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.