Artifacts

• Summer 2014 Contra Costa County Historical Society bulletin An Oakland-based local newspaper columnist recently observed, on a field trip to the distant hamlets of Port Costa and Martinez, that the traces of industry and settlement along the Carquinez Straits tell stories of a 19th Century heyday, followed by decline and disappearance. Carol Jensen’s recent Arcadia book, “Maritime Contra Costa County”, tells the little-known ...
• Construction, Taxes, a Drought — Wait, What Year Is This Again? “The water emergency is real and potentially dangerous – but we can all live with it if we follow the sensible advice of the East Bay Municipal Utility District. A pamphlet was mailed to water users last week setting forth some of the things everyone can do to conserve water. Experts say that the shortage is ...
• Instant Neighborhood – Just Add History Turn-of-the-20th-Century Hercules was a true company town, right down the workers’ homes, which were built by the company. At its height, Hercules totaled up to 100 residences, duplexes, and dormitories. As they became vacant and were deemed no longer necessary due to fluctuations in the workforce, they were demolished. All except for…
• HistoryPin The Hercules Historical Society contributed selected photos and stories from its own collection of artifacts documenting the earliest industrial and research enterprise in California: the manufacture of explosives, including dynamite, to the not-for-profit Historypin website.
• Herculean Days: Let’s go shopping Construction for the Creekside Center and Sycamore Place finally began in earnest in the summer of ’83, and Hercules’ first retail businesses were beginning to open by the following spring. On September 16, 1984, Hercules finally got its own grocery store as Lucky’s (they had since taken over many Northern California Alpha Beta locations) opened ...
• Herculean Days: Adventures in Sewage In the late 1970s, city leaders in Hercules set themselves with a seemingly impossible task – to manage their explosive growth in the most environmentally responsible manner possible. One of their biggest problems was how to deal with the wastewater produced from an ever-increasing population.
• Grappling With History With Hercules’ industrial past disappearing, the April 1979 edition of the newly-named Herculean (formerly the City Newsletter) detailed the developing suburb’s early attempts at documenting and preserving its history as a company town.
• Herculean Days In October 1978, the newly created “City Newsletter” chronicled many of the changes taking place in Hercules. The three-month-old Police Department was already having a positive influence in the community.
• Logo This artifact, owned by the Hercules Historical Society, is a 22 x 35 decal of the Hercules Powder Co logo framed and mounted on plywood. It is currently on loan to Sala Restaurant in Hercules.