German Marksmen Create Unique Alameda Park

The Online Archive of California (OAC) tells us that Jacob Knell, H. Millemann, and John Reinhart founded the San Francisco Schuetzen Verein (Marksman Association) in August 1859 as a militia and shooting society for German Americans. In its early days, the organization held shooting tournaments, parades, and regular target practice in Hayes Park.

The Found SF website relates that “after President Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, the association patrolled the streets of San Francisco for two days and two nights until its members were relieved by federal troops.”

The site further states that, “The organization evolved into a social and athletic club, sponsoring shooting festivals and events around the Bay Area, with headquarters at the corner of Polk and Turk Streets in San Francisco.”

In 1868, members of the Verein organized the “Schuetzen Land und Bau Verein” and purchased an eight-acre tract in Alameda bounded by Central Avenue, Prospect Street (now Eighth Street), McPherson Street (now Ninth Street) and the Bay shore (now Portola Avenue).

They dubbed their acquisition “Schuetzen Park” and described their new property as “fronting the southern shore of the bay, near Mastick Station,” which was the closest stop on the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad line. Ten years later, South Pacific Coast Railroad trains would begin stopping at the resort’s front door.

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The last of our tours for 2024 will include a walk with Dennis through “Craftsman-style heaven” along palm-tree-lined Portola Avenue, Burbank Street and Eighth Street. Caroline’s son, Willie Chipman, was behind developing these streets. The tract was once home to Schuetzen Park and a velodrome. Dennis will explain the interesting meaning of “Schuetzen” and why many found the park loud, raucous, and even dangerous. Skippy peanut butter was born here, and the homes coincided with the automobile’s growing popularity. Tours meet at 10 a.m. at Burbank Street and Portola Avenue on Saturday, September 21 , or Sunday, September 29 . Your $20 ticket price also includes an exclusive presentation of the area on YouTube.

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The association built a 150-yard outdoor range with a shooting-house, where the marksmen stood and took their aim. A handsome pavilion, restaurant, bowling alley and residence building were also built. Mr. Hermann Bremer took on the task of Schuetzen Wirth (the latter word meaning the man in charge and pronounced virt ).

The American Single Shot Rifle Association describes opening day on its Facebook Throwback Thursday feature: “On March 29, 1868, the association held its first prize-shooting with its president W. Schulte, under due ceremonies christened the grounds, which were perfectly level and contained many and handsome trees., F. Martens won a gold medal in the company shooting match which followed.”

According to the Facebook feature, “D. Ehrich won the first prize at the public prize shooting, a gold watch. The feature also describes “the incident of the day,” the killing in the park of a large rattlesnake by Alois Schneider and Hermann Bremer. Alameda historian Woody Minor informs us that between March and October of each year, groups like the Garibaldi Guard, the San Francisco Fusiliers, and the Union Guard Gatling Battery paraded on the weekends.

“The resort was notorious for its brawls,” Minor writes. Neighbors complained, and the City began imposing stiff fees on amusement parks and liquor vendors. By the summer of 1887, the Wirth had given in.

On August 30, 1887, the Oakland Tribune told its readers that the “well-known pleasure resort and picnic grounds has been sold for $30,500 to the president of the California Cracker Company.  The unnamed buyer said that he planned to cut the park into “city lots.”

The September 30, 1887, issue of the Oakland Morning Times informed its readers on page 1 that “the new proprietor of Schuetzen Park decided not to cut up the park into building lots but “will retain the park for picnics and shooting festivals.”

Apparently, the Old Guard was not part of his plans. The February 27, 1889, edition of the Oakland Tribune reported that the Schuetzen Club had informed the Alameda County Board of Supervisors that it “was driven out of Alameda some years ago.” The club was hoping to open a shooting range in Fruit Vale on 52 acres of land. The District Attorney turned the club down and its members “decided to abandon the scheme.”

The former Schuetzen Park was used as a velodrome for a short while. The bicyclists were not able to pay the rent on time and abandoned the once thriving, but noisy park. On April 10, 1889, the Southern Pacific Railroad discontinued use of the Schuetzen Park Station and moved it two blocks east to Caroline Street. The railroad named the new stop Encinal Park Station.

In 1910, William F. Chipman, the son of one of Alameda’s founders William Worthington Chipman, stepped in and played an important role in creating Bay Park Tract on the site of the old park. The tract developed into one of Alameda’s most charming and interesting neighborhoods, a topic the Alameda Post will describe in next week’s story.

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What’s in a name? Schuetzen Park

I frequently read and hear people writing or saying that the word Schuetzen in Alameda’s long-shuttered Schuetzen Park means “to protect.” No, it doesn’t. We are not dealing with the verb schuetzen. The German word behind all this is not the verb, but the noun Schütze , meaning shooter or marksman. Add an “n” and you have the plural (and be sure to capitalize the word, it’s a German noun.)

English typewriters did not have the letter ü, so, as an alternative to those two dots, the letter e was typed after the u, so Schuetzen, instead of Schützen. Modern keyboards do have the umlaut. Hold down the letter u. While you’re holding it down, you’ll see a box appear with four choices, type the number 2 and the “ü” will appear. Check it out.

The word Schütze stems from a word describing military units of marksmen or sharpshooters—Schütze continues in use in today’s German army for the rank of an infantry private because the marksman badge is the first one earned. There’s also a rifle, called a “Schützen,” custom made for sharpshooting.

That letter “ü” in Schütze changes the pronunciation of the vowel to one completely foreign to English speakers. I taught German for the University of Maryland for five years, three of them in Germany to the U.S military. I drilled the names of two cities—Tübingen and Öhringen—into my students’ brains so they would properly pronounce “ü” and “ö.” Many, many times, I would be somewhere on the military base, and out of nowhere would come the voice of one of my students, past or present, crying out Tüüüüüübingen or ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖhringen . Great memories.

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Dennis Evanosky is the award-winning Historian of the Alameda Post . Reach him at dennis@alamedapost.com . His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Dennis-Evanosky .

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