Exedra

Exedra at Mountain View Cemetery (photo by Michael Colbruno)

You can find this exedra across the street from the main entrance to the mausoleum. Here is Doug Keister's description of exedrae from his book  "Stories in Stone."

These monuments are usually shaped like a curved or rectangular bench, but there are also many examples where the bench is straight. The ancient Greeks constructed public shelters known as stoa. In their simplest form, these structures consisted of a colonnade, walled on one side and roofed. At intervals along these shelters were recesses with seats carved into them. The seating areas were known as exedrae, the Greek word for “out of a seat.” These structures were frequently used in gymnasiums and public squares. Curved exedrae in public squares were favorite gathering spots for philosophers and teachers since their students could gather around the conveniently placed seats. In private homes and gardens, exedrae were also used for entertaining and seating guests.

Exedrae soon found their way into Greek burial grounds that lined the highways into the city. Greek law expressly forbade burial within the city, so the highways leading into the city became important places for Greek families to erect highly visible monuments to proclaim the stature of the family and celebrate and honor their dead. The traditional Greek burial custom dictated that when a person died, a large mound was formed over the grave. Soon after, an earth or rock wall was built to better define the burial plot; when enough resources were available, a more permanent stone grave marker was erected.

Graveside services were not a one-time affair for the ancient Greeks; thus, from time to time, the friends and family of the deceased would gather again at the grave. These services were accompanied with wine, food, and offerings that, for convenience, were placed on top of the burial mound. When the family had enough money to erect a suitable monument, they usually picked a table tomb so they would have a place to put libations and gifts. The next logical progression would be to erect a structure that would enable guests to sit and converse, which led to the introduction of the exedra in Greek burial grounds. The exedra was well suited to this setting; its three-sided or semicircular form helped define the burial plot (it replaced the earth or rock retaining wall) and its built-in seating enabled all of the mourners to talk to each other while focusing on the tomb that, conveniently, was heaped with food and wine. This arrangement is not unlike a contemporary living room with a conversation pit and a coffee table in the middle.

When designing exedrae for American cemeteries, architects used semicircular, rectangular, and straight forms. Typically, a statue or architectural feature with the family name at the center of the exedra and bench seats on either side, although there are some examples that are simply a bench. The heyday of the exedra was from the late nineteenth century until the 1920s. They are still popular today, but are usually used in public areas rather than as monuments for individuals or families.

Captain William “Bill” Leale (1846-1918) - Ship Captain; Owner of Historic Home

Leale home, grave marker and ferry

Captain William “Bill” Leale was born on the Isle of Guernsey in 1846. He came to San Francisco in April 1866 where he was hired as a deckhand on the river steamer Reform. He became the master of the steamer Pioneer within six years and commanded a number of other vessels.

In 1880 he purchased the steamer Caroline and the tugboat Frolic. By the 1890s he was the captain of the bay ferries for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

In 1883, he bought a home that had been built in 1853 at 2475 Pacific Avenue in San Francisco. He added a bracketed false front and built a small house in the backyard, which he fitted to resemble a pilot house. Historical records indicate that the house is one of the oldest in the Cow Hollow neighborhood of Pacific Heights.

The house has become famous in recent years as the home of Susie Tompkins, who has hosted some of the most prominent Democrats in America, including President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, future President Barack Obama and Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

 

Dean Henry Detton (1908-1958) – Football Star & Professional Wrestler

Dean Detton

Dean Detton was a former University of Utah football star who went on to become a famous heavyweight wrestler in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of eleven children and two of the nine boys became wrestlers.

He was the world heavyweight wrestling champion in 1936 and 1937. He lost the title after two years to the All-American football legend Bronko Nagurski.

He was known for his trademark toehold and shoulder tackles which combined traditional wrestling with a newer brand of more physical and showy wrestling.

After serving in World War II, he returned to California and promoted new wrestling talent. After a brief period in Southern California, Detton lived the last 14 years of his life in Hayward, California. Detton committed suicide by hanging himself in his tavern The Turf Club. The body was discovered by his wife and son. His wife said that he had been despondent over the financial challenges of his business. A few months earlier, Detton tried to throw himself in front of a moving train, but was only slightly injured.

Detton was a native of Utah and a member of the Mormon church.

Arthur Hastings Breed, Sr. (1865-1953) – State Senator; Father of State Highway System

Niche of Senator Arthur Breed, Sr.

Arthur Breed, Sr. during his early days in Oakland and shortly before his death

 

Arthur Hastings Breed was born in San Francisco in 1865 and moved to Oakland in 1883. He ran the A.H. Breed and Sons real estate company in downtown Oakland.

He was elected City Auditor Oakland in 1899 and later to the State Legislature in 1912. He rose to become President pro tempore of the California State Senate, a role he maintained for 18 years, which remains the longest term in history.

Breed was author of the California Motor Vehicle Act and of the gas tax, which provided for the construction of highways in California. At his death, Governor Earl Warren called Breed “the father of our state highway system.” 

He was named an honorary member of the Sierra Club in recognition of his efforts to build the John Muir Trail, running from Mt. Whitney to the Yosemite Valley.

He served as acting Lietenant Governor when Frank Merriam became Governor after the death of Governor James Rolph, Jr. 

Breed served on the Board of Directors and the finance committee of the Mountain View Cemetery Association.

Ina Coolbrith redux

PLOT 11

Although I've previously posted Ina Coolbrith on this site, I thought that this more comprehensive article from the Oakland Tribune might be of interest.

Nathaniel Spaulding (1829-1903) Saw inventor; Mayor of Oakland

Spaulding Grave (photo: Michael Colbruno); Mayor N.W. Spaulding from (Photo: Oakland Tribune)

Plot 6, Lot 1

Nathaniel Spaulding was born in North Anson, Maine on September 24, 1829. He learned the carpentry trade from his father and uncle and worked in the trade in Portland and Boston.

In 1851, he sailed for the Gold Fields of California, where he pioneered in the building of mills and flumes on the Mokelumne River in Calaveras County. He also built and managed the first hotel in Campo Seco, where he was married Mary Clinkinbeard in 1854. The couple eventually had ten children.

In 1859, he began a business in Sacramento as a manufacturer lf inserted-tooth saws. Spaulding patented the saw, which became known as the Spaulding Saw or chisel-bit saw. According to one source it, “…thoroughly revolutionized the circular saw business, not only in the U.S., but also throughout Europe.

He moved to San Francisco in 1862 and established the Pacific Saw Manufacturing Company. He also established the N.W. Spaulding & Company in Chicago with two of his brothers.

Spaulding moved to Oakland in 1866 where he built two large homes, one at 9^th & Madison and the other in Highland Park. He was elected as a Republican to the City Council, where he was named as chair of the committee that oversaw streets. Spaulding played a major role in the layout and lighting of the city. He was elected as Mayor in both 1871 and 1872 without opposition. He was a noticeable presence in City Hall, as he stood 6’3” and weighed 220 pounds, which was unusually large for the time.

As Mayor, Spaulding led the effort to move the Alameda County seat from San Leandro to Oakland, which was approved by the California Legislature in 1874.

After his terms ended, he served two more terms on the City Council and then was appointed as Assistant U.S. Treasurer by President Garfield. He also served as a trustee at Stanford University.

A thirty-third degree Mason, Spauling was founder of the Oakland Lodge No. 188 and Grand Priest of the California Royal Arch Masons. He died on October 8, 1903 in New Britain, Connecticut from complications related to malaria.

William Watrous Crane, Jr. (1830-1883): Oakland Mayor, Author

Oakland Mayor William Crane, Jr. (photo by Michael Colbruno)

Plot 14A, Lot 224

William Watrous Crane, Jr. was born in New York City on September 14, 1830 to parents of Irish and Scottish decent. He was educated in New York, including a stint at Columbia University. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1853 and practiced law for a year before heading to San Francisco via the Panama route.

In San Francisco he practiced with the law firm of Doyle, Boyd & Barber, then alone for a time and afterward as a member of the firm of Crane & Boyd. In 1856, he married the former Hannah Austin. In 1862, the Cranes moved to Oakland and he got involved in politics. He was elected as a State Senator from Alameda County and in 1867 was elected as Mayor of Oakland and served from March 1867-November 1867. He didn’t complete his term as Mayor due to bad health and was succeeded by Samuel Merritt. He was offered the Republican nomination for Governor on more than one occasion, but declined due to his health.

In an effort to improve his health, he took two trips to Europe with his wife. He ended up serving as a bank director as well as the president of the Oakland Gas and Light Company. He was also published as a poet and essayist and was donor to the prestigious journal The Overland Monthly. He was the author of Politics: An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Constitutional Law.

Crane died at his Oakland residence at 10th & Market St. on July 31, 1883.

William Rheem (1862-1919) - Built Chevron Refinery

Garden 8, Tier 1, Vault 162

William Rheem is third from the left

William Rheem's Vault -Photo by Michael Colbruno

William S. Rheem (1862 – April 19, 1919), was and executive with Standard Oil in Chicago before being tranfered to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1901. That same year, Augustine Macdonald, the founder of Richmond, convinced William Rheem to buy some old farmland north of Point Richmond. Rheem needed to replace a refinery in Alameda that couldn’t be expanded due to the limited availability of land.

Within eight months Rheem completed construction of what is now the Chevron Refinery and transformed the rural area into a company town. A year after it opened the refinery was producing 10,000 barrels of petroleum. In 1902, Rheem opened the Richmond Belt Line Railrod to provide service to the bustling refinery.

After the refinery was completed, Rheem remained as the superintendent. Chevron remains the largest employer in Richmond to this day.

Rheem Creek a small river in the Hilltop District and Rheem Avenue in the Central Richmond District are named in his honor.

Rheem died of a heart attack in a restaurant on his way to Santa Cruz with his family.

Chang Kia-ngau (Chinese:张嘉璈, Zhāng Jiā'áo or Chang Kia-ngau, Courtesy: 公权, Gōngquán) (1889-1979) - Banker, Academic, Author

MAIN MAUSOLEUM, GARDEN 8, TIER 1, CRYPT A

[Photo of Chang Kia-ngau vault by Michael Colbruno]

Known almost exclusively as Chang Kia-ngau in the West, Zhang was born in 1889 in Baoshan District, near Shanghai. His grandfather was a Ch'ing dynasty official and his father a doctor, so he and his siblings enjoyed educational opportunities not available to most of their countrymen. While his brother, Carsun Chang distinguished himself in the world of politics, Chang Kia-ngau became a leading figure in modern Chinese banking.

Chang Kia-ngau was a supporter of reform in China and started his public service career in 1910 as editor-in-chief of the Official Gazette published by the Ministry of Communications. In 1913 he started his banking career assistant manager of the Bank of China in Shanghai. He distinguished himself just a few years later in 1916 when he refused a request by Yuan Shih-k'ai to stop redeeming banknotes for silver. The move was meant to secure silver deposits for Yuan's use, but would have undermined confidence in the new currency, so Chang disregarded the order and was instrumental in the bank's separation from the Peking government's control. By 1923, the Bank of China was almost exclusively owned by private, Shanghai-based shareholders, and during the next decade, it became the largest bank, by far, in Republican China.

Under Chang's leadership, the Bank of China resisted the Kuomintang government's pressure to return to government control and to purchase government bonds which would contribute to ever-growing deficits. In 1928, T.V. Soong tried quite aggressively to assert control over the bank, but Chang and the directors resisted, so Soong created the Central Bank of China. Chang agreed to finance the new central bank's creation in exchange for a measure of independence and a charter to serve as the country's international exchange bank. Chang's interest was the development of the country, particularly railroad and other infrastructure development, even if such projects were not particularly profitable for the bank.

MVC docent Peg Stone discussed Chang Kia-ngu


In March 1935, H.H. Kung staged a coup against the Bank of China and Bank of Communications, forcing both to create new shares to allow the government to take a controlling share financed by overvalued government bonds. Chang Kia-ngau was removed as general manager of the Bank of China and was offered a lesser role with the Central Bank. He declined the offer, but in December 1935, accepted the position of Minister of Railways.

During much of the Sino-Japanese War, Chang served as Minister of Communications, accompanying the central government from Nanking to Chungking. After mid-1943, he was frequently in the U.S. promoting aid to the Republic of China and negotiation post-war arrangements, including aviation right. He wrote a book on railroad development which was published in the U.S. at a time when interest in China was high. After the War, he was appointed Economic Commissioner for Manchuria, and his diaries from this period were also published in the U.S.

After his departure from China, Chang moved to the US and was a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He died on October 13, 1979 in Palo Alto, California. His wife, Chang Pihya, died in Palo Alto on May 17, 1997.

[Reprinted from Wikipedia]

Henry Snow (1869-1927) - Big Game Hunter; Oakland's Snow Park

PLOT 50, GRAVE 245

 [B&W Pictures from the Oakland Tribune; Photo of Henry Snow grave by Michael Colbruno]

Allen: The story of Oakland's Snow Park
By Annalee Allen
Oakland Tribune columnist

This past week I spent some time at the Cultural Heritage Survey Office in the city's Planning Department preparing for today's Oakland Heritage Alliance walking tour. The tour, called "Lake Merritt's West Side Story," starts at 11 a.m. in front of the historic Municipal Boathouse, now home to the Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill, at 1520 Lakeside Drive.

I have learned that whenever I look through the survey files, I should expect to find out more fascinating things about Oakland; this time was no exception.

Little Snow Park, next to Harrison Street and facing Lakeside Drive, has an interesting story to tell. According to the files, Henry Snow was a hunter of African big-game animals in the early 1920s. He wished to donate his collection of animals to the city, provided that a suitable museum could be built to show off the collection.

The mayor at the time, John Davie, was eager to accept the donation, thinking a natural-history museum would complement other cultural institutions, such as the city's Fine Arts Gallery and the newly opened Public Museum, which was located nearby in a Victorian-style mansion that overlooked Lake Merritt and was converted from what had been a private residence.

Davie's predecessor, William Mott, Oakland's mayor from 1905-15, was responsible for opening the Public Museum. Museums, galleries and other civic improvements were part of the so-called Progressive Era agenda prevalent in many communities like Oakland in the early 20th century, the files state.

Oakland voters approved bond measures during that time to pay for the improvements, which included building a new city hall, an auditorium/arena and boulevards around the lake. A state-of-the-art water pumping station — today's Lake Chalet restaurant — to be used in firefighting emergencies also was constructed.

Mott's administration purchased the lakeside mansion and other grand homes such as the deFremery estate in West Oakland — subsequently converted into a public park — and the Mosswood estate on Broadway — it too became a park.

When Snow was ready to turn over his collection, the city had another vacant residence to offer him. It was to be a temporary location, files say, until a proper facility could be built. The home in question belonged to the late Francis Cutting, who had made his fortune in the canning industry during the late 19th century.

An East Coast native, Cutting came to California during the Gold Rush, and brought with him knowledge about new technology that preserved and packaged foods so they could be stored at room temperature without losing nutrient value or flavor.

This proved to be a big advance in the processing of fruits and vegetables. Oakland, with its strategic location close to rail, road and water, was a convenient place to establish canning companies. Cutting's company eventually would grow and merge with others; today's Del Monte Corporation is the modern conglomerate with roots back to that era.

After Cutting's death in 1913, his heirs inherited his estate and later sold it to the city. File photos of the Cutting home, erected in 1903 and facing Alice and 19th streets, show it resembled a rustic hunting lodge. The plot maps show back garden acreage running to the lake's shoreline; a separate boat house stands nearby.

At the time Cutting lived in his home, Lakeside Drive did not yet exist along that side of Lake Merritt. He, like other well-to-do lakefront dwellers of that era, enjoyed special access to the water.

In 1922, Snow, with the help of his son and daughter, moved in, transforming the place into "a taxidermic menagerie of elephants, bears, leopards, lions, snakes and birds," according to an article in a survey newsletter. A small enclosure was created next to the building to house live animals.

Unfortunately, Davie could not keep his promise to the Snow family to build a proper institution. Snow died in 1927. Son Sydney and daughter Nadine kept his legacy alive, relocating and expanding the zoo to the hills and keeping the specimens in the house available for countless school field trip visitors well into the 1950s, files tell us.

The old home was torn down in the 1960s, and for a time it appeared that a large convention-type hotel would be built there. Open space advocates protested, and it has, thankfully, remained a park.

As I continued my review of the files on Snow Park, I did come across something I was unaware of. Very early maps show the area now listed as the park was one of Oakland's early cemeteries. I checked my copy of Beth Bagwell's "Oakland: The Story of a City," and sure enough, as the town grew in the 1850s, the need to find a more remote location for the dead became ever more pressing. Today's Mountain View Cemetery, which opened in 1864, became the solution.

It does seem, file notes speculate, that because of all the early rush to build, some graves may not have been properly emptied. That did give me pause.

Find out more about Lake Merritt's fascinating history. Details about today's tour are at www.oaklandheritage.org. Copies of Bagwell's history of Oakland are available at the Oakland History Room in the Main Library, and I recommend it to all who want to learn about our history.