Duncan McDuffie

Duncan McDuffie (September 24, 1877 – 1951) was a real estate developer, conservationist, and mountaineer based in Berkeley, California, United States.

Duncan McDuffie (about 1917) as a member of the United States Food Administration

Developer

McDuffie is best known for developing the Claremont and Northbrae neighborhoods of Berkeley and St. Francis Wood district in San Francisco. His upscale developments were laid out as "residential parks," with streets following the contours of hills and underground power lines. His developments included racial covenants to exclude non-whites from home ownership, and he also promoted single-family zoning laws to exclude non-whites.[1][2]

Conservationist

McDuffie was a notable conservationist, and was president of the Sierra Club from 1928 to 1931 and 1943–1946.

East Bay Regional Park District

In 1934 McDuffie helped create the East Bay Regional Park District in the Berkeley Hills.

California state parks

McDuffie helped establish the California state park system with the help of his friend Governor C. C. Young. He won the Pugsley Medal for his service on the California State Parks Commission.

Mountaineer

McDuffie was an accomplished mountaineer in the Sierra Nevada, and made first ascents of Mount Abbot and Black Kaweah.

Along with Joseph N. LeConte and James S. Hutchinson, he pioneered a high mountain route in 1908 from Yosemite National Park to Kings Canyon, roughly along the route of the modern John Muir Trail. In 28 days, they completed a trip of 228 miles through the high mountains, including several previously unexplored sections.[3]

McDuffie suffered from Parkinson's disease for nearly 20 years before his death in 1951. The Sierra peak Mount McDuffie is named after him.

References
  1. Lorey, Maya Tulip (2013). "A HISTORY OF RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION IN BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, 1878–1960" (PDF). The Concord Review, Inc.
  2. Baldassari, Erin; Solomon, Molly (2020-10-05). "The Racist History of Single-Family Home Zoning". NPR. Archived from the original on 2020-11-14. Duncan McDuffie, a prominent real estate developer in Berkeley who built the Claremont Court and Uplands neighborhoods in the early 1900s, was a big champion of single-family zoning. His developments all came with racial covenants, which barred homeowners from selling or renting their homes to people of color. But he also wanted to make sure that neighborhoods next to Claremont, including Elmwood, wouldn't allow families of color to move in, because he thought it would lower property values. And he was especially worried about a Black-owned dance hall that was looking to move into the neighborhood next to his subdivision. The single-family zoning designation in Elmwood prohibited the dance hall from moving in, and it also made the neighborhood more exclusive, because developers could charge more for single-family homes than they could for duplexes or cottage apartments.
  3. Parsons, Harriet, edited by David R. Brower, Sierra Club: A Handbook, "Mountaineering", Sierra Club, San Francisco, 1947, page 16
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