Samuel Merritt

Dr. Samuel Merritt had a huge impact on Oakland and the East Bay. In 1850, on a day-trip out of San Francisco, while picnicking with friends just a few hundred yards east of a large campsite that would later become downtown Oakland, Samuel Merritt observed the northern arm of Estero de San Antonio. He was profoundly struck by what he saw — or, perhaps, his vision of what it could be. This encounter developed into a “love affair” to last a lifetime.

Like many of the people who came to California to seek their fortune during the last half of the nineteenth century, Dr. Merritt was far from being a one-dimensional character. Originally from Maine, this successful San Francisco physician was also an adroit businessman who demonstrated a knack for real estate dealing. So he was quick to grasp the potential of what he saw during that day-long excursion in 1850 to the East Bay. In 1854 (the same year Oakland incorporated), he purchased twenty-three acres along the shoreline of “the lake”. He planted fruit trees at the south end and began dreaming of developing his land and building a hospital nearby. Merritt spent more and more time in the East Bay, until, in 1863, he moved to Oakland and built a comfortable new home for himself on the east side of Jackson Street. Near his orchard, he constructed a warehouse and wharf and went into business selling bricks, lumber, and other building materials. As local communities grew, Merritt prospered.

Merritt quickly became a prominent figure in Oakland, and when Mayor W.W. Crane, Jr. resigned in 1867, the town council solicited him for the job. As mayor (its thirteenth), Merritt is largely credited with settling Oakland’s complex land disputes with his plan of Compromise Titles. Merritt also used his many skills to insure that Oakland became the terminus for the great overland railroad. To secure future economic viability for the rapidly growing town, Merritt knew that it was crucial to establish the West Coast railhead in Oakland. To achieve this goal, however, he and his contemporaries had to resolve, through deft legal maneuvering, complicated and long-standing disputes over tideland ownership. The railroad entered into the negotiations, and a major compromise solution was devised.

With overlapping legal obstacles evaporating, Merritt began to focus on his pet project — developing his property along the edge of the tidal slough. To accomplish this, he orchestrated — and largely financed — the building of floodgates across the tidal canal to regulate the level of the water. The lake’s shore soon became a major real estate attraction. Again, Merritt prospered. Tax records indicate that one of his real estate deals during this time was the sale of a newly constructed Victorian house to Alice Camron.