Oakland

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City (pop., 2000: 399,484), western California, U.S., on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay.

Settled by the Spanish in 1820, it was incorporated as a city in 1854. In 1869 it was chosen as the terminus of the first transcontinental railroad, which led to the development of its deepwater port. It suffered damage and loss of life in the earthquake of 1989, which also damaged the Bay Bridge that connects it with San Francisco. Lake Merritt, near the central business district, is a wildfowl refuge surrounded by parkland. Several colleges are located in Oakland.

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Oakland - town, seat (1872) of Garrett county, extreme western Maryland, U.S., in the Allegheny Mountains near the West Virginia border. Laid out in 1849, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad decided to build a rail line through the area, it became a popular tourist destination. Oakland remains at the centre of a resort and agricultural area. Trout fishing, hiking, boating, snow skiing, biking, ...

Oakland - city, seat (1873) of Alameda county, west-central California, U.S. It lies on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay opposite San Francisco. The city site is located on a flat coastal plain that rises toward hills to the east that parallel the shoreline. Oakland has a mild, Mediterranean-type climate with warm sunny summers and cool winters with rainy spells. Like its neighbour to the west, it ...

Bay Bridge - complex crossing that spans San Francisco Bay from the city of San Francisco to Oakland via Yerba Buena Island. One of the preeminent engineering feats of the 20th century, it was built during the 1930s under the direction of C.H. Purcell. The double-deck crossing extends 8 miles (13 km) and consists of two end-to-end suspension bridges of 2,310-foot (704-metre) main spans and 1,160-foot ...

Pontiac - city, seat (1820) of Oakland county, southeastern Michigan, U.S., lying on the Clinton River 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Detroit. Named for Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa tribe, it was located on the Saginaw Trail and became an important wagon and carriage production centre in the 1880s. It later turned to the manufacture of automobiles, auto parts, buses, and trucks. The Oakland County Pioneer ...

San Francisco - city and port, coextensive with San Francisco county, northern California, U.S., located on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. It is a cultural and financial centre of the western United States and one of the country's most cosmopolitan cities. Area 46 square miles (120 square km). Pop. (2000) city, 776,733; San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City MD, 1,731,183; San ...

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