The Del Paso Blvd. Index

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Fact: North Sacramento was originally part of a 44,000-acre land grant made by the Spanish government to Eliab Grimes in 1844. Called Rancho Del Paso, the ownership of North Sacramento frequently changed hands in the following years. In 1862, James Ben Ali Haggin acquired the land and converted the ranch into a Thoroughbred horse-breeding farm, home to some 600 horses. The farm became famous when it produced California’s first Kentucky Derby winner, Ben Ali, in 1886. (Several streets in North Sacramento are named after Derby winners, including Dixieanne and Calvados.)    

Fact: For nearly 40 years, up until 1964, Del Paso Boulevard was a transcontinental highway better known as U.S. Hwy. 40, with an eastern endpoint in Atlantic City, N.J. During its heyday in the mid-1950s, the boulevard carried more automobile traffic than any other transcontinental highway. In 1998, the state Legislature designated the remnants of Hwy. 40 as a historic route. There are green historic markers along the boulevard.  

Fact: In 1962, Sacramento had the independent city of North Sacramento surrounded. It had annexed the surrounding area, including parts of Del Paso Heights, and North Sacramento was in its sights. In 1964, the city of North Sacramento met its end following a bitter and hotly contested election in which annexation was favored by six votes. North Sacramento filed for a recount, but before the recount could be completed, the ballots were mysteriously destroyed.

Fact: Virgil Chapman, a former North Sacramento real-estate broker, dedicated most of his adult life to improving the North Sacramento district. As an active member of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, he pushed for the Arden-Garden Connector for four decades. It was finally built in 1998. He also led the fund-raiser that brought electric lighting to the boulevard in 1948, making it one of the first lighted roads in the region. The lights cost $30,000 to install, and the boulevard became known as the “Great White Way.” A bronze memorial bust on Del Paso was created to remember Chapman, who died in 1996; its inscription refers to him as “the ‘honorary mayor’ of North Sacramento.”  

Fact: In 1972, Raymond E. Brewer, a 15-year-old football star for Norte Del Rio High School in Sacramento, was shot and killed by plainclothes police. He had been walking with two friends, reports say, carrying broomsticks to ward off vicious dogs in the area. The police, who were on stakeout for someone else, shouted at them, waving their guns. The three young men ran, not knowing who they were. The police pursued them and shot Brewer, sparking outrage and controversy in and around the community. “For months, it was ‘Del Paso Boulevard: Where cops shoot kids,’ ” says Rob Kerth, former City Council member and current president of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce.  

Fact: The American Ice Co. was built by Rob Kerth’s grandfather in 1921; his family opened Iceland’s Ice Skating Rink in 1940 and ran it until 1979. Bill Kerth Jr. and Sr. (Rob’s father and grandfather) made the first ice resurfacer, a tractor-like vehicle used to clean and smooth the surface of an ice rink. Frank J. Zamboni, who is widely recognized as the original developer of the resurfacer, developed his machine independently a year later in 1949 in Paramount, Calif. After some early friction, Bill Kerth Jr. and Frank Zamboni became friends. 

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