A62.80.296

Residence was on 10 acres on San Antonio Creek between 7th and 8th Avenues and E. 9th and E. 10th Streets, Oakland. In 1872 it was converted into Badger's Park but due to objections by the public, it was closed in 1876. From a Walk Along the Water exhibition, label by Steven Lavoie Badger's Park. In 1861, the scenic splendor of Brooklyn Basin brought sea-weary Capt.Thomas W. Badger ashore to build a permanent home and a popular weekend getaway. He transformed his estate into the bucolic shoreline resort of Badger's Grand Central Park. Taking advantage of the transbay ferry system, a crowd of 4,000 paying customers christened the new facility on April 14, 1872. A restaurant served East Bay oysters, beef, wine and steam beer. Theater anld opera productions filled a 3,000 seat pavilion. Exotic plants and animals thrived in a botanical garden and menagerie. Baseball games and trotting races brought the "cranks" - as sports fans were called - into the grandstands. But demand for expansion of the booming transportation industry soon required that Badger give up his land. By 1885, the scenic park was transformed into a tangle of railroad tracks and busy inter-harbor piers. Exhibition Label: "Scene in Oakland", Oakland Museum of California March 9 - August 25, 2002 28. Joseph Lee (1827-1880) Residence of Capt. Thomas W. Badger, Brooklyn, From the Northwest, c. 1871 Oil on canvas Gift of Lester M. Hale