The Panama-California Exposition and the inception of the Class 1 streetcars To celebrate the opening of the
Panama Canal and to advertise San Diego as a vital port destination for traveling ships, city leaders planned the Panama-California Exposition of 1915. It was decided it would take place in Balboa Park, which was largely an open space park up until that point and would have to undergo major renovations and construction to be made ready for the event. Visionary artists and developers from San Diego and throughout America came together to design and construct an impressive new park. Apart from the architectural and botanical transformations that took place in Balboa Park, John D. Spreckels and his San Diego Electric Railway Company (SDERy) took on the task of providing public transportation for the Exposition. Directing a team of engineers and designers led by Abel A. Butterworth, Spreckels, and SDERy Vice President, William Clayton, sought to develop a new streetcar that could both provide transportation for the visitors at the Panama-California Exposition and for the city of San Diego in the following decades of anticipated growth. One of the main goals for Spreckels and San Diego Electric Railway was improving upon the flaws of existing streetcars, all the while synthesizing their strengths. Taking notes from both the “California Car” and “Closed Car” models, Butterworth and his team successfully developed an updated, modern streetcar with improved safety, speed, technology, and overall design. These new cars, known as the Class 1s, were also designed in the
Arts & Crafts style with an artist’s touch to complement the changes to Balboa Park. Built by the world-renowned Saint Louis Car Company, they were adorned with warm yellow colors, gold-leafed oak leaves, hand-polished cherry wood, and solid bronze hardware –- even the push buttons passengers used to alert the motorman were inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The first of these cars went into service in 1912. The fleet of twenty-four Class 1 streetcars went on to serve the patrons of the
Panama–California Exposition and the citizens of San Diego for several years.
The streetcars in operation in San Diego Following the success of the Panama-California Exposition, the Class 1 streetcars became a mainstay of early 20th-century public transportation in San Diego. The improved design was met with enthusiasm from the general public and these streetcars became a popular mode of transit, often carrying over twice their intended capacity in passengers. One of the most significant features of the Class 1s was the development of the “center entrance”, a large opening door in the center of the streetcar that also lowered spring-loaded steps for ease of entrance. This improved safety a great deal and made it easier for women in their fashionable “hobble skirts” to enter a streetcar with a greatly reduced risk of falling over. This new center entrance was also combined, for the first time in the Class 1 streetcars, with the “P.A.Y.E”, or “Pay As You Enter”, system. Soon after San Diego’s streetcars were developed, New York City followed suit and commissioned its own center entrance, the “P.A.Y.E.” streetcar line. The various advancements made with the Class 1s ensured their widespread expansion across San Diego, with lines ultimately running everywhere from
Downtown, to
Coronado,
Ocean Beach,
Mission Hills,
Old Town,
Hillcrest,
University Heights,
North Park,
South Park,
Golden Hill,
Kensington,
Chula Vista, and even to the U.S.-Mexico border (until 1916).
The Great Depression leads to the retirement of the Class 1 streetcars Ultimately, after some updates and improvements in the mid-1920s, the San Diego Class 1 streetcars met the same fate as most light rail as
The Great Depression began to take hold in America. As the government moved to economize public transportation systems to reduce the financial burden of public transit budgets, many cities decided to make the switch to the cheaper, utilitarian
Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars. Developed by a collaborative committee of streetcar company presidents, this mass-produced vehicle was designed to look like a then-modern city bus and represented a necessary shift during the tough economic times. As a result, the Class 1 streetcars were retired and some were auctioned off in 1939. Some were even turned into homes before a city law that prevented the practice was passed later that same year. Following the ban on streetcar sales, the remaining Class 1 bodies were destroyed. However, the sale of a few of these streetcars has allowed for three of these important pieces of San Diego's history to be preserved until this day. ==Potential for restoration==