Oakland Trotting Park

In many ways, the Oakland Trotting Park (later the New California Jockey Club) was the reason for forming the tiny city of Emeryville. The racetrack opened in 1871 in unincorporated Alameda County. As Oakland grew, it threatened to annex the racetrack in the 1890s, which would have shut down gambling. So, in 1896, residents of the area voted to incorporate 150-27, and Emeryville was born.

The mile-long track brought a large Black population into the region from Kentucky both to care for the horses and jockey them. In the late 1890s, Jess “Long Shot” Conley became a famed local character for his behavior on and off the track.

The State of California would later outlaw horse racing in 1911, shutting off the track’s main source of revenue. It limped along the next few years with racing cars and even airplanes, but eventually was closed in 1915.

Originally a good portion of this site was covered by the lower part of the shellmound. Much of the initial material excavated was used to pave streets and sidewalks, build tennis courts, or for use as fertilizer. There are also stories of children playing with the found skulls of those formerly interred in the shellmounds.