A number of people replied that they feel the Lions Club cross is indeed an historic structure, despite its relatively recent construction, because there is a long history of crosses on Albany Hill. They are right that there is a long backstory here. I have actually tried to avoid talking about this past in public, because I am afraid that some people will think I am trying to associate the cross, and the people who maintain it today, with some people of the past who were very much on the wrong side of history. But - people are asking this question, and it should be answered.
Before I get started, I want to emphasize this: I am not accusing anyone of anything based on this history. I respect people who participate in service clubs in general, and the Lions Club in particular. These groups do terrific things and they build an amazing culture of voluntarism and community care, benefiting us all. The Lions Club has a remarkable history of promoting good government, opposing vigilantism, and it was an early adapter of inclusivity in an era when most service clubs were still strictly segregated by race.
I also respect people of faith (I am one, though not a Christian). I understand that many Christians need to share their beliefs and encourage others to convert. I just don't think that in this country our government should join them as a carrier of that message - which is something Albany has been doing for decades (it has never even posted a sign in the park to explain the presence of the cross, or to indicate that its maintenance there is not a city function).
So, having said all that: Lions Club members in this region should be aware that the original 'illuminated cross' on Albany Hill was almost certainly a Ku Klux Klan cross burning. I encourage everyone interested in this issue and/or local history to watch Faith Fancher's KTVU mini-documentary for the 'Second Look' program on the early Ku Klux Klan in the Bay Area. It was originally broadcast in November of 2000, but you can watch the re-broadcast in the archives here:
https://archive.org/details/KTVU_2011082...
In the documentary, Fancher says: "Cross burnings were common. Albany Hill, now the site of modern condos, was a spot favored by the Klan, as was Cragmont Park in Berkeley near Grizzly Peak. In the 1920's these East Bay Hills were alive with the symbol of hate, cross burnings so bright that witnesses said you could see them from Pinole to Berkeley."
Unfortunately, documentaries lack footnotes, Ms. Fancher has died, KTVU has changed hands, and I have never been able to learn what sources she relied upon for her story. I beileve she was right, though, for two reasons.
First, she was absolutely right about Cragmont Park. I have attached an article from the Berkeley Daily Gazette dated April 2, 1923, "Fiery Cross of Ku Klux Klan on Cragmont Last Night".
Second, the earliest newspaper report that I could find of a church-sponsored hilltop cross in our area was one erected by the Stege Presbyterian church ("Easter Service on Cerrito Hill," Oakland Tribune April 6, 1933). The Stege Presbyterian church had previously earned the endorsement and financial support of the Ku Klux Klan ("Solemnity Prevails at K.K.K. Visit", December 5, 1922, copy attached).
The fact that the KKK liked that particular church, and that church put up an 'illuminated' cross in the decade after the Klan peaked, does not establish that the later lighted cross is connected to the earlier cross burnings. But it does suggest there could be some link, such as a desire to remind the community of the earlier events and/or reaffirm the message of white Protestant supremacy, at a time when the Klan history was still a vivid memory - and a frightening one for local African Americans, Asian Americans, Catholics, and Jews.
Finally, it is important for everyone to understand that by 1940 the cross had become an official municipal function in Albany, maintained - ironically enough - by the Albany Fire Department ! A short 'Albany News' item in the Berkeley Daily Gazette Dated March 19th, 1940, states "Either tonight or tomorrow evening Albany's Easter cross will blaze forth for almost the entire Bay region to see. The 30-foot emblem was to be taken out of storage at the City Corporation Yards this afternoon and erected on Albany Hill by members of the Fire Department."
The history of the relationship between the city of Albany, the Ku Klux Klan, the Lions Club, and the past and current 'illuminated' crosses is a troubling history in many ways. Perhaps one good thing that could come out of a lawsuit initiated by the Lions Club would be that this entire history might be carefully examined and documented. I would love to see this history understood and preserved . . .but would still prefer that the Lions sit down and talk to the city, and try to resolve this in a way that turns this entire history in a positive direction going forward.