Sacramento History Museum

In the month of July 1848, the Sacramento Valley drastically changed when gold was found on other rivers and tributaries than the American River. This prompted the United States military to survey the gold region. Lieutenants William Tecumseh Sherman and Edward Ord, who were part of the U. S. Topographical Corp, designed maps of the American River and other tributaries highlighting the different “mines” and “washings.”

These maps and some of the gold found by James Marshall on January 24, 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma were sent to Washington DC for confirmation by the War Department. Some of the gold Marshall found in on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Because of Sherman and Ord’s map-making skills, they were able to assist Captain William H. Warner in December 1848 to survey the area between Sutter’s Fort and the Sacramento River for the future site of Sacramento City.

Portion of a map designed by William T. Sherman in July 1848 illustrating the south fork of the American River and Sutter’s Sawmill in Coloma from The Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, courtesy of the Stanford University Library.

#sacramento #goldrush #sacramentohistory #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

With the California State Fair underway, we thought we would share some history of how our State Fair originated here in Sacramento. On September 20, 1852, California’s first agricultural fair began at James Lloyd Lafayette Franklin Warren’s New England Seed Store, located on J Street between Front and Second Streets, just over a block from where our museum stands today in Old Sacramento.

J.L.L.F. Warren invited farmers and others in the industry to display their products, mineral collections, and to discuss farming issues. This event would become a precursor to the California State Fair. Warren’s New England Seed Store, unfortunately, burned down in the Great Conflagration on November 2, 1852.

Warren later founded the California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences newspaper in 1854 and also helped establish the California State Agricultural Society. The State Agricultural Society was authorized by the California Legislature to hold exhibitions of livestock, manufactures, and productions. On October 4, 1854, the society held the first California State Fair in San Francisco. A different city hosted the State Fair each year until Sacramento became the permanent location in 1859.

In 1859, a pavilion was constructed on M and 6th Streets in Sacramento to house the Agricultural Society’s offices and annual State Fair exhibitions. A larger pavilion replaced that hall in 1884. The State Fair grew over the years relocating around Sacramento needing more and more space. On July 1, 1968, the California Exposition (Cal Expo) fairgrounds opened as the new home for the California State Fair.

Today, a plaque in Old Sacramento sits at the original location of the New England Seed Store just east of the Tehama Block building on J Street. Have you visited the State Fair yet this year?

Copy of a lithograph of the New England Seed Store ca. 1852, courtesy of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.

#CAStateFair #sacramento #oldsacramento #sachistorymuseum

1 day ago | [YT] | 289

Sacramento History Museum

While people throughout California made their way to the Sacramento Valley during the early days of the Gold Rush, across the continent on July 19, 1848, a group of 300 people met in Seneca Falls, New York to hold a convention. This convention was to discuss the “social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women.”

This was the first formal women’s rights convention to be held in the United States. Elizabeth Cady Stanton helped author the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled upon the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass attended the convention and published his support for the convention in his newspaper, the North Star. His printing office would later publish the first copies of the Declaration of Sentiments.

The fight for women’s suffrage and equality was a long and arduous campaign that is still fought for today. It is important to remember when that fight began. To read a full transcription of the Declaration of Sentiments, check out:

www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-…

Text of the Declaration of Sentiments, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

#OnThisDay #TodayInHistory #declarationofsentiments #womenssuffrage #sachistorymuseum

1 week ago | [YT] | 378

Sacramento History Museum

On July 13, 1895, the first long-distance transmission of hydroelectric power from the Folsom Hydroelectric Plant (now known as the Folsom Powerhouse) to Sacramento, California occurred on what was then the longest transmission line in the world. The 22-mile transmission line, powered by high-voltage alternating current generators, expanded the Sacramento Electric Power and Light Company to extend streetcar lines into suburbs in Sacramento, provide street lights in the city, and provided power to the Southern Pacific railyards and other factories.

This major event called for a celebration in Sacramento that took place on September 9, 1895, called the “Grand Electric Carnival.” The Folsom Powerhouse remained in operation until November 1952. In 1958, Pacific Gas & Electric Company donated the Folsom Powerhouse to California State Parks and it operates today as a museum.

Postcard of the Folsom Powerhouse in 1911 from the Sacramento Room Postcards Collection, courtesy of the Sacramento Public Library.

#OnThisDay #TodayInHistory #sacramento #folsom #folsompowerhouse #sachistorymuseum

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Sacramento History Museum

On July 10, 2010, the first Old Sacramento Underground Tour departed the Sacramento History Museum to learn about our city’s early history and the story behind how and why Sacramento raised its buildings and streets from the mid-1860s to the 1870s. While the tours and the underground locations certainly have evolved over years, our tours are popular now more than ever.

Interested in taking an Underground Tour? We have tours departing the Sacramento History Museum 7 days a week and we have After Hours tours as well at 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays!

Go to our website 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. It’s best to purchase in advance though as tours have limited space.

shopsachistorymuseum.org/Events.aspx

#OnThisDay #Sacramento #oldsacramento #SacHistoryMuseum #thingstodoinsacramento

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 260

Sacramento History Museum

For our monthly 3rd Thursday at the Sacramento History Museum on July 16th, from 4pm to 8pm, we are cooling down from the summer heat and offering visitors free Cracker Jack mocktails to sip on while they explore our “Play Ball, Sacramento in the National Pastime” exhibition!

The museum will be open late, so we encourage you to take the time to wander through our exhibits; you can even get a sneak peek of our new River Cats extension that takes up the first floor!

Old Sacramento Waterfront’s 3rd Thursdays bring fun and excitement to the district. Each month several vendors and restaurants open their doors for extended hours and provide free demonstrations. Special events will begin at 4pm, maps and vendor lists are available at the Visitors Center and various businesses in Old Sacramento.

www.oldsacramento.com/seasonal-activity/third-thur…

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Sacramento History Museum

The role of Sutter’s Fort during the Mexican American War in California

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Sacramento History Museum

View of J Street between Front and Second Streets in Sacramento as published on July 4, 1852 in the Pictorial Union, a special publication by The Daily Union newspaper. The Pictorial Union covered the Sacramento region during the California Gold Rush and its publications featured lithographs and engravings of towns, buildings, waterfronts, landscapes, and other scenes of the time.

This portion of the lithograph depicts The Daily Union building. First published on March 19, 1851, the Union was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River and it published for 143 years until the Sacramento Union ceased publication on January 14, 1994.

Copy of the lithograph of J Street from the July 4, 1852 edition of the Pictorial Union. View of J Street and a reconstruction of the Daily Union building today in Old Sacramento.

#OnThisDay #ThenAndNow #OldSacramento #sacramento #sachistorymuseum

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 573

Sacramento History Museum

On July 4, 1849, a grand ball was held at Samuel Brannan’s City Hotel in celebration of Independence Day and also for the hotel’s grand opening. The City Hotel was located on Front Street between I and J Streets in Sacramento City (about half a block south from where the Sacramento History Museum is today in Old Sacramento).

The hotel was built from lumber that was originally used to build John Sutter’s large gristmill near the Native village of Kadema (just southeast of where Sacramento State is today). The gristmill (which was a water-powered mill to grind wheat into flour) was constructed at the same time as the sawmill in Coloma, but the gristmill was never finished.

The grand ball at the City Hotel was a joyous occasion. Tickets were $35 a person (roughly $1,000 today) and champagne was served. Sam Brannan sent employees around town to invite all the women of the city to the event. Of the 1,500 inhabitants in Sacramento City at the time, all the women attended the grand ball…all 18 of them.

View of the City Hotel on Front Street two buildings north of the Eagle Theatre in 1849 from a portion of a lithograph by Emanuel Wyttenbach designed between 1877-1895. This lithograph is from the W.H. Davis Collection, courtesy of the California State Library.

#OnThisDay #4thofJuly #sacramento #oldsacramento #SacHistoryMuseum

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 359

Sacramento History Museum

July marks the 250th anniversary of Declaration of Independence, and while fireworks and baseball will be commemorating the celebration this year, it does not compare to what Sacramento has done in the past for its 4th of July celebrations.

In 1876, during the Centennial year, much of the city’s business district was decorated stretching from Front Street and going east several city blocks. The celebration itself started at midnight with the firing of thirteen artillery pieces. In the morning, a parade was held that included three military divisions, which also held demonstrations afterward. Throughout the day, several prominent Sacramentans gave speeches around the city. James McClatchy, editor of The Daily Bee (now The Sacramento Bee) was proclaimed “historian for the day.”Many people also submitted poems that commemorated the event and had them published in the local newspapers. The Sacramento Daily Union closed their paper so that all of their staff could celebrate the holiday.

During the Bi-Centennial in 1976, the American Freedom Train made a stop in Sacramento. The Freedom Train was a walk along museum that told the story of the founding of the nation and included a replica of the Liberty Bell. The day prior to the Bi-Centennial a massive parade was held that included The Sacramento Youth band, the Mandarin Drumming Bugel Core of Sacramento, the Las Cabos Yaros drill team, and the Tri-townsmen color guard. The parade also included mule units and horses drawn carriages, ran by the Sacramento Civil War round table. There was also a production of that ran all day in the Eagle Theater located at Front Street in Old Sacramento called “Boo the Redcoats.”

Photograph of the Freedom Train in Old Sacramento near the future site of the CA State Railroad Museum on November 28, 1975.

#sacramento #america250 #oldsacramento #sachistorymuseum #sacramentohistory

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