1,200 BC	Ohlone Indians settle in the area that would become Oakland.
1772	Spanish explorers are the first Europeans to visit the East Bay.
1797	Mission de San José is established in what now is Fremont, extending Spanish jurisdiction over the area that would become Oakland.
1820	Don Luis Maria Peralta is awarded a 44,800-acre land grant from the King of Spain that includes most of present-day Alameda County.
1821	The first non-Native American dwelling in what is now Oakland is built by Peralta near Paxton and 34th streets.
1842	Don Luis Maria Peralta divides his land among his four sons. Most of Oakland lies within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. Logging operations begin in the East Bay Hills by American settlers. At this time California was part of Mexico.
1848	California becomes an American possession with the end of the Mexican-American War.
1849	The California Gold Rush.
1850	California becomes the 31st state in the Union on September 9th. Squatters were ever present on the land owned by the Peraltas.
1851	The first post office is opened in the Oakland House, Oakland’s first hotel, at the corner of Broadway and First Street. Mail is addressed to “Contra Costa” (the other coast) until 1855 when the post office recognizes the name Oakland.
1852	On May 4th, the State legislature approves incorporation of the town of Oakland. The hamlet of 70 people was previously known as Contra Costa. The waterfront was granted to Horace Carpentier by town trustees. Immediately, construction of shipping wharves begins along Oakland’s Estuary. Building the large wharves and dredging a shipping channel eventually positioned Oakland as an independent point of destination. The Young Ladies’ Seminary, predecessor to Mills College, opens in Benicia before moving to Oakland in 1871.
1853	Alameda County is incorporated. The College School (Henry Durant, founder) is established in a rented room on the corner of Fifth and Broadway. It will later become the College of California (1855), predecessor to the University of California. The first public school opens with an attendance of 16. The Oakland Police Department is founded.
1854	The State legislature approves incorporation of Oakland as a city.
1860	Oakland, with a population of 1,543, is ranked 38th in a list of towns of California compiled during the seventh census of the United States. The famed Pony Express makes at least 20 documented rides through Oakland en route from Sacramento to San Francisco, before the transcontinental telegraph system makes it obsolete.
1863	Local railroad service from 7th Street and Broadway runs to the ferry system on the Bay en route to San Francisco.
1864	County supervisors rent an Oakland house to serve as the first county hospital. The first street paving is laid in Oakland, on a small portion of Broadway at a cost of $3.18 per foot.
1865	Mountain View Cemetery, designed by the great landscape architect Fredrick Law Olmsted, designer of New York City’s Central Park, is dedicated on May 25th. The first interment is June Weir in July. By 1876, 2,000 burials are recorded. By 2002, there are approximately 165,000 interred there. Many prominent figures in California history have been laid to rest in Mountain View Cemetery.
1867	Dr. Samuel Merritt donates 155 acres around the lake to the city, then dams tidal water from the headwaters of San Antonio Slough. It becomes known as “Merritt’s Lake” and later Lake Merritt.
1868	Enoch Pardee builds a home on 11th Street. The family lives there until 1981. Enoch’s son George served as Governor of California during the 1906 Earthquake. Carpentier’s waterfront lands are transferred to the Oakland Waterfront Company, establishing a railroad monopoly of the waterfront that lasts for four more decades. First Oakland Library Association founded.
1869	The first Oakland horsecar runs from the Estuary to 40th and Telegraph. Oakland becomes the western terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad. The first west-bound train arrives on the Central Pacific railroad in the area now known as Old Oakland. The Oakland Fire Department is established. Antonio Peralta’s adobe home in East Oakland is replaced by an Italianate frame house. Still standing in 2002, the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and forms the heart of the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.
1870	The state legislature designates Lake Merritt as a wildlife refuge, the first wildlife refuge declared by any legislative body in North America. By 1870, a Chinese settlement is established in the location of present-day Oakland Chinatown.
1871	Mills College moves to Oakland where a new campus is purchased and Mills Hall is built. In 2002, Mills Hall remains a centerpiece of the college’s campus. The City government moves into the newly completed City Hall at 14th & Washington Streets. The Webster Street drawbridge across San Antonio Creek is completed connecting Oakland with Alameda. The city’s African American community stands up to the Oakland School Board and fights to preserve open classroom admissions.
1872	The town of Brooklyn is annexed to Oakland.
1874	The first edition of the “Oakland Daily Evening Tribune” is printed. The Federal government dredges the Estuary to open Oakland as a deep water port.
1876	The Camron-Stanford House, an Italianate home, is constructed. Today the last Victorian home to grace the shores of Lake Merritt, the Camron-Stanford House was acquired by the City and becomes the Oakland Public Museum from 1910 to 1967.
1877	City Hall at 14th and Washington Streets burns to the ground in a suspicious fire.
1882	The Oakland Mole (pg. 74) is opened.
1883	Heinolds’ First and Last Chance Saloon opens and remains in continuous operation to the present. The bar was a favorite haunt of Jack London who references the bar seventeen times in his novel “John Barleycorn”. Heinolds’ is designated a National Literary Landmark in 1998 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
1884	Stick style Cohen-Bray House on 29th Avenue is built as a wedding present to Emma Bray Cohen and her husband Alfred H. Cohen. The home is still owned by their descendants.
1886	Joaquin Miller, distinguished poet, purchases a site in the Oakland hills, naming it “The Hights”. Miller plants some 75,000 trees on the 70 acres to create an artists’ retreat where the sharing of nature would nurture the creative spirit.
1889	H. C. Capwell opens the Lace House on Washington Street. Several moves later, the H. C. Capwell Company opens the department store at Broadway and 20th Street in 1927.
1891	Oakland’s first electric streetcar leaves the foot of Broadway for Berkeley. Residents crowd the sidewalks as if it were a parade. Oakland annexes the Vernon Heights district in what is now known as Adams Point.
1897	Giovanni Ratto opens G. B. Ratto & Company at Sixth and Washington streets and later moves to Ninth and Washington, its current location. The business continues to be operated by family members into the 21st century. North Oakland is annexed to Oakland.
1899	Alexander Dunsmuir builds a spectacular 37-room Neo-classical mansion as a wedding gift for his bride Josephine Wallace. The home, now a museum, offers a glimpse of how the wealthy lived. Today special events are held on its 40-acre estate.
1903	Oakland’s first “skyscraper”, an 11-story, steel-frame Beaux Arts-style office building at Broadway and 13th Street, houses the Union Savings Bank. Key Route System is established by the Realty Syndicate.
1904	Oakland’s first public recreation area, Bushrod Playground in North Oakland, is deeded to the City by Bushrod Washington James.
1906	A major earthquake strikes the Bay Area. San Francisco burns. In Oakland there is scattered damage to many structures but Oakland remains intact. Thousands of San Franciscans flee to Oakland and take up shelter around Lake Merritt. Many people and businesses relocate permanently from fire-ravaged San Francisco.
1907	Frederick Meyer establishes the California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC) in Berkeley to provide an education for artists and designers that integrates both theory and practice in the arts. In 1923, Meyer purchases a four-acre estate at Broadway and College Avenue and moves CCAC to Oakland.
1909	Oakland adds 44 square miles with the annexation of Claremont, Fruitvale, Melrose, Fitchburg, Elmhurst and other outlying territories. Samuel Merritt College begins as a hospital school of nursing named after Dr. Samuel Merritt.
1910	Oakland’s population more than doubles from 66,960 to over 150,000 during the first ten years of the 20th century. Oakland regains control of the long-lost waterfront by final settlement of litigation which had lasted over half a century and cost several million dollars.
1911	Re-incorporation of Oakland under the new city charter adopted in 1910 changes the municipal government from a council to a commission system. U. S. President William H. Taft lays the cornerstone for the new Beaux Arts-style City Hall, said to be the first government building designed as a skyscraper and the tallest building West of the Mississippi when completed in 1914.
1914	The Oakland Civic Auditorium, designed by J.J. Donovan, opens on the shore of Lake Merritt. The auditorium is described as “a California Million Dollar Amusement and Recreation Palace”.
1915	The YWCA building at 1515 Webster Street opens, designed by Julia Morgan, an Oakland resident, and the first woman to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Considered one of her major works, the Oakland Y is the first of eighteen YWCAs designed by Morgan in California and Hawaii.
1918	Over $2 million is spent on construction of factory buildings, an amount not exceeded until 1923. The Edoff Bandstand is built in Lakeside Park.
1921	Mills College confers its first master’s degree.
1925	Lake Merritt’s “Necklace of Lights” is lit for the first time during the Dons of Peralta Water Festival. There are 126 lampposts, each given by an organization or an individual. The lampposts and 3,400 bulbs shine until 1941 when World War II blackout conditions are enforced. C. L. Dellums helps establish the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first African American trade union in U.S. history. Dellums serves as the union’s vice president and president. In 1995, Oakland’s new train station is named the C. L. Dellums Amtrak Station.
1926	Charter amendments are adopted which create a permanent Port Commission, and transfer to the County the assessment of city property and the collection of city taxes. Moviegoers flock to the opening of the Grand Lake Theater and are thrilled by the sounds of its mighty Wurlitzer organ.
1927	With the organization of the Board of Port Commissioners, the municipal harbor enters a new era of development as the “Port of Oakland” including the opening of the 700-acre Oakland Municipal Airport. The first successful flight from the mainland to Hawaii leaves from Oakland.
1928	The Fox Oakland Theater opens in downtown Oakland boasting one of the largest stages on the West Coast.
1929	Razing of Idora Park is begun to make way for new homes. For 25 years, the 17-acre amusement park in North Oakland offered a variety of entertainment from roller-coaster thrills to band music and opera. The East Bay Municipal Utility District completes Pardee Dam and the Mokelumne aqueduct delivering fresh water from the Sierra Nevada to Oakland. At 345 feet above the riverbed and 580 feet above sea level, Pardee Dam is the highest in the world at the time.
1930	Adoption of charter amendments provides for a city manager-council form of government.
1931	The Paramount Theatre, designed by Timothy Pflueger in the Art Deco style, is one of the last movie palace extravaganzas to be built in the Great Depression era.
1932	The WPA-built Oakland Municipal Rose Garden blooms for the first time. Some 6,000 rose bushes bloom between May and September.
1934	Voters approve the East Bay Regional Park District which grows from 10,000 acres of former watershed lands in the East Bay hills to 50,000 acres in Alameda County and 42,000 in Contra Costa County including 59 regional parks and recreation areas, 29 inter-park trails, 10 freshwater swimming areas, two golf courses, and 18 children’s play areas.
1935	Construction of the new Moderne-style Alameda County Courthouse on the shore of Lake Merritt, one of the Depression-era WPA construction projects that helps stimulate employment.
1936	The Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, one of the engineering wonders of the world, opens months before the Golden Gate Bridge.
1937	The Broadway low-level tunnel connects Oakland with Contra Costa County. Amelia Earhart begins her ill-fated around-the-world flight from the Oakland Municipal Airport.
1941	The Port of Oakland voluntarily turns over to the Armed Forces such facilities needed for the war program. In the ensuing years, the port area becomes the site for the Oakland Army Base and the Naval Supply Center. Filling tidelands for these bases is spectacular. A hill is literally moved to the sea when thousands of yards of soil are hauled around-the-clock in heavy diesel trucks at the rate of one per minute. Dedicated as a memorial to California poets and writers, the WPA-built Woodminster Amphitheater and Cascades open in Joaquin Miller Park.
1942	The Permanente Foundation Hospital is dedicated in Oakland to serve Kaiser shipyard workers. It becomes the first in the chain of Henry J. Kaiser’s health plan hospitals.
1943	The Pacific Coast leads the nation in shipbuilding. Oakland leads the West Coast with over 35% of the entire Pacific Coast cargo ship output. Food packing is another major industry with 60% of food stuffs coming from Oakland canneries. Oakland is truly an “arsenal of democracy”.
1944	Dr. Bebe Patten establishes the Oakland Bible Institute which is later re-named Patten College to reflect the institution’s growth and expansion of academic programs and degree offerings. The Mai Tai, a refreshing rum cocktail, is created at Trader Vic’s restaurant.
1945	The day after V-E day, Oakland residents vote more than $15 million in bonds for city improvements including swimming pools, new playgrounds, police, court, streets and sewers, a central library and four new branch libraries.
1946	In the Oakland General Strike, 100,000 union workers walk off jobs throughout the East Bay, to protest anti-union practices of local employers and politicians.
1948	The last Oakland streetcar, Grove Street No. 5, rolls into the car barn. Motor buses replace the trolleys.
1950	Children’s Fairyland opens in Lakeside Park. The U.S. Census puts Oakland’s population at 384,575, swelled by huge numbers of workers who flocked to the city for WWII jobs. Oakland’s African-American population soars from 8,462 in 1940 to 47,562.
1951	From one playground in 1904, the City’s recreation areas now number 112 including swimming pools, community centers, baseball diamonds and general playgrounds. The new main library opens at 14th and Oak streets.
1952	Oakland celebrates its centennial with a variety of pageants, programs and exhibits.
1953	The Oakland Board of Education organizes the Oakland Junior College and develops Merritt Junior College.
1959	The Morcom Amphitheater, located in the Oakland Municipal Rose Garden, is dedicated. The amphitheater becomes a favorite location for weddings.
1960	Construction begins on the airport’s new jet runway. The Oakland Raiders start playing in the new American Football League.
1961	The first container ships begin arriving in Oakland marking the beginning of dramatic growth of cargo tonnage handled through the Port of Oakland. Fukuoka, Japan, becomes Oakland’s first sister city.
1964	Construction of Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) begins. The Port constructs the Seventh Street Marine Terminal, the largest single container terminal on the West Coast. Oakland Junior College is renamed the Peralta Community College District
1966	Bobby Seale and Huey Newton organize the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense at Merritt College. The $25.5 million Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex opens near I-880.
1968	Major League Baseball comes to Oakland when Charles Finley moves his Kansas City Athletics into the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. They become the Oakland Athletics.
1969	Construction on City Center begins with funding provided from matching grants tied to BART construction. The Oakland Museum of California opens and is one of the most architecturally interesting museums in the country. Comprehensive permanent exhibits on three floors portray nature, history and art: California’s natural wonders; events, eras and people who have shaped the state; and the art that Californians produced.
1971	The San Francisco Warriors of the National Basketball Association leave San Francisco’s Cow Palace, for the new Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena and become known as the Golden State Warriors.
1972	BART begins operation with its control center above the Lake Merritt station. The Oakland Athletics win their first World Series.
1973	The Paramount Theatre reopens in its original Art Deco splendor following a full and authentic restoration. The authenticity of the renovation is even more remarkable given it was accomplished with a $1 million budget. The Paramount pioneered the reuse of movie palaces for the performing arts. Marcus Foster, Oakland’s first black school superintendent, is assassinated by the Symbionese Liberation Army. The Oakland A’s win the World Series for a second time.
1974	BART’s transbay tube opens for operation. Oakland designates the Western Pacific Depot on Third and Washington Streets as its first city landmark. The Athletics make it three straight World Championship victories.
1975	Nakhodka, Russia, and Sekondi Takoradi, Ghana, become Oakland’s second and third sister cities. The Golden State Warriors take the NBA Championship in a four-game sweep over the Washington Bullets.
1977	Lionel Wilson is elected the first African American mayor of Oakland. The Oakland Raiders win their first NFL championship before a record Super Bowl crowd plus 81 million television viewers, the largest audience ever to watch a sporting event. Super Bowl XI’s final score: Oakland - 32, Minnesota - 14. The Oakland Tours Program begins offering free walking tours for school groups and interested visitors.
1981	The Oakland Raiders are victorious (27-10) over Philadelphia in Super Bowl XV.
1982	Oakland enters into its fourth sister city agreement with the Chinese city of Dalian. The Oakland Raiders move to Los Angeles.
1983	The Oakland Tribune becomes the first major metropolitan newspaper owned by an African-American when Robert C. Maynard acquires the paper.
1984	Following a $15 million refurbishment, the Oakland Civic Auditorium is reopened as the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
1986	Ocho Rios, Jamaica, joins Oakland’s roster of sister cities.
1987	Oakland welcomes Livorno, Italy, as its sixth sister city.
1989	The 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake hits the Bay Area collapsing the Cypress Freeway and destroying over 1,000 housing units in Oakland. Forty-five people perish. City Hall suffers structural damage and is evacuated. The earthquake-delayed World Series concludes with an Oakland A’s victory over the San Francisco Giants.
1991	A catastrophic wildfire rages through the Oakland-Berkeley Hills destroying over 2,500 dwellings in Oakland and Berkeley. Twenty-five people perish. Preservation Park opens, first conceived in the mid-1970s . This unique urban redevelopment project contains 16 Victorian homes (five original to the site, 11 assembled from other locations) converted to offices for nonprofit organizations. The homes are set in an urban park landscaped to resemble a typical 19th century residential Oakland neighborhood.
1993	The National Civic League designates Oakland as an “All-America City”. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Rand McNally rank Oakland’s climate the best in the U.S. The Oakland A’s Rickey Henderson steals his 1066th base and becomes the all-time leader in stolen bases.
1994	Oakland adopts Historic Preservation Element of General Plan.
1995	Oakland City Hall reopens following an $80 million seismic retrofit and renovation. Fortune ranks California’s “Golden Triangle” - Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose - as the #1 place to do business in the U.S. After 13 years in Los Angeles the Raiders return to Oakland. The Potomac opens for dockside tours and Bay cruises following a 12-year, $5 million restoration. The 165-foot-long vessel served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s beloved “Floating White House” from 1936 until his death in 1945.
1997	In honor of the 60th anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s attempt to circumnavigate the world, Linda Finch successfully completes the around-the-world flight, beginning and ending her flight at Oakland Airport’s historic North Field. An extensive $121 million renovation to the Oakland-Alameda County Arena adds 72 luxury suites and 3,900 club seats and increases seating capacity for basketball games to 19,200.
1998	City Hall Plaza re-opens after a $124 million rebuilding. Named in honor of late Oakland City Councilmember Frank H. Ogawa. Ogawa was the first Japanese-American to serve on a City Council in the continental United States. Money magazine ranks Oakland among the top 25 cities to live in the U.S. and the 10th best in the West. The final phase of the Cypress Replacement portion of the Nimitz Freeway is completed at a cost of $1.2 billion nine years after the Loma Prieta earthquake collapsed the previous structure. The Downtown Historic District, encompassing 58 structures and 6 city blocks, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its historical and architectural significance.
1999	Jerry Brown, former Governor of California and three-time Pre-sidential candidate, is inaugurated as Oakland’s 47th mayor. By the late 1990s, over 130 structures have been declared city landmarks and six areas have been named preservation districts.
2000	The U.S. Census counts 399,484 residents in Oakland and ranks Oakland residents eighth in the U.S. in overall educational achievement. More than one-third of Oakland’s residents have a college degree, twice the national average. American Association of Electronics ranks Oakland third in the nation for percentage of households with Internet access. The Wall Street Journal ranks Oakland the Number 1 office market in the U.S. through 2005. The Cuban city of Santiago de Cuba is officially recognized as Oakland’s seventh sister city.
2001	Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rotunda Building reopens following a $43 million renovation. The Beaux Arts masterpiece has a 125-foot atrium dome. Forbes magazine ranks Oakland the 10th best city for business in the U.S. Based on U.S. Census Bureau data, the Center for Women’s Business Research ranks Oakland third in the U.S. in the number of women-owned businesses. Bill Caldwell begins research and photography on this book.
2002	Oakland celebrates its 150th anniversary. State of California estimates put Oakland’s population at over 400,000. The African American Museum and Library, a division of the Oakland Public Library, opens following an $11.2 million renovation and seismic retrofit of the Charles Greene building (c. 1902). The Port of Oakland celebrates its 75th anniversary. Jerry Brown is elected to a second four-year term as mayor of Oakland.