Elk Grove Historic District

Old Town Elk Grove is a historic district of 49 contributing and 19 non-contributing buildings, plus three vacant parcels, arranged along Elk Grove Boulevard on both sides of the Southern Pacific tracks. It also takes in residential blocks on School, Gage and Grove Streets. Most buildings were put up between 1870 and 1930, when the Central Pacific and later the Southern Pacific railroads dominated the local economy. The streetscape mixes one and two story commercial and residential buildings, including false front stores, Italianate and classically detailed facades, utilitarian brick buildings and bungalows. Notable examples include the 1876 Elk Grove Hotel, the Odd Fellows hall built after an 1892 fire, the 1880 Masonic Lodge, and a brick building on the Toronto Hotel site rebuilt after fires in 1892 and 1922. Later concrete block and metal buildings intrude, yet the area keeps a traditional Mainstreet look that sets it apart from the surrounding suburban community.