HOW IT BEGAN: AN INDUSTRIAL HIGHWAY FOR ALAMEDA
The Beltline Railroad started as a dream. It was the inspiration of former mayor, Frank Otis, who saw early on that the plan to industrialize the Northern Waterfront would fail without a good transportation system in place to encourage potential companies to fill in the marshlands and bring in tax-producing enterprises.
The marshlands extended all the way to Atlantic Avenue and as far east as Grand Street, leaving much of the potential development land locked. An industrial highway and railroad along a 100' wide corridor the length of the industrial zone would be the answer.
A survey of railroads showed that no one would build a municipal railroad for the city so they would have to do it themselves. At first it was thought that the city would have to pass a bond measure but then City Manager, Charles E. Hewes, and Judge A. F St. Sure, City Attorney came up with the idea of using $28,005 from the Alameda Bureau of Electricity. And it was the Judge who found a legal way to make it work.
No other city in the Bay Area had done such a thing. The contract was let to A.J. Grier who, in one month, built a rail line from Broadway and Pearl to Grand Street along Clement Street by using second hand equipment and a rented locomotive. It was 1.2 miles long. The switching was done by the Southern Pacific Railroad who had the passenger service and some industrial business in Alameda. The new railroad was called the Alameda Municipal Railroad.
