Soda Works Building
Berkeley, Alameda County, California
Marker Inscription
CITY OF BERKELEY LANDMARK designated in 2004. Soda Works Building. E.A. Spalding, Contractor, 1888. Robert Agers constructed this building to manufacture “the very best soda water” for customers throughout California. The recessed storefronts, second-floor oriel windows, and high false front are largely unchanged from a 1904 expansion. The building evokes Berkeley’s early small-town character when Telegraph Avenue was lined with wood frame houses and small shops. In 1969, during the People’s Park protests, Alameda County sheriff’s deputies fired at spectators, mortally wounding James Rector on the roof of this building. Berkeley Historical Plaque Project 2005
Erected by Berkeley Historical Plaque Project
The Story
Built in 1888 by Robert Agers to manufacture soda water for customers across California, this false-front building recalls the era when Telegraph Avenue was a dusty street of wood-frame houses and small shops. Its recessed storefronts and second-floor oriel windows survive largely as they looked after a 1904 expansion. In 1969, during the tumultuous People's Park protests, Alameda County deputies fired on spectators here, mortally wounding James Rector on the building's roof.
Why it matters
One modest building links two Americas — the small-town commercial world of the Gilded Age and the era-defining campus and free-speech upheavals of the 1960s that turned Berkeley into a national symbol.
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Related people
- · Robert Agers
- · James Rector
Related events
- · People's Park protests
Themes & tags
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