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One of the Earliest Maps of Piedmont
Important early cadastral map of Piedmont, California, based upon the work of M.G. King, a Civil Engineer working in Alameda County.
The present map is a successor to the map filed on April 2, 1877, with the Alameda County Recorder.
The map identifies Piedmont in its earliest inhabited days, showing Piedmont Hotel, Sulpher Springs, and a number of early landowners.
Piedmont
In 1850, what is now Piedmont was part of Rancho San Antonio, owned by the Peralta family, and covered much of the northeastern shore of San Francisco Bay. Rancho San Antonio was sparsely populated except for cattle and their tenders. In 1860, retired South Carolinian Congressman Isaac Holmes, bought a piece of land from his neighbor Reed. The area included Bushy Dell Creek, a creek that runs through the dog-walking trail of modern-day Piedmont. In 1870, Walter Blair bought over 800 acres in the foothills of East Bay. Where the spring was located, he built the Piedmont Springs Hotel, of 20 bedrooms and five dining rooms. The water of the spring was thought to have curative powers. Wealthy San Franciscans retired to the hotel during trips to "the country."
In addition to the hotel, Blair built a dairy farm on what is now Highland Avenue and a quarry where Dracena Park is today. In April 1877, James Gamble bought a 350 acre tract of land from Blair, and formed the Piedmont Land Company, along with James de Fremery, George W. Beaver, L.A. Booth, and T.L. Barker. The Piedmont Land Company hired landscape engineer William Hammond Hall, to plan the avenues and subdivide the tract into 67 parcels. The first auction of land took place on April 10, 1877.
Rarity
The map is very rare on the market. OCLC locates 2 examples (Bancroft and Huntington).
![[Los Angeles & Orange Counties] Status of Lands Survey Conducted During 1926 Central Portion of Coastal Plain . . .](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/66323.jpg)
