Highland Park is the neighborhood around Highland Hospital. The neighborhood pre-dates the hospital, which was named after the neighborhood, 1 by 50+ years. Note that part of the current Highland Park neighborhood was originally part of the town of Lynn.
The neighborhood contains a mix of single family and multi-unit dwellings wide ranging in architectural style and construction dates.
Highland Park is first mentioned in the Oakland Tribune in 1878. In the 1878 advertisement for tracts in Highland Park it refers to the plan for "adornment" to have occurred 7 years prior.
(Oakland Tribune
Oakland, California · Friday, December 20, 1878)
This would put the neighborhood of Highland Park as originating in 1871, a mere nineteen years after the founding of Oakland. The original lots were offered by E.C. Sessions. 
(Oakland Tribune
Oakland, California · Friday, February 28, 1879)
Present day Highland Park is split between NCPC groups 17Y (which it shares with neighboring Bella Vista) and 18Y (which it shares with neighboring Highland Terrace) with the dividing boundary being 14th Ave.
Contested: It is the site of the historic town of Lynn, which was merged with other towns to form the town of Brooklyn. At present, some believe HP & Lynn to have been discreet locations (pending citation). Tribune postings of births, marriages and mortgages suggest otherwise and that HP was definitely, at least, part of Brooklyn Township, although Brooklyn Township was larger than the town of Brooklyn, as shown on the 1878 map of Alameda included on the Alameda County/History page on this Wiki.
(Oakland Tribune Oakland, California · Saturday, October 18, 1879)
Here is Brooklyn as defined by the E.C. Sessions map at the given point in time.
Pages tagged “highland park”
Links and References
- New Highland Park Hospital Name Adopted Oakland Tribune October 6, 1919
