Wildcat Canyon Road, Tilden Park - Berkeley CA
Description
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved and rebuilt Wildcat Canyon Road, which runs along the west side of Tilden Park then crosses the park and continues over the East Bay hills to Orinda. Inspiration Point road takes off from Wildcat Canyon Road at the east ridge line.
The WPA relief workers upgraded and paved an older dirt road; in the process, they built retaining walls, added culverts and constructed the bridge over Wildcat Creek at the junction with South Park Drive and next to the Botanical Garden.
The work was done c. 1939-42.
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Sign on Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
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Sign on Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
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Wildcat Canyon Road, east side - Berkeley CA
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Wildcat Canyon Road near Inspiration Point - Berkeley CA
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East entrance to Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
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Culvert under Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
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Storm drain, Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
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Rockwork on Wildcat Canyon Road - Berkeley CA
Source notes
Elbert Vail, The Early Story of the East Bay Regional Parks. Unpublished manuscript, available at East Bay Regional Parks District archives.
Elbert Vail, Progress Report, c 1940, available at East Bay Regional Parks District archives
Elbert Vail, 1940 Master Plan. Oakland CA: East Bay Regional Parks District, 1940, available at East Bay Regional Parks District archives
Amanda Sue Marshall, "WPA and CCC worksites in East Bay Regional Parks," research report for Living New Deal, January 2, 2012.
Mimi Stein, A Vision Achieved:Fifty Years of the East Bay Regional Parks District. Oakland CA: East Bay Regional Parks District, 1984. @ https://www.ebparks.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=25719
Brechin, Gray. 2008. "Forgotten Foundation". Bay Nature Magazine. January 1. http://baynature.org/articles/jan-mar-2008/forgotten-foundation
Smith, Harvey. 2014. Berkeley and the New Deal. Charleston SC: Arcadia Books.
Amanda Sue Marshall, The East Bay Hills: A Brief History. Charleston SC: The History Press, 2017.
Project originally submitted by Richard Walker on August 2, 2020.
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal project site.
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