national register nomination for boulevard park historic
national register nomination for boulevard park historic
national register nomination for boulevard park historic
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neighborhood became less quiet and pastoral than Wright & Kimbrough’s original intent. However,<br />
limitations on commercial use, included as conditions on property deeds, meant that the firm’s advertising<br />
motto of “No stores, no saloons, no wash houses, no wood yards” within the district was mostly accurate.<br />
Along the neighborhood’s northern edge, several light industrial customers set up shop in lots adjacent to<br />
the B Street railroad berm, including a plumbing shop on the alley between B and C Street.<br />
Despite these industrial intrusions, Boulevard Park lots sold briskly, especially on the southern edge of the<br />
neighborhood. Lots on the northern edge were relatively af<strong>for</strong>dable to tradesmen, while the larger lots were<br />
within the price range of Sacramento’s upper middle class. Much of the neighborhood was built out by<br />
1915, with 162 surviving buildings in the district having a construction date of 1915 or earlier.<br />
Construction of some lots continued throughout the district’s period of significance, with 74 surviving<br />
buildings in the district constructed between 1916 and 1946. Despite the developers’ initial prohibition<br />
against double houses or flats, several duplexes and apartment buildings were built, universally of<br />
dimensions, architectural style and character compatible with the neighborhood. At least three buildings<br />
constructed prior to 1905 were moved into the district from other parts of the city, relocated no later than<br />
1915. These buildings were compatible in character and size with the district as built, if not in architectural<br />
style.<br />
Historic Context: Sacramento’s Early Streetcar Suburbs<br />
Sacramento’s first public streetcar system was a horse-drawn line from Third and R Street to Second and K<br />
Street, built in 1858 and destroyed in an 1861 flood. The completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1868<br />
spurred the need <strong>for</strong> a public streetcar system to carry visitors through Sacramento’s business district and to<br />
the racetrack of the Cali<strong>for</strong>nia State Agricultural Society, used as fairgrounds <strong>for</strong> the annual Cali<strong>for</strong>nia state<br />
fair. On August 20, 1870, a new streetcar system, the City Street Railway, was completed, operating from<br />
the Central Pacific passenger depot at Front and K Street to the Cali<strong>for</strong>nia State Agricultural Society’s<br />
Union Park racetrack at Twentieth and H Street. By July 1871, the line extended south to the City<br />
Cemetery just south of the Sacramento city limits on Tenth and Y Street, and East Park beyond the city<br />
limits at Thirty-first and H Street. The City Street Railway used cars drawn by horses or mules.<br />
A second streetcar company, the Central Street Railway, was <strong>for</strong>med in 1887. This company, owned by<br />
real estate developers Edwin K. Alsip and Leonidas Lee Lewis, was intended to carry commuters from<br />
downtown Sacramento to their new residential suburbs, Highland Park and Oak Park. Originally planned as<br />
a cable car line, Central Street Railway briefly experimented with battery-powered streetcars but<br />
abandoned them in favor of horse-drawn streetcars. In 1890, Central Street Railway converted to electric<br />
power generated by a steam engine at their carbarn at 28th and M Street. In 1891, they purchased control of<br />
R.S. Carey’s City Street Railway and consolidated both lines, renaming the combined company the Central<br />
Electric Railway.<br />
Streetcars were essential to Alsip and Lewis’ suburban developments. Located outside of Sacramento’s city<br />
limits, they offered lower land prices with no city taxes, but their distance from the city center required<br />
public transportation, provided by the streetcar line. Due to their location outside city limits, their<br />
developments lacked access to city water and sewer lines, streets were unpaved, and lots were not provided<br />
with sidewalks. Purchasers of land were free to design and construct a building to fit individual need, with<br />
no limitations on design or placement on the lot. A private recreational <strong>park</strong>, Oak Park, was located at the<br />
far end of the streetcar line, intended as a neighborhood amenity and a revenue generator <strong>for</strong> the<br />
development company. Many lots were purchased by investors and not built upon <strong>for</strong> years, and the<br />
economic depression of the 1890s slowed construction of neighborhoods like Oak Park.<br />
In 1892, H.P. Livermore and Albert Gallatin applied <strong>for</strong> their own streetcar franchise under the name<br />
“Sacramento Electric Power and Light Company.” They purchased the existing Sacramento streetcar lines<br />
and expanded them. In 1895, electric power generated at Gallatin and Livermore’s hydroelectric generator<br />
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