ALAMEDA

city, Alameda county, California, U.S. It lies on an island (6.5 miles long by 1 mile wide) in San Francisco Bay, across the Oakland Harbor Channel from Oakland, with which it is connected by bridges and underground tunnels. The site was originally a peninsula that was part of Rancho San Antonio and was also the site of Indian shell mounds. The locality was settled in the 1850s. Its growth was stimulated by a ferry service to San Francisco and the building of railroad bridges and terminals. The Tidal Canal (1902) changed Alameda to an island with an industrialized waterfront dominated by shipbuilding, steel fabrication, and lumber milling. Port facilities attracted fishing and cargo vessels, and in 1940 it became the site of a large naval air station (now closed). The College of Alameda opened in 1970. Inc. 1854. Pop. (1990) 76,459.