WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE UNION CITY HISTORICAL MUSEUM NEWSLETTER
The Union City Historical Museum, a newly established non-profit corporation, welcomes you to its first issue of the Union City Historical Museum Newsletter.
The Museum's specific purpose is the preservation, maintenance and protection of, and the education of the public about the architectural, cultural, natural and historical heritage resources of the City of Union City. The group meets once a month at the City Chambers at 7:00 PM. We need volunteers to start the work in the Museum. We need artifacts for display in the Museum. Please call Myrla Raymundo, 489-0133, if you want to volunteer or if you have artifacts to donate.
CELEBRATING UNION CITY'S 40 YEARS OF INCORPORATION
On January 26, 1999, the City of Union City celebrated its 40 years of incorporation. The big "40" was attended by dignitaries and community leaders. There were speeches, fireworks and birthday cakes. Several hundred people attended the party at City Hall. Anniversary pins and keys to the city were given to current and former city council members and school board members by Mayor Mark Green.
This event will mark the beginning of a yearlong celebration that will include several events throughout the city over the next months.
HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, CITY OF UNION CITY!
UNION CITY INCORPORATES IN JANUARY 13, 1959.
In 1958 the Citizens' Committee for incorporation of Decoto-Alvarado was able to petition the Alameda Board of Supervisors asking for an incorporation election. The immediate pressure of the City of Hayward to over-run the Decoto area along the railroad tracts from the Fairway Park and Tennyson districts by annexation hurried the process. The Union City election called for the consolidation of historic New Haven, Alvarado and the railroad town of Decoto, into one entity known as Union City. This name had originally graced the town lots adjacent to John Horner's wharves and pier where the hay-steamer "The Union" had originally been berthed. The favorable incorporation election was held on January 13, 1959.
At the time of incorporation the combined Alvarado-Decoto districts had a population of around 6,000 with a diversified ethnic distribution of whites, orientals, Filipinos, Hispanics and blacks.
The first elected City Council was composed of Tom Kitayama, Mayor, John Ratekin of Holly Sugar, George Sloan, Joseph Lewis and Oscar Dowe. Dean Seager was appointed city administrator.
TOM KITAYAMA - UNION CITY MAYOR FOR 32 YEARS
Former Union City Mayor Tom Kitayama occupied the positions of mayor, planning commissioner, councilman and mayor of Union City for 32 years and has the greatest contribution in the history of Union City. He is the biggest force behind the formation of a new East Bay City - now Union City, California.
When California began to experience incredible growth, Southern Alameda County developed quickly and the cities of Fremont, Newark and Hayward began to eye the townships of Union City/New Haven/Alvarado/Decoto for potential inclusion into their city boundaries. To preclude such an event, a citizen's committee composed of Tom Kitayama, John Ratekin, Oscar Dowe, Kenneth Garcia, Joseph Lewis and Elvin Rose was formed. They petitioned for incorporation, and on January 13, 1959, the City of Union City came into being, binding together the four areas. Tom Kitayama became its first mayor. He was the first Japanese American to hold public office in California, just 14 years after the end of World War II.
Tom Kitayama will go down in the annals of history of the City of Union City as the mayor who has the longest political career in Union City. He has 32 years political career, and as successful businessman, has 43 years as the head of a multimillion-dollar empire growing and wholesaling fresh-cut flowers.
Tom Kitayama moved his family to California in 1947. He and wife Heidi and three brothers bought land in Alvarado in 1950. They reared six children and now enjoy them and their fourteen grandchildren. His son Tom Kitayama Jr. died in 1983 in a hang gliding accident and a daughter, Susan, died in infancy in 1953 due to cirrhosis of liver (the tubules in her bile duct were not developed and she had a cerebral hemorrhage.)
Today, the 15 square-mile city is growing rapidly as new residents and companies wishing to expand or relocate in the Bay Area turn to the attractive environment of the City of Union City. Today, also, Tom Kitayama sits in his chair at his new home in Cherry Blossom Way in Union City and contemplates on the progress of the little town that once he managed and administered. He retired in 1991 and now enjoys his favorite past time, fishing and stamp collecting. He travels with Heidi everywhere, attends the Lion's Club events, keeps active as a member of the county fair board, committees at Washington Hospital in Fremont and other county activities. He still follows the politics in Union City and still very much concerned; he sometimes helps in city events and still keeps in touch with the people of Union City.
Tom Kitayama, once dubbed the "King of Carnations", was instrumental in the growth of Union City, has an elementary school named after him, had seen his nursery transformed into a beautiful residential community, is amazed with the big change in the city such as the Union Landing, the new homes in Decoto and a new school and most of all the big businesses that came to the city as offshoots of the sprawling Silicon Valley.
He and his family now enjoy the fruits of their labor when they first established the business that now has plants in Watsonville and Colorado, as well as 14 wholesale outlets throughout the country.
Tom Kitayama, Union City's first mayor is very much part of Union City's history. Tom Kitayama is history himself.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
Union City and Alvarado
Union City and Alvarado came into existence upon a portion of the Rancho Portrero de los Cerritos, in the northwestern portion of Washington township in what is today Alameda County.
Union City, the first of the two to be settled, is located on the banks of Alameda Creek near a point then known as the Devil's Elbow. It was in 1851 that Union City first sprang into existence. Mr. J. M. Horner being its founder and the builder of the first warehouse upon the bank of the creek. This steam pours its waters into an extensive slough, which stretches far out toward the bay, where a very tortuous channel was formed.
In 1878 small vessels used this channel as far as the sugar refinery, but today the channel is filled, and the course of the water entirely changed.
It is known that Union City received its title from the first steamer, which plied between that place and San Francisco. This vessel, "The Union," had a novel history, having been originally constructed in New Jersey and brought in sections, aboard ship around Cape Horn, and imported to the coast by Charles Minturn. When this steamer first entered upon the service between Union city and San Francisco it was owned by Mr. J. M. Horner, and was placed on the route to carry produce to market. It had limited accommodations for chance passengers.
FROM THE FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE UNION CITY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Myrla Raymundo, MBA
The Union City Historical Museum is now a non-profit organization. A group of residents came forward when I called for residents who want to help me start the history of Union City. The Union City Historical Museum has three components. They are the Museum, the Oral History and the Historic Preservation of Buildings.
The Museum is a place to collect and display historical materials. Until the city recognizes the importance of preserving history, the museum is housed in a little portion of the Union City Library. We are still collecting artifacts and old historical materials from the residents.
The Oral History is to interview longtime residents and to write stories about them. This is the Union City History book that is now being developed. This book will be woven from the mouths of hundreds of long-time residents of Union City. Some of these residents reside in neighboring towns; some left for other far-away places and some still resides in Union City. But though far away, they are still very much a part of our history.
When people get old, they have stories to tell. There is an old saying: Only little children and old folks tell the truth. The book will be filled with their inspiring memoirs, their vivid description of the old Alvarado and the old Decoto, a chronicle of their remarkable achievements and their poignant and humorous anecdotes. These residents will recall growing up in the old towns of Alvarado and Decoto; This book will provide us with a priceless oral history of our city's past years. And whatever stories we got and will get from them will tell us where we have been, how far we have come and how far we have to go.
The Historic Preservation Ordinance will help preserve the old historical structures in Union City. We are proud to announce that the city's first Historic Preservation Ordinance, after careful scrutiny and study by the Planning Commission, was approved by the City Council in January 1998. The ordinance calls for a Landmark and Historic Preservation Overlay zone. Owners of buildings and houses in the zone would submit plans for major additions and new buildings to the Historic Preservation committee, made up of residents, specifically the members of the Union City Historical Museum and some volunteers. At first the local historians were worried that houses dating back to the 1920;s in the Decoto and Alvarado areas would be demolished or significantly changed by owners as the homes aged and needed repairs.
Rural Side Road Leads To Wooded Wonderland
by Jacqueline Beggs
Once upon a leisurely drive, a long time ago when Mission Blvd from Hayward to Union City was still country, I passed by a rainbow of gladioli on the right, and a stream flowed on the left until the narrowing lane came to a wood fence covered with cascading, light-pink "Cecil Brunner" roses.
At the end of a row of well-pruned Ginko trees the road was blocked by impressive wrought iron gates. Smooth creek-rock posts topped the carved wheat shafts supporting the gates and an engraved stone plaque on one post reading "Dry Creek Cottage." I could only look through the iron bars of the locked barrier to the wooded wonderland beyond.
Not until 30 years later would I again encounter this "secret garden." I went to my new assignment as ranger to the Meyers Estate. An apartment complex now obscures the creek view, but the gladiolus field still spreads out in front of the Ginko-lined lane. This time I passed through the gates onto a pebbled path and crossed arched bridges over a winding creek shaded by giant sycamores. Camellias, cyclamens and columbines led the way to a wood cottage whose shingles were darkened by age.
Dry Creek Cottage, hidden here for nearly 100 years, was named after the stream that curves S-like throughout four acres of landscaped grounds. The garden, along with a larger parcel of 60 arcres, was a gracious gift recently received by the park district from the three former owners, the "Meyers Sisters."
The sisters, Mildred, Dr. Edith and Jeannette, had a "deep love for Dry Creek and wanted it to be preserved and enjoyed by others as had ben in tradition." And so they deeded the grounds as a park to preserve its beauty for all. How they felt abou their land and cottage is best expressed by words posted on a wooden sign above the cottage door:
"This is Dry Creek and we bid you welcom. Famed in the early eighties for the spirit of gaiety that reigned here on festival days, guests poured in from the rural districts of the whole county to greet their friends and make merry...And so today, we pray you to maintain with us that holiday spirit; leave care and worry behind you; enjoy the beauties of nature here in our midst; and pause for a moment in your rush through life to give thanks to the Great Artist who painted this ever-changing picture of hills and field and stream."
The tradition of gathering that the sisters wished to preserve began very early, as Beatty writes, perhaps as many as 2,000 years prior to European settlement of California. Stone mortars and pestles found where gardens now lie and the abundance of oak trees with mission of acorn children sprouting, beneath them tell of the Ohlone Native Americans who once gathered here.
After the founding of Mission San Jose in 1797, the land belonged to the Spanish and Mexican priests, but in 1840, it became part of a grant from Governor Alvarado to Jose de Jesus Vallejo in reward for his duties as a soldier. Vallejo later sold a large portion of his land to Jonas B. Clark, including the parcel that would become the garden. Clark leased the land for grazing cattle.
During this time the future garden site again became known for gatherings of hardworking farmers and businessmen who would convene for social outings and picnics. A map in the "Historical Atlas of Alameda County" for 1878 shows the words "Picnic Grounds" where the cottage is located today. During the pioneer period the May Day celebration proved to be the gala event of the year. Revelers danced beneath sycamores along the creek.
The sisters wrote in a 1949 account that during these gatherings the patriotic settlers climbed the nearby "Flag Pole Hill" to raise the colors. The "History of Washington Township" describes how "pleasure seekers" eventually stopped coming to the picnic site, "the distance from the station being too great for the convenience of pedestrians."
In 1884, a butcher from Germany named August May Sr. bought 1200 acres of land including the picnic parcel from Jonas Clark. He called it Dry Creek Ranch. After May's death in 1900, his wife Sophia built the small cottage at the former picnic site at the creek. Upon here death it became the property of her daughter, Bertha S. May. Bertha married Henry Haight Meyers, a well-known architect, and moved in a home in Alameda, where they raised their three daughters who would become known as "the sisters."
The sisters grew up in Alameda, but these career women who never married, loved spending their summers at their carefree cottage in the woods. Edith was a pediatrician at Children's Hospital in Oakland, and Mildred became an architect and worked with her father. Jeannette identified herself as a "floral decorator" and it was she who landscaped the woodland.
In 1951 the sisters revived the old "gathering" tradition. But instead of the customary rowdy revelry, they planned creekside strolls along the recently pebbled paths and observed "tea time" in the new cabana by the pool. For 21 years the annual fund-raiser for the Alameda Welfare Council was held at the cottage among the masses of blooming flowers.
Jeannette, the last surviving sister, cared for her garden until her death in 1993. Although somewhat overgrown, the garden continues to bloom. With names reminiscent of a bygone year, Jeannette's Forget-Me-Nots, Yesterday-Today-Tomorrows and Lenten Roses keep flowering in the filtered light under the tall trees.
Preservation prevailed and I am grateful that the immense oaks and sycamores in these historic flowering gardens await me through the same vine-clad stone gates I first encountered so many years ago.
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