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