national register nomination for boulevard park historic

As time progressed, the five-cent streetcar fare became a more manageable
percentage of a working-class person’s budget, resulting in higher transit usage by
working people. At the same time, automobiles became less expensive, more common,
and a higher priority for the middle class. Simultaneously, as Sacramento’s industrial
base grew larger and more noxious, Sacramento annexed surrounding land after 1911 and
new suburbs drew middle-class residents from the central city. The earliest outlying
suburbs also had streetcar service, but after the 1920s many had limited transit service,
and some streetcar routes were converting to buses. In 1946, streetcar service ended in
Boulevard Park, and in Sacramento entirely on January 4, 1947. Severed from its initial
transportation context, the desirable location of Boulevard Park was now too far to walk
downtown but too short to drive. Limited parking and proximity to neighborhoods of
dropping property value drove middle-class residents to seek new housing elsewhere,
utilizing different modes of transit.
The context of City Beautiful design shares similarities with that of streetcar
suburbs, as both were contemporaneous, but with important thematic differences.
Boulevard Park demonstrates several aspects of Progressive social reform in practical
application, as an expression of City Beautiful ideals. The district’s location within city
limits allowed this new development to take advantage of existing sewer and water
infrastructure, promoting Progressive ideals of hygiene and sanitation. The size of the
racetrack property was sufficient to allow design of the neighborhood as a coherent
whole, with demonstrable elements of landscape architecture and neighborhood design.
Paving and sidewalks contributed to the theme of hygiene and order by limiting dust and
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