Overview

The California State Legislature met in Sacramento the first time between 01/16/1852 and 11/02/1853. It met in Vallejo, CA, from 01/05/1852 until 01/12/1852, before reconvening in Sacramento. It then met again in Vallejo from 01/03/1853 until 02/04/1853. General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-1890) invited the legislature to meet in his eponymous city, and built a wood-frame building to house the legislators, but the lack of lodgings nearby made it difficult for them to stay there. In its first five years of existence, the state legislature met in five different cities, each having significant drawbacks for the senators and representatives. Even after Sacramento was finally settled upon in 1854, periodic grumbling among legislators raised renewed threats of moving the capitol. When very significant rainstorms during the Winter of 1861-1862 caused the Sacramento and American Rivers to flood Sacramento, the calls for changing capitol cities again.

Demolition

The Sacramento County Courthouse #1 was destroyed by fire in 1854.

PCAD id: 20559