Bowen's Inn/Higgins Grocery

CITY OF BERKELEY LANDMARK 
designated in 1985

BOWEN’S INN/HIGGINS GROCERY 
Circa 1854

This building, thought to be Berkeley’s oldest remaining structure, originally
stood on the Contra Costa Road, now San Pablo Avenue. Built by Captain
William J. Bowen when the area was sparsely populated, it served as an inn,
saloon, grocery store, and stagecoach stop. Oceanview, Berkeley’s first community,
grew up between Bowen’s Inn and a small shipping wharf built by Captain James
Jacobs at the foot of what is now Delaware Street.

In 1877 the building became west Berkeley’s first post office, in James Higgins'
grocery store. In 1893 Sam Heywood, later mayor of Berkeley, moved the
building to the corner of Delaware and Fifth Streets where he operated it
as a "temperance grocery store." Around 1920 it was moved to this
site where it later served as the home of the Liberty Hill Baptist
Church before becoming a private residence.

Berkeley Historical Plaque Project 
2000