NAME, Years Elected to City Council

John L Howard (-1914) served on City Council in 1903.

POLITICAL AFFILIATION

Republican5

 

BIO

John Howard was the president of Howard Company which provided "coal, coke, cement fire bricks and clay." It was located at Howards Wharf at the foot of Market.

John Howard lived at 87 Vernon.1 Howards Wharf may also have been known as Howard Terminal (or they may have been two separate things.) Founded in 1900, the Howard Terminal was a private railway station which was also used to store coal.2 

Howard was also the president of the Beet Sugar Manufacturers of America, the Western Fuel Company and, as his obituary delicately puts it, "many commercial concerns." These included being the president or director of each of these: the Alameda Sugar Company, Alameda Farms Company, Union Sugar Company, Atlantic Security Company, Central Bank of Oakland, Holmes Line Company and Union Commercial Company.3 At the time of his death (literally on the day of his death) he was in court facing conspiracy charges in his role as president of the fuel company.

While on Council, Howard served on the all-important water committee and attended to the business of the municipal water supply. In May of 1904 Howard attempted to resign from City Council, saying that he had to go to New York and London on business. Mayor Olney and the City Council decided to wait for 3 months before naming a successor. In his resignation letter he praised New York's Central Park and encouraged Oakland to build such a place.4

Howard is buried in Mountain View Cemetery.

John Jr went on to be a prominent figure in the society world. 

Charles Prescott Howard, his son, went on to be a wealthy and prominent Oakland figure: owner of the Howard Automobile Company and namesake of the Charles P Howard Marine Terminal Site which appears to be the same as the Howard Terminal, but with a new name.

Links and References

  1. "Oakland Directory." 1903.
  2. "The Howard Terminal in N Scale." (Note, this site is also under discussion for the new A's ballpark, though now called the The Charles P. Howard Marine Terminal Site.) 
  3. "Death Calls John L. Howard: Apoplexy Takes Business Man WAS HEAD OF MANY BIG CORPORATIONS." San Francisco Chronicle: Jan 23, 1914.
  4. "COUNCIL WILL WAIT FOR HOWARD." San Francisco Chronicle: May 10, 1904.
  5. "OAKLAND'S FIGHT PRACTICALLY OVER." San Francisco Chronicle: Mar 8, 1903.
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