Last Family Sees Home Burn Down

Oakland Tribune, Jan. 17, 1967

Full Text:

HAYWARD—For the Antonio Ancona family, life was ending in Russell City.

They were the last family still living in the old community, which is being razed for an Industrial park. One relative was one of the area's first settlers.

Yesterday they began moving their possessions to a new home in Union City, south of Hayward.

But arsonists, the plague of Russell City during its final years, struck again.

Ancona told firemen he had left the family's aged home in Russell City with some furniture and had driven to the new residence in Union City at 340 Monte Carlo.

When the Anconas returned to Russell City, they saw their old home in flames.

Their pet dog died in the blaze. Most of the family's possessions were lost.

William Wolters, warden for the Alameda County Fire Patrol, said arsonists had set at least two fires inside the old home at 2882 Ohio St. By the time fire units from the Fairview Station arrived, the structure was beyond saving.

Wolters said the loss to furnishings in the home and adjacent house trailer and storage sheds was more than $6,000.

The family includes Ancona, 46, and his wife, Lita, their seven children, and Mrs. Ancona's mother, Mrs. Juana Feliciano.

Mrs. Feliciano, 87, was one of the first families to settle in Russell City and the last to move away. She and her husband homesteaded here shortly after the turn of the century and farmed most of the area before homes and later tar paper covered cottages started to fill up on the lands.

Alameda County Redevelopment Agency in planning to turn the community into a future industrial park, and for the past four years has been conducting a relocation program and land clearance of Russell City buildings.

But arsonists have destroyed most of the structures.

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