Bilger Quarry 1910

Description:
Man standing in a mine car (possibly company president Frank W. Bilger) at the Blake & Bilger Quarry, located on what is today the northeast quadrant of the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road and Broadway (at the confluence of the Temescal, Rockridge, and Piedmont Avenue districts), Oakland Calif. Handwritten on reverse: "May 8 - 1910 / Quarry at Rockridge / Taken at the bottom of the hole. / T J Hill photo."

Date of Document:
8-May-10

Document Author:
T J Hill

Geographic Location:
Broadway and Pleasant Valley Road, Oakland Calif.

Context:
Incorporated in 1870 as the Oakland Paving Company, what became known as the Bilger Quarry was located at the present-day Rockridge Shopping Center, Broadway and Pleasant Valley Road, in Oakland. Its blue rock, processed at a nearby crushing plant, was used mainly as foundation for road building and related construction throughout the East Bay. By the turn of the 20th century, northern Italian immigrants dominated the workforce at the quarry, many of them living in a large boarding house near the site. The Bilger Quarry operated until 1923. In the 1960s the suburban-style Rockridge Shopping Center, which included a Safeway supermarket, Payless Drugs store, and several small shops, was built on the site. In March 2015, with Safeway holding the master lease to the property, the first phase of a complete redesign of the shopping center renamed The Ridge commenced.