Sacramento History Museum

On January 9, 1875, the Western Hotel, built in 1854 on K Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, was destroyed by fire. The Sacramento Daily Union newspaper reported, according to an account given by the hotel’s owner William Land, the fire started at about 2:30pm in the lamp room. In that room, Charles Keisel was preparing oil lamps for the evening when a match accidentally came in contact with all the lamps and extra oil in a box. The fire department managed to contain the fire to just the hotel and no other buildings were damaged. The Union also reported 3 lives were lost in the fire, luckily the hotel only had 6 guests that day, and about $90,000 in damages.

William Land, who had purchased the hotel in 1871, looked to rebuild his once prestigious hotel. By the middle of February 1875, work was already underway to rebuild the hotel and it reopened later that year in July. The new hotel was constructed at a cost of $200,000 with 350 furnished rooms and was able to accommodate 500 guests. The Western Hotel was demolished during the Interstate 5 development in the 1960s.

Copy of a lithograph of the rebuilt Western Hotel ca. 1880 published by Thompson & West, courtesy of the California State Library.

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #Sacramento #sachistorymuseum

6 hours ago | [YT] | 115

Sacramento History Museum

On January 8, 1850, Sacramento City suffered from its first major flood. The previous evening, a large storm left the Sacramento River swollen. Water began to overflow as well at the slough just north of I and Second Streets. The lower portions of the city were quickly under water.

By the next day, according to the Placer Times newspaper, the flood water reached as far as a mile east from the Embarcadero (where Old Sacramento is today) and very few buildings in the city did not have standing water on their first floors. Most of the buildings in the city were made from canvas and wood, which didn’t stand up against the flood. Patients in hospitals were relocated to Sutter’s Fort, one of the only areas in the city with high ground.

The flood was just a matter of time. A colossal 12.5 inches of rain fell in December 1849, and then another 4.5 inches in the first week of January 1850. Stephen Masset wrote in his memoir, “It had been raining fearfully for many days, and the Sacramento river was rapidly rising; the lower portion of the city was entirely underwater, and our store had about two feet in the hold. The utmost consternation prevailed; and towards nightfall a perfect panic had seized the citizens, and naught appeared visible but the tops of the houses, with a swarm of human beings on the roofs.”

This flood persuaded the merchants in the city to invest in building a levee system to protect the city from future floods.

View of Sacramento in January 1850 by George W. Casilear & Henry Bainbridge, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #sacramento #SacHistoryMuseum

1 day ago | [YT] | 331

Sacramento History Museum

The Sacramento History Museum needs you! We are looking for volunteers to assist with everything from school programs to special events to living history.

If you are interested in learning more about the many volunteer opportunities available with Museum, we encourage you to join us for our next Volunteer Orientation on Saturday, January 10, at 9:00 am at the Sacramento History Museum. You’ll be able to learn about the various roles and experiences we offer. No commitment required!

If you have any questions or want to get a jump start on joining our Volunteer team, please feel free to visit our website!

sachistorymuseum.org/get-involved/volunteer-2/

4 days ago | [YT] | 249

Sacramento History Museum

On January 4, 1849, the first edition of the Alta California newspaper was published in San Francisco. It was the only newspaper published in California at the time. In November 1848, Edward C. Kemble, who was 21 years old, bought the struggling Californian newspaper and merged it with the California Star (both published in San Francisco) to become the Alta California.

The newspaper was published weekly on Thursdays, but by the end of the year, the newspaper was published three days a week. The Alta published its newspaper at 529 California Street in San Francisco until 1891. This newspaper was initially published on the iron printing press that Samuel Brannan brought to California in 1846.

Because only one printing press was needed in San Francisco to publish the Alta California, Kemble took the older press (the one that printed the former Californian newspaper) to Sacramento City. He used the wooden common press to publish on April 28, 1849 the Placer Times, Sacramento’s first newspaper, from a small adobe building outside of Sutter’s Fort, near the corner of 28th and K Streets.

Photograph of the Alta California printing office at 529 California Street in San Francisco ca. 1880, courtesy of the California State Library. Portrait of Edward Kemble in the 1850s from “A History of California Newspapers, 1846-1858.” Snippet of the front page of the Alta California January 4, 1849.

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #sanfrancisco #sacramento #sachistorymuseum

5 days ago | [YT] | 405

Sacramento History Museum

On January 3, 1853, the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper published Mayor Champion Israel Hutchinson and George Gordon’s plans for a city waterworks building to help prevent any further fires in Sacramento, such as the Great Conflagration that occurred the previous November. That fire burned 80 percent of the city in just a few hours. The next day, January 4th, the mayor proposed an election be held on January 13th for deciding the future of a waterworks and that the plans could be viewed at the Orleans Hotel on Second Street until then.

Voters rejected the plans proposed for a waterworks but approved, in some sense, a small tax for building one so the city moved forward with the building plans despite opposition. Work on the building began at Front and I Streets in October and was completed in April 1854. The building not only served as a waterworks, but also as Sacramento’s city hall. Today, the Sacramento History Museum is housed in a reconstruction of the City Hall and Waterworks building at its original location in the Old Sacramento Waterfront.

Illustration of the City Hall and Water Works building from “A Birds-Eye View of Sacramento” in 1857 by George H. Baker, courtesy of the California State Library.

#OnThisDay #TodayInHistory #thenandnow #californiahistory #SacHistoryMuseum #sacramento #oldsacramento

6 days ago | [YT] | 415

Sacramento History Museum

On January 2, 1854, the Fifth Session of the California State Legislature began at the State Capitol in Benicia. It was reported that at least 100 men had no place to stay except for saloons while they attended the session. Governor John Bigler proposed moving the capital of California to Sacramento on this day as well.

The capitol building at Benicia could not meet the accommodations needed for the growing state government. The City of Sacramento soon offered, for free use, the Sacramento County Courthouse at 7th and I Streets as a capitol building. On February 25, 1854, Governor Bigler signed a bill to formally move California’s state capital to Sacramento.

The Benicia Capitol was later repurposed for a variety of different uses after the Legislature left. Through the years it served, at different times, as the Solano County Courthouse, housed church services, the Benicia Grammar School, headquarters for the Benicia’s fire department, and also housed a public library. The Benicia State Capitol building was deeded to the state in 1951 and became a California State Park in 1958.

Photograph of Benicia Capitol State Historic Park today (top left). Photograph of the Benicia Capitol Building ca. 1860, courtesy of the Benicia Historical Museum (top right). Depiction of the Benicia Capitol in 1885 from a panoramic view of Benicia (bottom). Lithograph made in 1885 by W.W. Elliott, courtesy of the California State Library.

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #benicia #californiahistory #castateparks #sachistorymuseum

1 week ago | [YT] | 393

Sacramento History Museum

Start the new year off right with learning something new in Old Sacramento! How about taking a tour with us?!

Our Old Sacramento Underground Tours are a great way to explore the historic district and get the low down on how Sacramento raised the city in the 1860s to avoid future floods. Underground Tours are available 7 days a week this month.

Go to our website below to check out tour times, availability, and to book your tickets! You can also buy tickets in person at the Museum or by phone at 916-808-7059 (call us for details on gift certificates). It’s best to purchase in advance though as tours have limited space.

Tour tickets include free admission to the Sacramento History Museum!

shopsachistorymuseum.org/Events.aspx

1 week ago | [YT] | 142

Sacramento History Museum

Letterpress still exists all over the world, folks, not just in a museum! While traveling in Central Europe, Jared visited Letterpress Manufaktur Salzburg in Salzburg, Austria.

Annette Rollny and Bernhard Müller have a design agency in Salzburg for graphic design and photo design. They have also been building up a letterpress printing business since 2017 collecting and restoring old wooden typefaces and lead type and want to preserve this historic craft for posterity. In workshops and demonstrations, they show young people, students, and anyone else who is interested the craft of letterpress printing. They own and work with a Liberty press from around 1860 from New York and a Phoenix press from Leipzig, Germany, from around 1870. They also work with two Boston platen presses and a proof press.

If you are in Austria, you should check them out, especially their wonderful work in the local community and exhibitions. If you love letterpress printing, give them a follow! Don’t worry folks, of course Jared filmed printing something with Bernhard. That video is coming soon!

#salzburg #austria #letterpress #printing #sachistorymuseum

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1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 904

Sacramento History Museum

At the end of December 1848, John Sutter Jr. and Samuel Brannan hired Captain William H. Warner, Lieutenant William Tecumseh Sherman, and Lieutenant Edward O. Ord to survey the land from Sacramento River to just east of Sutter’s Fort for the future site of Sacramento City.

Warner, Sherman, and Ord were all officers in the U.S. Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers. Warner had previously surveyed Alcatraz Island and the Presidio in San Francisco. In July 1848, Sherman and Ord surveyed the site of Coloma and the American River from its confluence with the Sacramento River to locations gold had been found. Their experience with map making in the region made them great candidates for surveying the future city.

Warner, Sherman, and Ord created a simple grid system for the streets of Sacramento, a street grid that still exists today. The original survey included numbered streets parallel with the Sacramento River from the waterfront at Front Street to 31st Street and letter streets perpendicular with the Sacramento River from A to Y Streets.

A public auction was held in January 1849 by Peter Burnett, the newly hired land agent by Sutter Jr. and later California’s first elected governor, to sell some of the first lots in Sacramento City. The most desirable lots were the ones closest to the waterfront where Old Sacramento is today. John Sutter Jr., in his deed to the city, also set aside 12 public squares, most of which are still public parks in Downtown and Midtown Sacramento.

“Plan of Sacramento City, State of California” map by William H. Warner, courtesy of the Library of Congress. Note that map is oriented with the Sacramento River at the bottom and the American River is to the left.

#sacramento #ThisWeekInHistory #oldsacramento #sachistorymuseum

1 week ago | [YT] | 429

Sacramento History Museum

Bring your family and join us as we ring in 2026 at the Sacramento History Museum on Wednesday, December 31. Our Noon Year’s Eve celebration is FREE with admission, which we are rolling back to just $5 per person. Kids age 5 and younger are free!

We will have fun interactive craft stations from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. including:

A Wishing Wall
Gold panning
Face painting
Story Time at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m.

Don’t miss the countdown to “NOON” as we ring in the new year early with a spectacular Balloon Drop! Come out and join us in saying goodbye to 2025!

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