a

9. Drive on For Claremont Center Oakland Tribune June 1, 1936

10. Map of Chabot Center, filed July 16, 1925 in Alameda County Map Book 4, Page 81 Recorded_Documents-CA_4_81.pdf

11. Map of Chabolyn Terrace, filed May 21, 1923 in Alameda County Map Book 3, Page 55 Recorded_Documents-CA_3_55.pdf