הקמתה וראשיתה של שכונת "הרצליה" — השכונה העברית הראשונה על הכרמל

During the years 1904-1906, there existed in Haifa a group from the "New Yishuv" consisting of businessmen, clerks and craftsmen. They arrived in Haifa principally on the basis of the economic potential of the city, brought about by the construction of the extension of the Hepaz railway to Haifa (October 1905) and the planned construction of a central port in Haifa by the Turks. This group numbered some tens of families and differed in character from the Sephardic population which was small in number and limited in means (approximately 1,500 in 1904) and which composed the majority of the Jewish settlement of the time. The new Yishuv group decided to found a new and modern Jewish neighborhood outside the 'Old City'. At the end of 1906 they established a company - "Agudat Achim" for this purpose, similar in nature to the Achuzat Bayit Company in Jaffo. The purposes in founding the company were: 1. To end the serious shortage and the highly density of dwellings in the Old City, and to create the conditions of minimal protection in the older Jewish neighborhoods of the Old City. 2. To create the means to attract a middleclass Jewish population to Haifa, allowing the development and growth of Jewish settlement there. 3. To create a base for a national Hebrew environment, where the Jews of Haifa could live nationalist lives, a factor missing and impossible in the existing Jewish neighborhoods. 4. To raise the dignity of the Jews in the eyes of the Arabs and foreigners (in particular Germans) in Haifa, and thus to strengthen the political status of the Jews in the city. It modelled its efforts on the Germans, who almost completely dominated all branches of life in the city, as a result of their modern building projects in the city and, in particular, the German Colony. Although the company was founded after the establishment of a modern Jewish quarter near Jaffa, (Achuzat Bayit), it appears that "Agudat Achim" represented the independent development of an idea, and was not a direct copy of "Achizat Bayit". The company planned that most of the financial backing for the building of the neighborhood could come through long term loans. In January 1904, the company purchased an area of approximately twelve dunams, on the slope of Wadi Nissnass, along the road leading to Mt. Carmel. Within a year and a half, the company had succeeded in detaining a long-term loan of 50,000 francs - 5,000 francs for each member from the Jewish National Fund through the Zionist Bank - Anglo-Palestine Bank. Before the loan was obtained, the company drew up detailed plans of the neighborhood and its parcellation. The area was divided into twelve lots, each 480 square meters in size. The width of the roads (three in all) was to be five meters. Along the sides of the roads trees were to be planted, the area permitted for building was not to exceed 20 per cent of the lot size. The total area alloted for roads was 21 per cent of the area of the neighborhood. It appears that the members of the company wanted to live spread out, in contrast with the dense "Old City", and the Jewish neighborhoods there, the German Colony offering a living example. In May 1909, the corner stone for the building of the neighborhood was laid, and on this occasion the name "Herzlia" (after Theodor Herzl) was adapted for. By the end of 1912, the construction of twelve houses of the neighborhood was completed. Until the outbreak of World War One, the neighborhood did not grow beyond this. The main reason was the difficulties in the purchase of lands between Herzlia and a planned large, new neighborhood on Mt. Carmel - Hadar HaCarmel, where building began only after World War One. Thus Herzlia remained a small neighborhood for a long time, until it eventually merged into Hadar HaCarmel.