R Street has been a railroad corridor for almost as long as Sacramento has been a city, but it was once part of our flood protection system. In 1854, engineer Theodore Judah planned the first railroad in California, the Sacramento Valley Railroad (SVRR), using R Street as its main line through town on its way to Folsom. However, in the 1850s, flooding was a regular occurrence in Sacramento, and our complex series of levees and street raisings was only beginning. In order to keep the new railroad line above water, a levee was needed along R Street.

The original map of Sacramento included plans for streets as far south as Y Street (now Broadway), but when the SVRR was built there were few homes south of R Street. The levee stretched from R Street at least a mile to the east, gradually meeting the higher ground to the east. In addition to keeping the railroad high and dry, the levee protected Sacramento from flood waters coming from the south. However, in 1861 the R Street levee accidentally contributed to Sacramento’s most destructive flood.

On December 9, 1861, Sacramento’s northern levee along the American River broke. As flood waters poured into the city, they were stopped by the R Street levee. Instead of protecting the city from flooding, the levee stopped water from leaving the city. A hole had to be punched in the R Street levee in order to allow the waters to drain.

By 1900, a new levee system was in place throughout the Sacramento Valley. The railroad route along R Street was still important, but the levee was no longer needed. In 1903, the levee was removed, and the tracks relaid at their current level. Today, the only remnant of the R Street levee is at the cross streets near Third, Fifth and Sixth Streets, where the street rises and then drops at R Street. This elevated section was needed to keep tracks on R Street level, and to permit the tracks to rise up to the level of the wharves along Front Street, where the riverfront levee still keeps the waters at bay.

Removal of the R Street levee made development south of the tracks far easier. Within a decade, a beautiful new neighborhood was built south of the old levee, with a new city park, Southside Park, at the neighborhood’s center.

William Burg is the author of Sacramento’s Streetcars and Sacramento’s Southside Park, both by Arcadia Publishing. His new book, Sacramento: Then and Now, will be released on September 30, 2008.