Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association

Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association

History Of Boulevard Park

Boulevard Park is one of Sacramento’s most distinctive neighborhoods with a history of place and cohesiveness of architecture. The overall design departs from the general city scheme and landscape elements play a prominent role in defining the character of the neighborhood. On the north-south boulevards of 21st and 22nd Streets, large lots face the green median strips and three of the blocks have interior, shaded commons areas. The park at the north end is named Grant Park, and is part of earlier city plan envisioned by John Sutter, Jr. who bequeathed whole blocks to the city as a system of public squares in 1850.

The architecture of the larger Cube shape homes immediately surrounding the green medians and commons is of Colonial Revival and Craftsman Style with some Prairie and Spanish Colonial Style influences. The majority of the homes were built between 1905 and 1915 and depart in style from the Queen Anne and Italianate Styles that previously dominated Sacramento. Boulevard Park homes represented the beginnings of the truly modern home, being the first ones built with open floor plans, abundant natural light, indoor plumbing, electric light fixtures and central heating. They retain Victorian sensibilities with the attention to detail in decorative moulding and window treatment, high ceilings and the use of pocket doors to create private spaces. Overall, the architecture is a local vernacular adaptation of styles popular throughout the entire country during the same period.

The Boulevard Park neighborhood is located on the former site of the Union Park Race Course which was in operation for 42 years beginning in 1860. The track, owned by the State Agricultural Society, was the location of the first permanent State Fair. Old photographs and maps of the structures show a large grandstand on the southwest corner with surrounding stables.

Socially prominent Sacramentans, including Stanford, Crocker and Haggin, raced their personal trotting teams on the track; horse racing was the premier national sporting event of the period. The Union Park Race Course was the site of Eadweard Muybridge's the early photography experiments, which were an important prelude to the development of motion pictures. In addition to horse racing, bicycle and auto races eventually were held.

Many of the structures around the racetrack and along H Street were built to house those involved in horse racing. H Street was also a prestigious residential street, and several examples of the finest Victorian era homes in Sacramento still stand.

As Sacramento grew, the State Fair needed to move to a larger site. The last State Fair at the Union Park Race Course was held in 1904. The Park Realty Company subsequently purchased the site and subdivided it. Within six months, most of the lots on 21st Street were sold. With streetcars running down C and K Streets, the modern commuter neighborhood was born.

Lots in Boulevard Park were advertised as being on higher ground than typically found in this flood prone city. Even so, the houses were designed with the main floor raised six feet above the ground.

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>>> BPNA Website <<< www.boulevardparkna.org

>>> BPNA Website <<< www.boulevardparkna.org