The History of Jungle Hill
Over the years landslides have shaped the slopes of Jungle Hill. Likewise, the ups and downs of people's activities have had just as big an impact.
The Early Years
on Jungle Hill
For
thousands of years, Jungle Hill was part of a healthy eco-system in which
people, plants and animals coexisted in harmony. No one owned the land,
although it was used by the native people who hunted and gathered their
food in this area.
The Spanish missionaries were the first non-native people to settle in
the Bay Area. They began colonizing the area in the late 1700s, and were
followed by increasing waves of immigrant groups, including those who
settled here during the Gold Rush period. These non-native peoples drastically
changed both the way of life and the environment of the region.
The first official "owners" of Jungle Hill were the Peraltas.
Jungle Hill was part of the 48,000 acres of land that the Spanish king
gave Sergeant Luís Peralta in 1820 as a reward for his loyal service
to Spain. Peralta's land, which stretched from what is now Richmond to
San Leandro, was divided among his four sons in 1842. The part that included
Jungle Hill went to his son Antonio.
Both the Peraltas' and the native people's claims to the land were ignored
by the new European settlers. By the late 1800s, English-speaking businessmen
controlled most of the area around Jungle Hill.
For several years, Jungle Hill was owned by the Central Pacific Railroad. During this period, earth was excavated from the Jungle Hill area and used to fill in the marsh that connected San Antonio Slough with San Francisco Bay. By filling areas of this marsh, Lake Merritt was created. The marshy area to the west of the lake where the Oakland Museum of California is now located was made into solid ground.
In the early 1900s, Jungle Hill area was divided into lots and sold to
individual owners. By 1925, six houses had been built. Perhaps due to
the earlier excavation, Jungle Hill turned out to be an unstable place
for houses. In the 1930s heavy rains caused mud slides, and five of these
houses slid off their foundations. By 1970, the sixth house had slid as
well. Some of the houses were moved to more stable ground, and others
were destroyed. When the 1925 Sanborn Insurance map was updated in 1950,
the outlines of the houses that had slid were covered over with paper.
The
Community Takes on Jungle Hill
In
1972, Jungle Hill's neighbors formed the Harrington/Santa Rita Neighborhood
Association. For many years, they put most of their energy into trying
to control the landslides that plagued Jungle Hill year after year, spilling
mud and rubble onto the streets below.
Neighbors
had tried for years to get the City of Oakland to take care of the landslides.
Since Jungle Hill was private property, it was a low priority for the
City's maintenance and landscaping crews. Finally, neighbors decided that
they would have to take care of Jungle Hill themselves.
They worked with an organization called Trust
for Public Land to make Jungle Hill into a community land trust.
This meant that neighbors would work together to take responsibility for
Jungle Hill on behalf of the whole community. Between 1975 and 1976, some
of the lots were donated to the land trust, while others were purchased
from the banks that owned them. The rest of the lots were acquired by
tax sale. In 1977 the Santa Rita Land Trust was incorporated and became
the official owner of Jungle Hill.
With Jungle Hill owned by the community, the land trust members now had
the right and the responsibility to do what they could to stabilize the
hill. They got help from both the Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy
"Seabees, " who tried to prevent further erosion by creating
drainage ditches and terraces.
In 1978 Jungle Hill neighbors planted more than 200 trees and shrubs on
the slope with the hope that the trees' roots would help hold the hill
in place. Many of plants are still alive today. Governor Jerry Brown highlighted
this effort at a symbolic tree-planting event that helped dedicate "Jungle
Hill Park." This was a period of lots of community activity and celebration
on Jungle Hill.
An environmental design student from U.C. Berkeley named Jim McClain worked
with the community to design a plan for continued improvement of Jungle
Hill Park. A grant proposal was submitted to the Fruitvale Community Development
District Council to pay for the construction of the park, but, year after
year, the request was rejected. The Santa Rita Land Trust was a new organization
without a staff or a track record to prove that it could handle the money,
so it was never given a chance.
Neighbors serving on the Santa Rita Land Trust Board were discouraged
by their lack of success in getting the money that would make their dreams
for Jungle Hill a reality. In 1985 things got worse when the Board members
were informed that they could be held personally liable for any accidents
that might happen on Jungle Hill. All but two of themMarques Miller and
Regina Chavarínresigned. For the next 12 years, Jungle Hill was
pretty much abandoned by its neighbors.
Jungle
Hill Gets a Fresh Start
Toward
the end of 1994, two long-time neighbors, Kris Wagner and Bill Dash, decided
to get things rolling again on Jungle Hill. During the summer and fall,
they convinced other neighbors to help out in a series of clean-up days.
Neighbors also sent dozens of letters to government agencies requesting
trash pick-up, better lighting and sidewalks along the bottom of the hill.
This new activity around Jungle Hill attracted the attention of a local
organization called East Bay Urban Gardeners (EBUG). Along with Trust
for Public Land, EBUG had recently received funding to help floundering
community land trusts. A few months later, the Oakland Museum of California
selected Jungle Hill as the site for its Urban Spaces NEED Leadership
Program.
Suddenly, after years of neglect, lots of interest and support were focused
on Jungle Hill. Working together, Jungle Hill neighbors, EBUG and the
Urban Spaces Program successfully organized a series of activities that
built a sense of community in the neighborhood, and got more people involved
in taking care of Jungle Hill.
The
museum's Urban Spaces Interns helped Jungle Hill neighbors Kris Wagner
and Tina Gray form a weekly after-school program focusing on nature and
art activities, community service and field trips. The kick-off for the
Jungle Hill Kids Club was an Easter Egg Hunt, which brought out about
50 neighborhood kids.
Throughout April and May of 1995 , the Urban Spaces Interns conducted a door to door survey in the neighborhood, to get residents' input on what they'd like to see done on Jungle Hill. Many hours of outreach and planning went into a community meeting that brought neighbors together to hear the results of the community survey, to voice concerns, and to discuss the possibility of Jungle Hill becoming the property of the City of Oakland, to be managed by the Parks and Recreation Department.
As
a result of the community meeting, six new members were added to the Santa
Rita Land Trust Board. For the first time since 1986, there were enough
people for the Board to make decisions legally. They are now working with
the City of Oakland to turn the land over to the city's Department of
Parks and Recreation, so that Board members will no longer be burdened
by taxes and liability.
As part of the effort to keep the weeds on Jungle Hill under control,
neighbors and East Bay Urban Gardeners arranged for a herd of goats to
spend a day munching on weeds. It was a lot of fun for everyone!
The Urban Spaces Interns, in collaboration with Support Oakland Artists, organized a project to bring neighborhood teens together to create a mural on Jungle Hill's retaining wall. (click here for a short history of the "dreaded wall")
The story of Jungle Hill continues. None of the problems that have faced the community over the years have completely disappeared, but improvements are being made. With people working together once again, Jungle Hill remains a work in progress.
Return to This is Our Land! Homepage
Whats' so Great About Open Space/ The History of JH/ The Dreaded Wall/ There's Power in Numbers/ Teens Make a Difference/ Problems/What would you do with One Acre of Open Space/ Interns of JH/A Work In Progress.../JH Update/ Visitor Comments/ Credits
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