Historic Timeline of Oak Park
1850-1851
• First recorded settlers occupied the area currently known as Oak Park in Sacramento County by Preemptive Right prior
to 1865 U.S. Governement Survey.
1854
• 400 acres of farm land were acquired by Thomas Palmer family and 230 acres were acquired by the William Doyle
family.
1887
• Doyle sells 230 acre ranch to real estate promoter Edwin K. Alsip for subdivision development. Sacramento’s first suburb
was born consisting of 200 lots sold at public auction.
1889
• Oak Park Association is formed consisting of ten investors.
• Oak Park Association forms Central Street Railway benefitting Sacramento/Oak Park residents with increased mobility
by reliable and cheap mass transit. Oak Park becomes the first Trolley Car Suburb
1890
• Oak Park Association forms an eight-acre picnic and entertainment park complete with an electric plant on the site so
that it could be lit in the evenings.
1893
• Development throughout the Sacramento is curtailed due to a nationwide depression and financial panic that began in
.
• The Oak Park Association is forced to dissolve and distribute its remaining undivided lands among its major investors,
chiefly L.L. Lewis and William J. Landers.
1903
• Street car company reorganized as the Sacramento Gas, Electric and Railway Company
• Park is turned over to a franchise operator that featured free vaudeville acts, motion pictures, a roller skating rink and
miniature scenic railroad
1906 -1907
• Trolley company connects with the State Fair Grounds.
1900-1910
• Oak Park Baptist and Methodist Churches are established.
• Sacramento County Ledger newspaper begins publication
1911
• Annexation enlarging Sacramento’s land area by about three times its original size and increased its population from
about 45,000 to about 60,000.
• City Directory describes Oak Park as having five churches, two elementary schools, two fire houses, a pottery production
plant, two lumber yards, a knife and tool factory, large contracting firm, a weekly newspaper, two plumbing firms, two
dry goods stores, three drug stores, numerous grocery stores, six butcher shops, a furniture store, a large hotel, one
bank, six real estate firms, two laundries and several other small thriving business enterprises
• Sewerage regulation was passes in December
1912
• Headline in the Sacramento Bee declares, “Oak Park Flourishes Into Real Commercial Center”. Cottage Style homes
are most common.
1914
• Street improvements
1915
• City replaced the volunteer fire company with the full-time Fire House Number 6.
• Streets in Oak Park were widened, paved and storm drains installed.
1918-1919
• Streets were renamed.
1920
• Great Depression, number of new residences slowed.
1935 - 1945
• New construction resumes in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Breaks during the Second World War and resumes in
the late 1940s and early 1950s.
1960 - 1980’s
• Oak Parks falls into a state of regression due to a series of economic impacts. 1) the flight to the new suburbs; and 2)
the loss of working class jobs in the vicinity.
2008
• Nationwide Mortage and Economic Crisis
Present
• Sacramento Redevelopment Agency begins purchasing properties in the Oak Park business district to demolish and
turn into public housing projects.
• UC Davis Hospital expansion and the Shriner’s Hospital opens.
• Cooperative Oak Park renewal.Investors, City of Sacramento and Federal Government develop programs benefitting
first time home-owners and ease the way for private investors to renew neighborhoods
Map of Oak Park, Ca
During the period of native-American occupation there were no known village sites in the area of Oak Park. The Spanish and Mexican periods produced no events, or settlements in the area. Even John Sutter’s vast land grant did not include the area of Oak Park. However, Sutter did send out hunters in the 1840 to kill a good many of the Tule Elk throughout the area as part of an effort to raise cash by trading hides and tallow. At about the same time, Sutter began buying domestic cattle and allowing them free range on all the lands surrounding his fort. It is likely that some of these cattle took up pasturage in the Oak Park area.
