Joseph Lee (1827-1880) Alameda Shore, alternatively titled, Bird Point, Alameda signed 'Joseph Lee' (lower right) and titled on labels (on the backing) oil on canvas 26 5/8 x 47 3/4in framed 32 x 52in Painted circa 1868. Footnotes: Provenance M.H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California, gift of the M. H. de Young Endowment Fund, 1945. Sold to benefit the Acquisition Fund of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Exhibited Jacksonville, Florida, Cummer Gallery of Art, American Paintings of Ports and Harbors, 1774-1968 [traveling exhibition] February 4 - March 16, 1969; Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, April 5 - May 11, 1969. San Francisco, California Historical Society, n.d. This scene depicts Alameda Terminal, also known as Alameda Wharf, which was a railroad station and ferry wharf at the intersection of present-day Pacific Avenue and Main Street in Alameda. It briefly provided ferry service to San Francisco. It was built in 1864 and was operated by the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad. In 1869, it served as the original west coast terminus of the U.S. First Transcontinental Railroad until the opening of Oakland Pier two months later. The western terminus was inaugurated September 6, 1869, when the first Western Pacific through-train from Sacramento reached the shores of San Francisco Bay at Alameda Terminal, thus completing the first transcontinental railroad to the Pacific coast.