J-Church preps for 100th birthday in photo exhibit

One of Muni’s oldest rail lines is turning the big 100 in August of this year.

The J-Church rail line debuted on Aug. 17, 1917 and is still running along Church Street, transporting everyone from downtown commuters to Mission High School students to residents spending a day at Dolores Park on the weekends.

Visitors to the Old Mint building in San Francisco this weekend were able to view a slide show called “100 Years on the J-Church” – a slide show of more than a dozen old J-Church photos from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Photography and Archive Department.

The exhibit included an archived photo of S-curved rail tracks getting laid out on the Church Street hill in 1916, and a photo of people gathered at Dolores Park for the debut of the J-Church on Aug. 11, 1917.

Those who could not attend the exhibit can always visit the SFMTA’s website to view old J-Church photos or any Muni-related photos in the transit agency’s online photo archive.

The exhibit was part of San Francisco History Days, where the Old Mint turns into a pop-up museum. More than 75 exhibitions were available to public to learn about The City’s storied past.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.