national register nomination for boulevard park historic

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