Oakland Harbor Light - Oakland

public domain from US Coast Guard via Wikipedia

The Oakland Harbor Light was a lighthouse marking the entrance to the Oakland estuary. It was originally constructed in 1890 and sat on wooden pilings. The wooden pilings deteriorated, so by 1903 concrete pilings were constructed and a larger structure built on them.

First Lighthouse

The first lighthouse was built in 1891. At the time, there was nothing around it, so it was built on wooden pilings. The lighthouse keepers had to row out to the lighthouse to tend it.

By 1902, the pilings had deteriorated enough that the structure was in danger of collapse. The Secretary of the Treasury recommended an appropriation of $19,000 to construct a new lighthouse, with an updated fog bell. ⁴

1891 ²1891 detail ²1893 ³

Second Lighthouse

The new lighthouse was completed in 1903. Eventually the Western Pacific Railway mole where trains met the ferryboats grew to surround the lighthouse, and the lighthouse keepers no longer needed to row to get to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse was replaced with an automated beacon in 1966. The building was sold for $1 and moved to Embarcadero Cove. In 1984, it opened as Quinn's Lighthouse, a bar and grill. The original location of the lighthouse is now at the tip of Middle Harbor Shoreline Park.

undated ¹