As excitement and apprehension for Sutter Street’s new revitalization effort buzzes through Folsom, some longtime residents remember the excitement from an earlier project.

In August 1966, the Telegraph called it “a plan to improve the old street by installing a Mall, divided down the center where grass trees and flowers could grow, and the old western atmosphere retained with gas light standards and overhanging porches.”

Folsom’s Gas-Lit Mall was dedicated on Monday, May 11, 1964.

The process of the 1960s Sutter Street revitalization project differs from the current project said some long-time Folsom residents.

“There was no process. All they did was put in the median and they were done,” said Madeline Moseley, 82, of Folsom.

She moved to Clarksville in 1938 where her father operated the Foothill Service Station. She moved to Folsom in 1952 after getting married.

“It was a beautification project to slow down traffic because (Sutter Street) was Highway 50 then,” Moseley said. “People could then walk in the center to talk and not get run over.”

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Before the project received a plan, someone needed to create the idea.

Steve Toney, 67, moved to Folsom in 1962 and took possession of The Folsom Telegraph with his late father, J. Clifton Toney, until the newspaper was sold in 1986.

Toney said his father always had a desire to preserve the historic town that he wrote about, and after a fire hit Sutter Street a few years later, he and Mayor Jack Kipp had an idea.

“We were standing outside (after the fire occurred) and Jack said ‘We ought to just let the street burn down,’” Toney said. “And my dad said, ‘We need to preserve it.’ So he took it on editorially.”

Toney said after his father took on this preservation project with editorials in The Folsom Telegraph, Kipp soon supported the project for the 700 block.

“After that one block of mall came in, Sutter Street took off. Then PG&E got the gas lights (from San Francisco),” Toney said. “So, Jack got excited from the positive response and approved another block. Then the next and the next.”

WITNESSING CHANGE

As construction of the first revitalization occurred, Toney said he witnessed it all.

He said the process was easier in the 1960s and the entire process, from planning to construction, only took a few months.

“There are new laws now. Jack said to do it, so they just did it,” Toney said.

The first step was to draw and lay out the plans. Next the streets were closed off and the asphalt was torn up. The last step was to simply dig holes for the trees and plant the landscaping he said.

“Now we need permission,” Toney said. “Back then, there was not much opposition.”

The process has changed.

The current project was first initiated in 2005 by Sutter Street merchants because of concerns with the closure of the old Dam Road, said Sue Ryan, Folsom public information officer. Construction started mid -ebruary and the estimated completion date is mid-November 2010, she said.

MOVING WITH THE TIMES

With the current Sutter Street revitalization project in progress, many wonder if the new look will surpass the old one.

“The old way was preserving, this one is remodeling,” Toney said. “It’s not going to have that historic flavor. It was my dad’s flavor.”

Other long-time Folsom residents are also questioning the current revitalization project.

“I understand that they had to do something, but I don’t like the idea. I like the trees and the walkways. I like how it is now. I think it is better than how it was,” said Gene Mendonca, 68, who moved to Folsom in 1946.

“When I go to an old town, I want to see the old downtown,” he said. “The new buildings are nice, but they are not old. They are out of place.”

Moseley is concerned over the widening of the sidewalks which, she said, will make the street seem too “modern looking.”

“I want people to shop in Folsom, and I don’t think the current revitalization will hurt us. I just don’t like the scenery,” Moseley said, who once served on the Folsom Chamber of Commerce board.

Mendonca also thought the project will help the merchants as well as making the street wheelchair accessible, however, the feeling of historic Folsom will be lost.

“I think it’s going to be nice, but it will lose its charm,” Mendonca said. “Maybe in a few years, I will look at the street and say ‘what was I thinking, this looks nice.’ It will (eventually) start to soften in everyone’s mind, and people will learn to like it.”