A century ago, a major rainstorm flooded much of Berkeley.
“Berkeley experienced a miniature cloudburst this morning, which flooded streets and basements and caused minor damage to pavements,” the Berkeley Daily Gazette reported Feb. 11, 1925. “Storm sewers proved entirely inadequate to cope with a downpour which registered an inch between the hours of 8 o’clock and noon. South Berkeley had a small lake at Alcatraz Avenue and Adeline Street deep enough for canoe races.”
Factories nearly flooded in West Berkeley.
“Southern Pacific tracks were underwater at noon along the Third Street right-of-way,” the Gazette reported.
City Manager John Edy visited several flooded locations and told the press that “the inadequacy of sewers as they exist in many parts of the city cannot be corrected in a day.” He dispatched “every available man” from the street and engineering departments to document the areas of flooding and blamed Oakland for not having good storm sewers on the Berkeley border.
The drenching had brought Berkeley to 16.25 inches of rainfall for that season so far. The next day, it happened all over again. Another 0.85 inches of rain fell that morning. New thunderstorms pummeled the town and flooded the streets.
“Alcatraz Avenue had the appearance of a street in Venice with the streetcars ploughing along like gondolas,” the Gazette reported.
Manhole covers popped off sewers on Dwight Way, and part of Euclid Avenue near Codornices Creek sunk a foot, causing a car accident. The city manager once again toured the flooded city and said “the storm had convinced him that Berkeley’s storm sewer system is wholly inadequate in a crisis.” The storms poured down all over California, causing widespread damage and flooding elsewhere.
LIbrary plans: On Feb. 12, 1925, the mayor’s “Committee of Sixteen” working on plans for the city recommended a bigger main library downtown, new branch libraries in south and north Berkeley, the purchase of land “immediately” for the civic center, planning for a bigger City Hall and creating a public plaza at the intersection of San Pablo and University avenues.
New industries: On Feb. 4, 1925, the Gazette ran a story about plans for new industries in West Berkeley.
The Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution saying, “Berkeley is primarily an educational and residential city and should seek and endeavor to attract such industries as will be an addition to a city of this type,” according to the Gazette. “The committee stressed the point that industries using electric power are especially to be encouraged.
“It was pointed out that with the prevailing winds coming from the west, any large development of smoke-producing industries would be objectionable to the residents in the hill districts … .”
Also, “it was of great importance for the homeowners in the hills and the manufacturers on the waterfront to work out a policy in which all might agree concerning the future development of Berkeley.”
Let’s take a look at assumptions behind these statements. By the early 1920s, “high-class” residential suburbs were burgeoning in the hills. The well-to-do — including the owners of factories — were no longer living near their places of business in the Berkeley “flatlands” but had relocated to exclusive residential districts.
They wanted more business, but they did not want those businesses, particularly industrial activities, close to their homes, nor did they want the side-effects of those business — like industrial smoke — to affect their idyllic new neighborhoods. They also assumed that the future of Berkeley should be decided by “homeowners in the hills” and “manufacturers on the waterfront,” with no mention of the tens of thousands of less well-to-do residents in between.
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.