Item #026674 My Own Story (inscribed to Dr. William S. Porter) with Notes on His Proposed Stadium. John L. Davie.
My Own Story (inscribed to Dr. William S. Porter) with Notes on His Proposed Stadium

My Own Story (inscribed to Dr. William S. Porter) with Notes on His Proposed Stadium

Oakland: Post-Enquirer Publishing Company, 1931. Octavo. Item #026674

174 pages. Davie was mayor of Oakland from 1895-1897 and from 1915-1931, the longest-serving mayor. During his life, he was a canal boy, law student, butcher, buckaroo, rancher, inventor, actor, opera singer, bouncer, miner, lawyer, crusader, merchant, bookseller, organizer, ship owner and politician. Not only is this copy inscribed to Dr. Porter, but includes his proposal for the Davie Recreation Stadium. What he envisioned on the land he was donating to the City of Oakland was "a mammoth stadium….the largest in the world with a seating capacity of 100,000 people". This mimeographed paper was what Davie had gathered from the daily newspapers back in 1921. His donation which was made in 1931 was extraordinary though today only a lovely park and a Tennis Stadium has been implemented. He writes above this note to Dr. Porter: "Dr for ten years I endeavored to transfer the stadium quarry to the city. When I appointed your good friend Geo. Wilhelm we got action. Dr. I want that man Gilkey [Howard Ellsworth Gilkey, the legendary landscape architect and designer of garden shops] to draw a plan of the Stone Bowl. He is sold on it. Talk to Gilkey. In other words, original archival material on Oakland's parks and sports dreams in the 1920s. Ownership on cover: signed Dr. Wm Porter. Stamp of Frank T, Kent, Walnut Creek. Bound in original printed gray wrappers some toning to edges, [6-Guns 560, Herd 650].

Price: $175.00

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