William Penn Mott, Jr., Dr. Charles Gilman, Albert E. Norman 1

The Pioneer Walk was a feature of the Morcom Rose Garden. Names of notable Oaklanders from various years from 1848 onward would be placed on plaques near each of the 125 Peace Roses donated by C. C. Stocking of San Jose. This started in 1954, the same year as the Mother of the Year Award. 1

Below are the names and notes from a 1954 article about the walk and the Mother of the Year Award. It contains a number of spelling errors which are in the original article. 1

There are several mentions of the walk in the 1950s, and a plaque was was added in 1959 for Orley See, founder of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra in 1936. 2 The last reference in the Oakland Tribune is a 1971 mention in an article about Rose Week and Mother's Day events at the rose garden. 3

Year Person notes from Tribune
1848 Ignacio Peralta
Antonio Maria Peralta
Vicente Peralta
Jose Domingo Peralta
original Spanish grantees of Rancho San Antonio, on which Oakland was built
1848 Volney D. Moody owner of sawmill at Park Blvd. and Mountain
1848 Julia Smith Hargrave first baby born in Oakland to Anglo American parents
1849 Moses O. Chase first [ American ] resident
1850 Robert F. Patten
William Patten
Edward Patten
founders of Brooklyn
1850 Edson F. Adams founder of Oakland
1851 Adamee Marier first postmaster
1852 A. W. Burrill member of the original board of trustees (city council)
1853 Henry C. Durant founder of Contra Costa Academy, president University of California, and mayor
1853 Mrs. Edson F. Adams
(Hannah J. Jayne)
first school teacher
1853 Rev. Samuel B. Bell pastor First Presbyterian Church
1854 Horace W. Carpentier first mayor
1855 George M. Blake superintendent of county schools
1855 Thomas Gallagher proprietor of Oakland's first department store
1856 Henderson Llewelling founder of Fruitvale
1856 Rev. Horace Bushnell president, College of California
1857 Thomas Eager first supervisor from Brooklyn
1858 James B. Larue merchant
1859 Mrs. George M. Blake founder of Oakland Seminary for Young Ladies
1860 H. A. Higley county surveyor
1861 Francis K. Shattuck supervisor and civic leader
1862 Henry N. Morse sheriff
1864 Rev. E.B. Walsworth founder, Female College of the Pacific
1865 Rev. David McClure founder Oakland Academy
1865 Dr. J. Mora Moss philanthropist
1866 H. P. Watkins first police chief
1867 John B. Felton attorney
1867 A. C. Henry civic leader
1868 Dr. Samuel P. Merritt physician and mayor
1868 Rev. Father Michael King founder of College of Holy Names
1868 J. Ross Browne ambassador to China and humorist
1869 James Batchelder engineer on first overland train to reach Oakland
1869 Anthony Chabot creator of the city's water supply
1870 Hiram Tubbs civic leader, hotel builder, and originator of the E. 12th St. horse car line
1871 Cyrus and Susan Mills founders of Mills College
1872 Dr. Benjamin Akerly rector St. John's Episcopal Church
1873 Dr. T. H. Pinkerton first health officer and president California Medical Association
1874 Edward Gill nurseryman
1875 William Edward Dargie postmaster and one-time publisher of The Tribune
1875 Dr. Ezra S. Carr state superintendent of public instruction and vice president of the American Medical Association
1876 Mrs. William Keith secretary of Oakland Suffragettes
1876 Dr. E. H. Pardee mayor
1877 Mrs. William M. Snook
Mrs. William C. Little
founders of Fabiola Hospital
1878 Ina Donna Coolbrth first librarian and poet laureate of California
1879 Frederick M. Campbell state superintendent of public education
1880 Thomas Hill artist
1881 Mrs. Jane Sather philanthropist
1882 Phillip M. Fisher county superintendent of schools and principal of Polytechnic and Technical High Schools
1883 Charles J. Burckhalter astronomer
1884 Mrs. Isaac Requa philanthropist
1885 Ely Welding Playter mayor
1886 Mrs. Henry Wetherbee philanthropist
1888 J. W. McClymonds city superintendent of schools
1889 Mrs. R. McWade founder West Oakland Home
1891 M. C. Chapman mayor
1892 Frank B. Ogden superior court judge
1893 George Pardee mayor
1893 George C. Perkins U.S. Senator
1894 Guy C. Earl University of California regent and state senator
1897 Frederick S. Stratton state senator and collector of the port of San Francisco
1898 Wilbur Walker civic leader
1899 Adelbert Wilson chief of police
1899 Edwin Markham principal Tompkins School and poet
1900 Mrs. Mary R. Smith philanthropist
1901 Melvin A. Henry attorney and superior court judge
1902 Benjamin H. Pendleton city councilman
1902 William H. Waste chief justice of the California Supreme Court
1903 Jack London author
1904 George Samuels judge
1905 Frank K. Mott mayor
1905 Thomas William Harris superior court judge
1906 L. Clay Harrison Alameda County tax collector and assessor and head of the relief committee for SF fire and earthquake victims
1906 Rev. E. R. Dille First Methodist Church
1907 Frank C. Havens
and his wife Lila
civic leaders
1908 Victor Metcalf secretary of the Navy
1909 Francis Marion Smith humanitarian
1909 James P. Edoff civic leader
1910 Dr. Susan J. Fenton civic leader
1911 Annie Florence Brown founder of the Oakland Forum
1911 Rev. Charles R. Brown Congregational minister who became dean of Yale Divinity School
1912 Oliver D. Hamlin surgeon
1912 Walter J. Peterson chief of police
1913 William H. Donahue district attorney and later judge of superior court
1913 Lloyd N. Cobbledick civic leader
1914 William C. Wood state superintendent of schools
1914 Abraham Jonas president, Hebrew Society
1915 H. C. Capwell merchant and civic leader
1916 Harry W. Pulcifer municipal court judge
1916 Dr. Aurelia Henry Reinhardt president of Mills College 1916-1943
1917 Dr. Margaret Wythe medical director, Oakland Board of Education
1920 Franklin K. Lane secretary of the Interior 1913-1920
1920 Ethel Moore philanthropist
1923 Arthur Powell Davis general manager East Bay Municipal Utility District
1930 John L. Davie mayor 1895-96 and 1915-30
1939 Dr. Charles A. Dukes surgeon
1945 Henry J. Kaiser industrialist
1947 James H. Cobbledick garden club leader
1948 Col. Arthur Brewer civic leader
1949 William Osborn business and civic leader
1950 Joseph R. Knowland publisher, statesman, historian
1951 Charles P. Howard civic leader
1952 Alfred Lundberg city councilman [ I don't see his name here; most likely was this Alfred Lundberg ]
1953 Mrs. William Harold Oliver general chairman of the branches of Children's Hospital of the East Bay
1954 Earl Warren former district attorney and California governor, and now Chief Justice of the United States

Links and References

  1. Rose Garden 'Pioneer Walk' To Honor Oakland Leaders Oakland Tribune May 7, 1954
  2. Park Department Schedules Special Rose Sunday Events Oakland Tribune May 3, 1959
  3. Promise in a Rose Garden Oakland Tribune May 9, 1971