The Key Route Inn was a major hotel in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

in the early decades of the 20th century. It was constructed by the Realty Syndicate of Francis "Borax" Smith and Frank C. Havens, a subsidiary of which was the Key Route transit system. The Inn opened on May 7, 1907, straddling what is now West Grand Avenue along the west side of Broadway in present-day

Uptown Oakland Uptown Oakland is a neighborhood in Oakland, California, United States, located in the northern end of Downtown. It is located roughly between West Grand Avenue to the north, Interstate 980 to the west, City Center and 14th Street to the south, ...

. President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

and his party were guests in 1909. The building was a massive wood-framed structure with open timbering, in imitation of an old English style. One of its most remarkable features was a large archway and corridor into which the tracks of one of the Key Route's transbay lines (the 22nd Street line) passed. A Key Route stop in this corridor connected to the hotel's main lobby. Initially, the lobby stop was the terminus of the line to the Key ferry pier (the mole), but in 1919-20 the line was extended across Broadway to the developing Trestle Glen neighborhood. Key Route Inn 1912 postcard

The Key Route Inn suffered major fire damage on September 8, 1930. This, combined with the beginning of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and the City of Oakland's desire to connect Grand Avenue with 22nd Street led to the Inn being fully demolished in April and May, 1932, only 25 years after it opened."Wreckers Start on Old Inn", ''Oakland Tribune'', April 28, 1932, p.19 The rail line continued, however, becoming the "B" transbay line upon the opening of the

San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, commonly referred to as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco an ...

railway. The rail line was replaced by the "B" bus route in April 1958, and was subsequently incorporated into the publicly owned

AC Transit AC Transit is the main Public transport bus service, bus transit operator in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. AC Transit is the third largest bus operator in California, serving the western portions of Alameda and C ...

system; the modern line B route bypasses the location of the former hotel by nearly a mile.

References

* ''Oakland Herald'', May 7, 1907 * ''Oakland Tribune'', September 8–9, 1930; April 28, 1932

External links

{{commons category-inline
Photo of the Inn shortly before it burned, Oakland Public Library collection
Hotel buildings completed in 1907 Buildings and structures in Oakland, California History of Oakland, California Demolished hotels in California Hotels established in 1907 Tudor Revival architecture in California 1907 establishments in California 1932 disestablishments in California 1930 fires in the United States Hotels in the San Francisco Bay Area Railway stations in the United States opened in 1907 Railway stations in Oakland, California Buildings and structures demolished in 1932 Railway stations in the United States closed in 1958 Key System

See also

References

External links