Yes...Horace Carpentier got away with robbing Oakland of its entire Waterfront
Horace W. Carpentier moved to the east coast several years after the 1868 “Great Compromise” and pretty much farted in the general direction of Oakland on his way back and forth between Asia and New York.
He died on January 31, 1918. He never married or had kids. He left tiny $2000 bequests to his heirs and next of kin explaining that he has “heretofore been fairly liberal in their direction.” His vast fortune of some $4,000,000 at the time of his death was given mostly to various universities and charitable causes.
The entity that got the largest chunk of what could be considered the People of Oakland’s wealth was Colombia University, Horace's alma mater.*
It sucks when people can manipulate the law in order to amass wealth at the expense of others. It would be a challenging thing indeed to quantify the energy and effort exerted by Oakland to undo the crimes of Mr. Carpentier. Oakland could have grown in any direction, but the waterfront shenanigans of Horace Carpentier and his subsequent collaboration with the railroads ensured that Oakland would develop into the industrial thoroughfare of the west coast that it has become.
The Waterfront struggles of Oakland are a huge and devastating story of fraud. It clouds over the glow of a new born city which sheltered itself in gentle foothills by a nurturing bay, a city filled with pioneers, people of vision and strength, who just wanted to build a beautiful society.
* New York Times, February 21, 1918
Horace W. Carpentier moved to the east coast several years after the 1868 “Great Compromise” and pretty much farted in the general direction of Oakland on his way back and forth between Asia and New York.
He died on January 31, 1918. He never married or had kids. He left tiny $2000 bequests to his heirs and next of kin explaining that he has “heretofore been fairly liberal in their direction.” His vast fortune of some $4,000,000 at the time of his death was given mostly to various universities and charitable causes.
The entity that got the largest chunk of what could be considered the People of Oakland’s wealth was Colombia University, Horace's alma mater.*
It sucks when people can manipulate the law in order to amass wealth at the expense of others. It would be a challenging thing indeed to quantify the energy and effort exerted by Oakland to undo the crimes of Mr. Carpentier. Oakland could have grown in any direction, but the waterfront shenanigans of Horace Carpentier and his subsequent collaboration with the railroads ensured that Oakland would develop into the industrial thoroughfare of the west coast that it has become.
The Waterfront struggles of Oakland are a huge and devastating story of fraud. It clouds over the glow of a new born city which sheltered itself in gentle foothills by a nurturing bay, a city filled with pioneers, people of vision and strength, who just wanted to build a beautiful society.
* New York Times, February 21, 1918