Creating New Land in San Leandro Bay 

In the late 1960s, the Port of Oakland filled some of the wetlands in San Leandro Bay, creating new land to build a warehouse to serve air cargo carriers using the Oakland Airport. The first step was building a dike to hold back the water, and then soil was placed behind the dike, covering the natural wetlands with dry land. Many businesses, including United Parcel Service and the U.S. Postal Service built facilities on the newly created land. Around the edge of the of the newly created land, the East Bay Regional Park District created the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park.

Jody Zaitlin
Port of Oakland

  "Walk Along the Water"
  © Oakland Museum of California, used with permission.

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