OAKLAND, a city of California, U.S.A., on the eastern shore of San Francisco bay, opposite San Francisco (3 m. distant) and facing the Golden Gate ; the county seat of Alameda county and the third city of the State in size. It has a municipal airport of 825 ac. ; is a port of call for so steamship lines; and is served by the Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific, the Western Pacific and electric railways, and by ferries and motor-coach lines. The Population was 216,216 in 1920, of whom 49,895 were foreign born, including
Chinese and Japanese; in 1930 it was 284, 063, an increase of 31.4%. The business section of the city is built on a level crescent-shaped plain along the hay, averaging 2.5 m. in width, behind which gently sloping hills rise to an elevation of 1,500 ft., providing residential sections with magnifi cent views of the bay, with San Francisco and the Golden Gate directly opposite. The area of the city is 60.25 square miles. Ad joining it on the north is Berkeley; to the south, across an arm of the bay, is Alameda. These three cities and the seven smaller municipalities of the "Eastbay" district (Richmond, Emeryville, Piedmont, San Leandro, Albany, El Cerrito and Hayward) had a population approximating 500,000 in 1930.
In the heart of the city, surrounded by a park equipped as a general recreation centre, is Lake Merritt, a 160 ac. body of salt water. One part of the lake is a Federal refuge for birds, the regular winter resort of thousands of wild ducks. The city maintains 57 fully equipped playgrounds; public parks with an additional area of 628 ac.; and two municipal camps for week-end holidays and summer vacations, one in the high Sierras and the other on Feather river. There is a municipal auditorium and a city-hall, both built before the United States entered the World War. The public library contains 140,000 volumes. The city has an art gallery and three museums. The public-school system includes 44 elementary, 15 junior high and 8 high schools. The University of California, in Berkeley, is only 4 m. from the Oakland city-hall. In Oakland, on a 6o ac. campus in the foot-hills, is Mills college for women,
opened in 1871 by Dr. Cyrus T. Mills and Mrs. Mills. Oakland is the seat also of St. Mary's college for men (Roman Catholic, 1863). Since 1910 the city has operated under a commission form of government.
Oakland has 27 m. of water front. A channel has been dredged, and two large docks con structed. The railroads have built four solid filled moles and trestles, extending from the shore 13 to 3 miles. The commerce of Oakland Harbor (including the Alameda side of the inner harbour) was 3,217,897 tons in 1927, valued at
of which $14,690,794 represented exports to foreign countries, $22,588,088 imports, $81,854,793 coastwise receipts, $60,363,075 coastwise shipments and $20,828,695 local traffic.
The industrial district lies just behind the water front and is traversed by 34 m. of main-line railroad track age. Since the World War Oakland has had a great industrial expansion. In 1927 the Federal census of manufactures reported 665 establishments, with an aggregate output valued at $159,375, 870, five times the value for 1914. The motor-vehicles, bodies and parts manufactured in 1925 were valued at
nearly 3 the value of the total factory output. Next-in importance were lumber and lumber products, electrical machinery, appa ratus and supplies, canned and preserved fruits and vegetables, and boats and ships. There are four large shipbuilding plants.
The site of Oakland was part of the holdings of Don Luis Maria Peralta, who received vast grants from the Spanish Crown. In 1842 he divided his lands among his four sons, and the two to whom this region fell established themselves on their estates. From one of them in 185o Moses Chase leased a tract, and he became the founder of the future city. In 1852 the settlement was incorporated as a town and in 1854 it was chartered as a city. The name was suggested by the grove of oaks in which the first houses were built. By 186o it had a population of
which increased rapidly to 10,500 in 1870 and 34,555 in 1880.