Historic Oak Park is the oldest suburb in Sacramento. It is situated minutes away from Sacramento's lively downtown and is filled with small charming homes that are some of the last bargains in the inner city. Various revitalization efforts are underway to return Oak Park to its former glory. The area today is home to the UC Davis Medical Center and the top ranked McGeorge School of Law.
Historic Oak Park was built on the 230-acre William Doyle ranch. Edwin Alsip purchased the ranch in 1887. Alsip's was a real estate promoter who planned on creating a working class community for Sacramento's growing population.
Light rail is not a recent phenomenon in Sacramento. Oak Park had an extensive electric trolley service that allowed residents to commute to places such as the large Southern Pacific Railroad shops.
The Sacramento Gas, Electric and Railway Company's extensive trolley service connected communities as far away as Folsom and Chico a 100 years ago!
Sacramento annexed Oak Park in 1911. At the time it was a thriving community with thousands of working class residents and a thriving business district. The growth continued until WWII when the community reached maturity and the land had been fully built up.
The 1960s would bring new suburbs to Sacramento and just as the middle class had moved from downtown to Oak Park, they now moved to the new suburbs. The closing of the Southern Pacific Rail Yard in 1983 was the final nail in the economic coffin of Oak Park.
However, because of the inherent charm of the houses, many of them cottages in the Arts & Crafts style as well as later Tudor revival, and the proximity to more expensive housing downtown, the area has undergone a revitalization. While there are still pockets of blight, the old charm has begun to return and housing values have increased greatly.
