Joaquin Miller Park was formed in 1917 when the City of Oakland and its citizens, led by The California Writers Club, purchased 68 acres from the estate of Joaquin Miller, the noted 19th century “Poet of the Sierras” and environmentalist. By 1929, when developers began building nearby, the Save the Redwoods League purchased and later gave to the City of Oakland the adjacent groves known as Sequoia Park. Members of the California Writers Club created the Writers Memorial Grove and led the Woodminster Committee for 11 years. During the Depression of the 1930s, the federal Works Progress Administration paid laborers from all walks of life to build the Cascade, fountains, pools, and the Woodminster Amphitheater. Over a century, a diverse group of concerned citizens worked together to create an urban park and a “Cathedral in the Woods,” and the redwoods here and in nearby East Bay Regional Parks are considered the only redwoods flourishing today in an urban setting.
