Albany Waterfront History(Post-1900)

Albany Waterfront History(Post-1900). . The explosive powder industry developed around San Francisco during the Civil War to supply California's gold mines. A powder plant opened at Albany's remote Fleming Point in 1879. Others on the north side of Albany Hill followed. Nobel Depot, named for Alfred Nobel (inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Peace Prize), was constructed near Albany Hill for rail access. Albany's shoreline was renowned for explosions until 1905, when the plants were removed. The largest explosion broke windows in San Francisco and was heard in Sacramento. The eucalyptus trees on Albany Hill were planted to muffle these explosions.

Albany's most infamous crime happened at the Nobel Depot. On November 7, 1930, a hijacker boarded a Berkeley train, commandeered it to the abandoned depot, and stole $60,000. Soon after the robbery, the depot was torn down.

In 1919, the State Lands Commission granted a 100-year tidelands lease to Albany to construct a harbor. However, the shoreline remained undeveloped, a favorite spot for summer fireworks, swimming, picnicking, clam digging, fishing, and duck hunting. Then in the late 1930s, a horse track leased Fleming Point. The hilltop was blasted away and used for fill to create the racetrack and its northern parking lot. The Golden Gate Turf Club was open for two days in 1941 before rains washed out the track. During World War II, the U.S. Navy used the site to recondition landing craft used in battles for South Pacific islands, sending the boats out again for the next advance. The track did not reopen until 1947. Today, Fleming Point is one of the few remaining segments of the Bay's original shoreline.

In the 1950s, Albany zoned its waterfront for industry. A small dump at the base of Buchanan Street expanded rapidly after 1961, when California removed its harbor requirement from Albany's tideland lease. Over the next 25 years, filling with construction debris created most of Albany's present shoreline, including the Albany Plateau, Neck, and Bulb. The new peninsula shifted currents, waves, and winds, leading to formation of sandy Albany Beach to the south and the bird-rich Albany Mud Flats to the north. Meanwhile, citizen protest against Bay fill was growing. The landfill was forced to close in 1984. In 1986, California declared the tidelands part of the "public trust,” preventing further filling of the Bay.

Ending a century of private ownership, in 1997 Catellus, the real estate branch of the Santa Fe Railroad, agreed to sell the racetrack to its operators and the remainder of the waterfront property to the State for the Eastshore State Park. The park includes about five miles of shoreline and 2000 acres of uplands and tidelands. Its segments from Emeryville to Richmond are linked by the Bay Trail. ,