Trestle Glen

Trestle Glen. . , The name Trestle Glen dates back to 1893 when Francis Marion "Borax” Smith's Oakland Traction Company extended a trolley line from downtown Oakland, up Park Boulevard to Grosvenor Place. From a point just above where Holman Road crosses Grosvenor to about Underhills Road, a large wooden trestle was built to carry carloads of picnickers across Indian Gulch and into Sather Park. Mark Twain was among the many people who took the trip., Trestle Glen, once called Indian Gulch, was named as a boundary by Louis Peralta when he divided his Rancho San Antonio among his four sons. It is thought that the name comes from an Indian Village that once extended near the junction of Lakeshore Avenue and Trestle Glen. These Indians, the Chochenyo or Huichium, would have been part of the Ohlone group, which inhabited the coast of Central California. The site of an Indian village among the redwoods at what is now Trestle Glen, would have provided shelter from the winds, proximity to the fish and waterfowl of the estuary (Lake Merritt) and fresh water from the creek running through the canyon to the bay., "Borax” Smith quickly consolidated the various East Bay Railway lines into the Key System connecting it to San Francisco by way of an elaborate ferry system. Key system lines were laid in 1920 through Lakeshore Highlands on a private right-of-way, up to Underhills Road. The system was in operation until 1958 when the electric rail lines were replaced by motorbuses. This development was hastened by the elimination of ferries, once the Bay Bridge was,opened for electric train traffic on January 15, 1939.