Hitching posts, rings & rails
Mounting block
Throughout City of Santa Cruz
SITE HISTORY
Before cars, people rode horses or horses with carriages for transportation. A hitching post was a secure, stationary post used for tethering horses to prevent them from wandering, acting as a "parking spot" outside homes or businesses. Rings and rails were also used. The mounting block was used to help step up into a carriage.
These were once common in Santa Cruz and some still exist on local streets. They contribute to the historic character of a neighborhood and they remind us of a pre-automobile Santa Cruz.
In 2013, many of the hitching posts, rails and mounting block were added to the City of Santa Cruz Historic Building inventory.
Hitching ring: 410 Market Street (date: c1900)
Hitching post: 303 Ocean View (date: 1880) and 419 Locust Street (date:1881)
Hitching rail:406 Windham (date:c1900)
Mounting block: 123 Green Street (date: c1880s)
HISTORIC STATUS
City of Santa Cruz Historic Building Survey
https://www.santacruzca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/pl/documents/final-adopted-historic-building-survey-volume-iii.pdf
Want To Learn More?
https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/items/show/93391#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0
Example of horse and carriage, c1908. Credit: Northeastern California Historical Photograph Collection
303 Oceanview, 1880
419 Locust Street, 1881
406 Windham Street. Hitching Rail, c1900
123 Green Street. Mounting block. c1880s