In 1910, a full five years before the scheduled event, John D. Spreckels made two major contributions to ensure that the 1915 Panama California Exposition would be a success.
First, he kicked off the funding drive to build Balboa Park by donating $100,000. Second, Spreckels understood that it was essential for a suitable and impressive transportation system to be in place and fully operational by 1915 to serve the thousands of people that would be taking part in the upcoming event. As the owner of the San Diego Electric Railway, he directed his engineers to design a new streetcar especially for the upcoming exposition.
The well-respected St. Louis Car Company was chosen to build the 24 “state of the art” Class 1 streetcars. This was the first time any San Diego streetcar had been built outside the shops of the San Diego Electric Railway. By the 1915 Exposition, San Diego had a fleet of beautiful, new, reliable streetcars poised to carry patrons to and from Balboa Park.
Exactly 100 years later, the Centennial Celebration of the Panama California Exposition at Balboa Park is fast approaching. It is time that we San Diegans voice our desires and look to our leaders to find a way to make certain that our city is properly positioned to take full advantage of this event.
For me, this journey started on my birthday on July 23, 1996. I decided to take a stroll through the street fair being held on Park Boulevard and Adams Avenue in University Heights. I met three interesting retired fellows sitting at a table with a stack of fliers. I almost walked by, but I heard one of them asking for help to "save three old streetcars". I took a flyer and learned that $5,000 was needed to rescue three old streetcars that would otherwise be lost.
In talking to these men, I realized that they would not be so passionate about these old streetcars unless they were important to them; and if they were important to them, they would be important to other people too.
I wanted to find out more, so I sat down and we talked. I became very curious and felt I should find out what was really needed to save these streetcars. I asked them how long they had been working to raise the $5000 and how much money they had been able to raise. The answers were "for several years" and "$100". It was clear that they had great intentions but they weren't making much progress.
A couple of weeks later, I went out to see the old streetcars for myself. I met the owner, an elderly Irish woman who had lived in the old streetcars since she was married in 1939.
As we talked, she told me her husband had passed away a few years earlier and taking care of the property was getting to be too much for her. She wanted to sell the property and move, but the buyer was going to charge her $30,000 to cover the costs of demolishing and removing the old streetcar bodies. She offered to show me the inside of the streetcars, and as we walked through the house, I could see parts of the three cars here and there. Although they were mostly covered up with paneling and flooring, I was fascinated.
I had never seen anything like these old streetcars anywhere, and I knew that they were special. I realized it would be a tragic loss to see these destroyed, and I knew I had to act fast if I was going to save them.
I told the owner that I was interested in buying them and moving them off the land. She was very happy and quite relieved and tried to refuse any payment, explaining that by moving them I was going to save her $30,000. After some convincing, she finally agreed to let me pay her $500.00. We negotiated an agreement which allowed me enough time to get the streetcars off the property. I made the purchase and the scheduled demolition was canceled.
The woman became my friend, and she used the money I paid her to buy Klondike bars. Everyday while working in the hot sun, she would bring out a couple bars, and we would feast on them as she told me stories of her life in the streetcars. This ritual continued everyday for months, as I worked to get the old streetcars ready to be moved.
One morning a few days after I had purchased the old streetcars, I was there removing the old building materials that had been encasing them for the last fifty-seven years when I saw two gentlemen walking onto the property.
They knocked on the door and started talking to the woman who sold them to me. I overheard them introduce themselves as being from the National Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. This caught my attention.
As the volume of their voices increased, I could sense that the conversation was getting stressful. They went on to explain that they had traveled all the way from Maine for the sole purpose of acquiring these three streetcars for their museum.
The two suits went on to say that they had made all the arrangements, and had invested time and money to get ready to move and preserve the streetcars. I could tell she was feeling pressured, and at that moment she saw me. While pointing her finger in my direction she exclaimed "It was him! That fellow over there...He's the one who bought them!". I was spotted and there was no escape.
As the suits approached, one said "Ah, so you're the one who bought them," and a smile came to his face as he sat down. They introduced themselves and handed me their cards as they explained they had made arrangements to have these streetcars moved back to Maine. I told them I had no idea what they were talking about, and that I had already paid for them and had a signed receipt. I told them that I felt the old streetcars were special and that I had plans for them.
Needless to say, they were quite persistent as they tried to convince me that I should let them take them back to Kennebunkport. But I simply explained that they were not for sale.
Over the next year, I spent almost everyday working on the old streetcars, getting them ready to be moved.
At the time I didn't know what I would do with the streetcars, but I knew they had to be moved to be saved. My experience while serving in the U.S. Navy gave me a good idea of what it was going to take to get them moved safely. I worked almost everyday for many months, carefully removing the siding and roofing on the outside and paneling and flooring on the inside, by hand. There were plumbing and electrical issues to deal with, as well as several other obstacles that came from turning the streetcar into a home. But as the old building materials encasing the streetcars were removed, and they became more visible, I was amazed.
As I worked, I planned how I would get the streetcars off the property. Using a large crane, each streetcar was lifted onto a forty-foot flatbed tractor trailer and driven off the property to my home in North Park.
Once the streetcars were moved and stabilized, I began to prepare them so that they would be properly preserved. I built framing, added siding, and put on new roofs made of the same material as the original old streetcar roofing.
When I first brought the Class 1 streetcars to the attention of our city's leaders, it was to get them official recognition as important historic resources for the future of San Diego. In 1997, when the streetcars were officially designated as San Diego Historic Landmark #339, it spurred the imagination of thousands of people in San Diego. Stories about the streetcars were seen on television, in newspapers, and heard on the radio. The streetcars were even a part of parades here in the city.
As word started to spread, I was contact by Jay Turner and Richard Kurylo of North Park Main Street. Jay and Richard shared my dream of seeing the historic Class 1 streetcars back in operation on the streets of San Diego and saw their potential to serve as a revitalization engine for North Park. Their efforts culminated in the approved plans for a viable streetcar route and were also included in the North Park Traffic Calming Study as a viable way to reduce congestion in the area. The historic streetcar feasibility study for this project can be seen here.
The phase 1 route would run from the 12th and Imperial trolley station, up Park Boulevard, to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. (Click here to view the walking route via Google Maps.)
The still vacant multi-layered parking structure on 30th street was built in anticipation of the installation of the proposed 2004 streetcar route coming to North Park.
San Diego is fortunate because three of the original Class 1 streetcars still exist and are ideal candidates for restoration. They can become living reminders of our city's past and once again serve residents and visitors in a fun, safe, and reliable way.
The rebuilt and updated historic Class 1 streetcars will look just like they did when delivered in 1912, and exact replicas can be made to add as many additional streetcars to the fleet as are needed. When completed, the Class 1 streetcars will serve to provide a needed transportation system and an important new tourist attraction for San Diego.
In the late 1990s, members of the San Diego Electric Railway Association and local historians assisted with research, and voiced their support for San Diego Historic Landmark Designation. In addition, they expressed a desire to see the Class 1 streetcars restored and put back into service.
In 1997, a number of experts, including Fred Bennett, who worked with the San Francisco Vintage Trolley, and a group of enthusiasts from the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California, came to San Diego to inspect the newly recovered Class 1 streetcars. After several hours of climbing all over the streetcars like kids on a playground, the group determined that all the important structural elements were intact and in good condition.
Bennett concluded that the Class 1 streetcars were excellent candidates for restoration, and that they should be put back in operation as part of a streetcar line. Bennett explained how the frames on the Class 1 cars have the ideal structural frame for running on the rail without the risk to passengers that the earlier streetcar designs had. The frame design was state-of-the-art in 1912, with safety as a top priority. In the event of a collision, the Class 1 cars were designed to twist off the rails in order to prevent crushing accidents, as opposed to the past streetcar designs, in which the streetcar body would accordion when subjected to an impact.
In addition, Bennett explained that the shape and size of the existing wooden bumpers could be replaced with modern bumpers, made in the same form and size, which would meet the impact ratings as required by today's regulations.
It is critical that all our citizens have access to all forms of public transportation. Fortunately the Class 1 streetcars have a structural frame which happens to be ideal for the installation and maintenance of standard ADA accessible equipment on both sides, doubling the capacity to board patrons with limited mobility, without significant changes to the appearance of the original Class 1 streetcars.
Though the streetcars are officially designated as a San Diego Historic Landmark, the criteria for State and National Historical designation requires that the Class 1 streetcars are fully restored and running on any part of an original route. Obtaining this designation could result in Federal funding to help build, maintain, and expand the entire system.
Public transportation is rarely considered to be fun, but in some cities, like San Francisco, they have a historic transportation system that has become iconic. San Francisco's cable cars are an important mode of inner city transportation, and tourists come from all over the world to ride them. Today, the images of San Francisco's cable cars are used to advertise the city as an interesting and fun tourist destination. If San Diego were to rebuild a streetcar line along the proposed route, utilizing the restored Class 1 streetcars (that would then be eligible for National Historic Landmark status), they could become a similar attraction for tourists and locals alike.
Click here to read about the timeline and cost of restoring these unique San Diego treasures.
The return of the Class 1 streetcars to the streets of San Diego will provide significant benefits to many residents and businesses, as well as to the city of San Diego. Similar projects in other cities have shown that both commercial and residential property values increase with a historic streetcar system (and that’s not bad for city government).
All residents will benefit from the historic transportation system, because the Class 1 streetcars will be a fun way to travel between some of our cities most popular destinations and to decentralized parking structures in outlying areas in a fun and engaging way.
Many people would like to avoid the stress and frustration of driving downtown due to the congested streets and limited parking. The overall congestion of areas, like downtown San Diego, will be reduced if people can ride in a big beautiful antique streetcar, and leave their own cars in safe convenient parking structures in outlying areas. They will be able once again to "Ride and Relax" leaving the driving to the motorman.
The Class 1 streetcars are large and roomy with high ceilings so people will be able enjoy the ride downtown to stroll to fine dining, clubs, a ball game, and shopping. When it's time to go home, the ride back would take them through beautiful Balboa Park, coffeeshops, restaurants and other businesses that await them. The historic streetcar system will support a foundation for growth in all areas that the streetcars travel through making an authentic part of San Diego's history a vital part of San Diego's future.
From 1912 to 1939, just about everyone who lived in or visited San Diego rode in the Class 1 streetcars. Most of all, the early San Diego citizens rode in these streetcars at one time or another. In fact, just about any early San Diegan you can think of, from famous artists to famous leaders, as well as many of own family members rode in these streetcars. These Class 1 streetcars are a part of our legacy and have a connection to our past that exists in no other place. The sounds of steel wheels rolling on iron rails and ringing bells will be heard as they glide by. Quite a sight during day and night, the lit interiors and running lights will be captivating as they cast shadows along historic corridors which haven't seen them for decades.
In 1910, Spreckels had the streetcars built not only as functional transportation, but as an enchanting way to get to and from the Panama California Exposition, held at the area that would become Balboa Park. By rebuilding a truly historic streetcar system of beauty and function, the city can properly honor the legacy and contributions of John D. Spreckles.
It has been my dream to see these streetcars serving in a capacity that ensures they are properly maintained and preserved for future generations. The only way to accomplish this is to utilize the restored Class 1 streetcars, putting them back on the rails as an efficiently functioning transportation system. As a community, we have a rare opportunity to revive a unique and magical part of our history. It's time for San Diegans to seize this opportunity.
After obtaining the historic designation in 1997, I was enthusiastic about seeing the Class 1 streetcars restored to their original, enchanting condition and put back in operation on the streets of San Diego.
In 1997, there were several obstacles standing in the way of bringing the streetcars back. Things like traffic flow patterns and redevelopment of certain areas had to be concluded before full restoration would be viable. I realized this would take several years and decided to hold on to the streetcars until the time was right for San Diego. I am happy to say that time is now.
