Church of St. James the Apostle

No state bronze stands here. By 2014 only its outline remained in the red block, filled by a carved wooden board copying its words, and by 2021 most of the board had gone too. The claim it repeated holds. Bishop William Ingraham Kip's parish held its first service on June 27, 1858, in Clinton, a settlement Oakland absorbed with the town of Brooklyn in 1872. Its first church, built about 1860 nearby and later moved here, survives as the parish hall, Oakland's oldest surviving church building. The larger church dates from 1886.

What the plaque says

Church of St. James the Apostle This church founded under authority of Bishop Kip, first Episcopal Bishop for California. has given uninterrupted service to this community since June 27, 1858 California Registered Historical Landmark No. 694

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Muir Woods National Monument — 19 mi
  A redwood canyon saved from a reservoir by a gift, and named for a man who had been there once.
• Muir Beach Overlook — 19 mi
  A cliff edge on Highway 1, and the concrete dugouts where two-man crews watched the sea after Pearl Harbor.

More markers nearby

• Site of College of California — 1.5 mi
• Peralta Hacienda Site — 1.6 mi
• Paramount Theatre — 1.7 mi
• Coast Guard Lightship WLV 605 - Relief (decommissioned) — 1.9 mi