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Claremont name has been around awhile

By Susan Cerny
Sunday October 14, 2001

The name Claremont did not originate with the development of the hotel or the early subdivisions, but appears on an 1888 map with its present name. In an Oakland Times article from July 20, 1882, the area is already referred to as Claremont: “Here is a beautiful spot lying east of Telegraph Avenue beyond Temescal called Claremont.... (The) elegant homes in this pleasant retreat are standing in the center of flower beds surrounded by shade trees.” 

Claremont Avenue was originally a section of Telegraph Road.  

In 1858 the first intercontinental telegraph cable line was brought over the hills from Oakland along this route because Claremont Canyon was the lowest pass in the central Contra Costa Hills.  

Although the route was steep it also became the main highway to Martinez where it met the ferry boats to Benicia.  

It remained the main route over the hills until the first tunnel was opened in 1903, directly above the present Caldecott Tunnel. Farms, ranches, and later, country estates, were eventually established along this road.  

Expansion of electric streetcar service made the development of the hillside areas possible. Beginning around 1892 Francis Marion “Borax” Smith, and Frank Havens, a San Francisco attorney, began buying independent transit rail lines in the East Bay.  

Through their purchases they created the Oakland Transit Consolidated, which became known as the Key Route System.  

The trains and ferries he had consolidated and expanded into the Key System continued to run until 1958. The construction of the Claremont Hotel began in 1906 as part of the plan to provide a destination, and therefore passengers, for the new electric rail lines.  

The hotel did not open until 1915 for reasons that are not clear, but include a financial downturn in 1907 resulting from the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.  

Claremont Park was opened in 1905 and the opening of Claremont Court was announced in 1906.  

Credit is given to Duncan McDuffie for choosing far sighted designers for the layout of these residential subdivisions. Undoubtedly McDuffie was inspired by Frederick Law Olmsted that roads should express the natural contours of the land, and creeks should remain open and natural with native trees and vegetation preserved.  

Susan Cerny writes Berkeley Observed in conjunction with the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.  

On October 21, the Association will sponsor a house tour of homes around the Claremont Hotel. For further information please call 841-2242 or 841-1055.