Chapter McKinley Park - Sutter Park...
Transcript of Chapter McKinley Park - Sutter Park...
McKinley Park
Sacramento Park Neighborhoods
Chapter 04
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1850’s 1860’s 1871 1900 Today1901 1902 1910 1911 1916-1923 1918 19221922 1930’s 1936 1994 2002
Early development begins alongAlhambra Boulevard.
Casa Loma Terrace, the first housing development bordering McKinley Park, is platted.
McKinley Park neighborhood annexed by the City.
After WWI ends, development around McKinley Park begins in earnest.
Wright and Kimbrough begin construction of the southern Parkside Tract.
Wright and Kimbrough begin construction of the eastern Parkside Tract.
More than 2,500 McKinley Park residents rejuvenate the McKinley Park Village playground with donated time and money.
The McKinley Park neighborhood has matured beautifully and boasts an abundance of large, maintained
shade trees. An extremely active neighborhood association ensures
that the park and greater community are meticulously maintained.
McKinley Park
Beets and asparagus grew along McKinley Boulevard prior to development.
Regularly flooding Burns Slough occupies the current site of McKinley Park.
East Park goes out of business. The owners try unsuccessfully
to subdivide the park.
The City buys the East Park property and it is renamed McKinley Park.
The City operates a public auto camp in the panhandle area of McKinley Park to generate revenue. Long-term squatters stifle development.
h i s t o r i c t i m e l i n e o f e v e n t s
The Sacramento Street Railway lays tracks for horse-drawn trolleys from downtown to a 30-acre
parcel at what is now McKinley Park to build a recreational park. East Park is constructed.
The McKinley Park rose garden contains over 150 varieties of roses.
Funds bequeathed from Mrs. Florence Turton Clunie and the City of Sacramento are used to create the Florence Turton Clunie Memorial Building in McKinley
Park to replace the old clubhouse.
McKinley Park is nominated as one of the ‘Great Public Spaces’ by the Project for Public Spaces, New York.
N E I G H B O R H O O D D E V E L O P M E N T H I S T O R Y
The area east of the original city limits to the American River was farmed
as early as the 1850s, despite regular flooding before any levees or flood
control. Development was limited to family farms before the first levee
along what is now Elvas Avenue was built in the 1860s. Burns Slough,
roughly aligned along what is now McKinley Boulevard, carried excess
floodwater through the McKinley Park area to the east until the early
20th century when additional flood measures were put into place.
In 1871 the City Street Railway laid tracks for horse-drawn trolleys
from downtown to a 30-acre parcel at what is now Alhambra Boulevard
and H Street to build a recreational park, to be named East Park, for city
residents to use on weekends. East Park was strictly a for-profit business
venture and featured a 10,000 square foot building which housed a saloon
and room for private parties. There were grounds for playing baseball,
picnic grounds, shooting alleys, a dancing platform, room for concerts,
and a zoo.
Sacramento Park Neighborhoods
Chapter 04
Downtown Sacramento
Oak Park
Land Park
Curtis Park
N
MCKINLEY PARK
East Sacramento
7 6' AV E R A G E T R E E H E I G H T
L O C AT I O N & P R O X I M I T Y
The McKinley Park neighborhood is generally considered bounded by Alhambra Boulevard to the west, Union Pacific Railroad
tracks to the north, 39th Street to the east, and H and I Streets to the south. The neighborhood is adjacent to Midtown
Sacramento and the American River.
McKINLEY PARK
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Sacramento Park Neighborhoods
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3 0 N U M B E R O F A C R E S O F O R I G I N A L PA R K PA R C E L
Park DevelopmentFrom 1916–1923, to generate revenue, the City operated a public auto camp in the panhandle
area of the Park, where the Shepard Garden and Arts Center is today.
Courtesy of CSH.
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Access to East Park, renamed McKinley Park in the early days, even with
trolleys was not easy. There were no paved streets, and often these streets
were mud-filled ruts largely impassable except for the trolleys. Drainage
was still poor (causing a continual mosquito problem), and sewage removal
was nonexistent from downtown to the park and beyond. The Burns
Slough, which flowed northeast through the heart of the park, often pooled
water rather than moving it toward the river. Today’s McKinley Park Lake
is a remnant of this early slough.
Maintenance costs at the turn of the century were too much for East
Park to handle. As the business of East Park was struggling, the owners
of the trolley car companies tried unsuccessfully to subdivide the park
into small tracts for development. Local residents and the City interceded
and bought the property in 1902, years before the city annexed the area
and years before any coordinated development occurred. The park was
slowly improved, including deepening Burns Slough to provide water for
the park and its newly developed pond.
Early development began along Alhambra Boulevard, east on J Street
and on the north of McKinley Park after 1900. The park itself was a
natural starting point for development with its long established trolley
line from downtown. Though there were individually built homes on
small lots before city annexation, larger scale tract development did not
begin until city annexation in 1911.
The development of the McKinley Park neighborhood is an extension
of early developments in East Sacramento as a whole, but with the
added attraction of the East Park recreational area of the late 1800s. The
exceptions are the houses along H Street facing the park and the small
bungalow neighborhood directly to the north of the park. For the most
part, McKinley Park development did not begin in earnest until after
World War I.
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Development around the park was slow. From 1916-1923, to generate
revenue, the City operated a public auto camp in the panhandle area of
the Park, where the Shepard Garden and Arts Center is today. The auto
camp included electric lights, showers, and basic shelters for transient
travelers. Unfortunately, many turned the area into a long-term residential
camp, effectively stifling residential development. Once these services
were terminated, the area surrounding the park boomed, with Wright
and Kimbrough’s Parkside tract starting construction as early as 1922.
Early development in the McKinley Park neighborhood was piecemeal
as individual tracts were purchased. Several tracts were quite successful,
both architecturally and as cohesive neighborhood units, such as the
Parkside tract. The Parkside tract, directly east of the park, did not begin
until the early 1930s.
The parts of the McKinley Park neighborhood that were not cohesively
planned and developed suffered architecturally and in investment value
for decades. Photographs of the period often reveal a hodgepodge of
residential and commercial uses, reflecting a more rural aspect than a
suburban one. The more unified whole that is perceived today has taken
many decades of infill development and redevelopment to occur – a
process that continues today, lot by lot.
The fragmented development that emerged from the platting of dozens
of small parcels, almost all of which were family-owned farming or dairy
operations, prevented most large-scale housing development. Ironically,
this may have led to better economic stratification in the area as high-
end custom housing on the south side of McKinley Park sits comfortably
with modest bungalows on the north side of the park and middle-class
Tudors on the east side. The economic diversity of the area probably
contributed to its long-term success since residents could move up the
economic scale as families developed and as mature residents were able
to downsize households as well.
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for amateur sports enthusiasts, baseball fields, horseshoe pits,
a soccer field, and tennis courts are available at McKinley Park.
Haven
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C H A R A C T E R A N D S C A L E
The McKinley Park neighborhood is located at the edge of East
Sacramento and enjoys a unique identity and sense of place, centered on
beautiful McKinley Park. The neighborhood is predominantly residential
with a number of mixed use and retail businesses located along
Alhambra Boulevard.
Though primarily single family residential, McKinley Park has a variety
of rental properties interspersed. Small apartment buildings developed
along J Street and rental bungalow courts were built on both the north
and south sides of McKinley Park. Park McKinley, built in the late 1930s,
was a concierge-staffed Deco apartment building next to McKinley Park
that attracted business owners and wealthy retirees, some of whom
moved there from the Senator Hotel and Sutter Club downtown.
C O M M E R C I A L
Commercial land uses are mostly concentrated west of Alhambra
Boulevard. Small retail stores along C Street service surrounding
residences and the Cannery Business Park on the north side of C Street.
Additionally, a number of residential mixed use and residential office
uses can be found along Alhambra Boulevard.
PA R K S A N D P U B L I C A M E N I T I E S
McKinley Park, at 32 acres, provides many amenities including a pool,
tennis courts, horseshoe pits, baseball fields, soccer fields, a jogging track,
picnic areas, a large pond, community garden, art center, library, and
clubhouse. The stunning rose garden draws visitors from the greater
Sacramento region and the entire park has been nominated as one of the
‘Great Public Spaces’ by Project for Public Spaces, New York.
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Sacramento Park Neighborhoods
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The McKinley Park neighborhood is located at the edge of East Sacramento
and enjoys a unique identity and sense of place, centered on beautiful McKinley Park.
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S T R E E T S C A P E
The shape of McKinley Park streets was largely determined by existing
roads that extended from the downtown grid, primarily J Street. This
major east/west street altered the way that residential streets developed,
as few houses were built facing this major arterial; most homes maintain
an east/west orientation for this reason. Those on corner lots faced the
north/south grid. The only major streets running north/south at this
time were Alhambra Boulevard and 39th Street, which connected
McKinley Park with Oak Park.
McKinley Boulevard was built from the park east to Elvas Avenue at the
railroad level. As a result, most pre-World War II development was on a
north/south grid between these streets, arranged in a traditional
‘gridiron’ pattern. Block lengths in this area are the traditional 320'
square. The remaining portions of the McKinley Park neighborhood
utilize a ‘fragmented parallel’ street pattern, with the block lengths
becoming longer and narrower, facilitating the east/west home orientation.
The primary streets, H Street and Alhambra Boulevard, typically have an
80' wide right-of-way. Interior streets have right-of-ways that range from
42'-50' and most feature detached sidewalks with generous landscape
buffers. The streets have a clear line of sight through the neighborhood.
This regularity of line is reinforced by rigid lot line setbacks from the
street, regular placement of planetrees at the street, and placement of
streetlights. These streetscape features create a street level that is both
linear and symmetrical.
There are virtually no front fences or walls in the McKinley Park
neighborhood, a testament to the area’s stability. Most houses have front
lawns complemented by foundation plantings. Garages are almost
completely to the side and rear of residences. Driveways are almost
always single width, with many houses maintaining their original
concrete tire strips.
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Sacramento Park Neighborhoods
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Dist inct ive Architecture
McKinley Park’s distinctive architecture, tree-lined
streets, and proximity to Downtown Sacramento and
various recreational outlets has made it one of
Sacramento’s most desirable addresses.
$150,000 A M O U N T F L O R E N C E T U R T O N C L U N I E W I L L E D T O T H E PA R K AT H E R D E AT H I N 1 9 3 5
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S T R E E T T R E E S
Although development around McKinley Park was piecemeal, the
predominant species planted along H Street, McKinley Boulevard, and
residential streets surrounding the park were planetrees – both Oriental
and American. English elms were also planted but few remain today.
Other species include Modesto ash and elms with accent species including
redwoods, sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and ginkgo (Ginkgo
biloba). Current species include all of these plus zelkova, deodar cedar,
magnolias, and Chinese pistache. McKinley Park is the smallest of the
sampled neighborhoods and has the least species diversity.
The trees are predominantly mature with few new plantings. Average
diameter at breast height (DBH) across all planting configurations
was 28 inches, with average height and crown diameter at 76' and 56',
respectively. Tree crowns tend to be wider than lot widths and also
arch to meet over the streets.
Much of McKinley Park’s planting space is in front yard lawns rather than
landscape strips. McKinley Park provides a unique opportunity to examine
similarly aged trees of one species – mature planetrees planted 70–95 years
ago – in two different planting strip configurations of 5' and 15' widths.
North of McKinley Park, D Street has the largest remaining planting
strip designed in early Sacramento history – 15'. The planetrees on D
Street represent some of the oldest and largest planted in the McKinley
Park neighborhood.
The trees in the smaller planting strip, however, have smaller DBH and
are nearly 20' shorter on average. This was a typical observation
throughout small planting strips in McKinley Park. Trees in the smaller
landscape strips have a higher replanting rate and tend to not be as
healthy.
There are few utility conflicts in McKinley Park, and all trees have
reached heights above houses and other vertical objects. Overall, trees are
generally well cared for and properly maintained in the McKinley Park
neighborhood.
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$12,500 T H E C I T Y ’ S P U R C H A S E P R I C E F O R T H E 3 6 A C R E M C K I N L E Y PA R K PA R C E L I N 1 9 0 2 1 J O G G I N G C I R C L E D I S TA N C E , I N M I L E S
Many of these houses have beautifully detailed leaded glass windows, some with
Moorish arches and some with subtly arched Tudor frames.
Complementing the Streetscape
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R E S I D E N T I A L A R C H I T E C T U R E D E V E L O P M E N T H I S T O R Y
Parkside and East Terrace Tracts
Developed by Wright and Kimbrough in the early 1930s, the Parkside
and East Terrace tracts are some of the most architecturally cohesive
developments of the day. Most houses, as built, range from 1200 to 1500
square feet and are popular among homeowners who today have made
additions typically anywhere from 500 to 1200 square feet. Most houses
are carefully detailed brick “Cotswold” Tudor cottages. Some examples
have a heavily-troweled stucco exterior that emulates a “wattle and daub”
effect. They are found throughout McKinley Park and East Sacramento and
can be found in Curtis Park and even as infill in Midtown Sacramento.
Examples can be found in early rural developments in the county as well.
The Sacramento Cotswold generally is a cross-gabled one-story cottage,
typically with two or three bedrooms and one bath. The roofline is
extremely high-pitched, sometimes emulating a “thatched” roof either in
wood shingles or composition shingles. These houses are popular today
because they can easily be adapted to hold a second floor, often opening
to the rear of the house, thus preserving the historic façade of the front
as well as maintaining the historic appearance of the street. The houses
vary considerably, even though they are mostly of the Cotswold Tudor
style. They feature a great range of gable orientation, roof heights,
surface cladding, and individualized surface detail that complement the
regularity of the streetscape.
Many of these houses have beautifully detailed leaded glass windows,
some with Moorish arches and some with subtly arched Tudor frames.
They generally have a mixture of casement and double-hung windows.
Entries are generally at an angle to the street with entry from a front
covered porch. Doors tend to be wood and beautifully executed, opening
into a small entry before entrance into an adjacent living room. Detail,
though carefully articulated, tends to be understated, without the
flourishes that often can be found on Land Park houses of the period.
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