As the city grew, one of its mayors gave it a treasure. In 1869 Samuel Merritt dammed a tidal slough at the heart of downtown, turning brackish marsh into a clean saltwater lagoon. The next year, in 1870, the state declared it a refuge for the migrating birds that crowded its shores — the first official wildlife refuge in the United States. Lake Merritt has been the jewel of Oakland ever since, ringed in 1925 by the Necklace of Lights and still alive with herons, pelicans, and the great autumn flights along the Pacific Flyway. A wild lake in the middle of a working city is a very Oakland kind of idea.
Even before the railroad, Oakland had a role to play. During the Gold Rush it was the mainland staging point, where passengers and freight crossed between the bay and the Sierra foothills. The transcontinental terminus turned that trickle into a flood. The Central Pacific built the Long Wharf out into the estuary, and within a generation Oakland's population leapt more than twenty-fold. Hotels, warehouses, and rail yards crowded the waterfront; the harbor deepened into one of the great ports of the West. The town that the oaks had named became the place where the country's first railroad met the sea.
Why People Visit Oakland
Visitors come to Oakland for a Bay Area city with its own strong character: a wild lake at its center, Art Deco theaters and a historic waterfront, redwood hikes in the hills, and one of the most celebrated food scenes in California. The museums and Jack London Square sit minutes from the lake, and San Francisco is a quick trip across the bay. Equal parts oak-grove heritage and creative energy, Oakland rewards anyone drawn to the heart of the East Bay.
