The Hotel Senator, which was designed by Kenneth MacDonald and G. Albert Lansburgh, opened in 1924. The 400-room hotel is located directly across the street from the state capitol, and its location frequently meant that the hotel hosted movers and shakers in California politics. It was built in the Renaissance Revival style and was modeled on the Farnese Palace in Rome.&nbsp; In its heyday, the hotel was a hub of activity for the city's leading citizens, as well as Hollywood royalty. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh was honored with a reception at the hotel following his transatlantic flight. Earlier that year, Buster Keaton spent several weeks in the hotel while filming a movie.&nbsp; The hotel hosted its share of political luminaries as well. Governors Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown and Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter each visited the hotel. It was just outside the hotel in 1975 that President Gerald Ford was the target of an assassination attempt by Manson family member Squeaky Fromme.&nbsp; Despite being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the hotel closed a few weeks later and remained shuttered for several years. It reopened in 1983 as office space for lobbyists, giving them easy access to the capitol. In recent years, there have been talks about restoring the building and reopening it as a hotel, but as recently as 2015 the property was for sale.&nbsp;

Built in 1924 in the Renaissance Revival style, Sacramento's grand Hotel Senator has long been an integral part of city life, in one capacity or another. For decades, it functioned as a hotel, hosting both politicians and celebrities. Since the 1980s, the building has housed offices used by lobbyists, giving them easy access to the capitol, which is across the street.  

Hotel Senator 

With a dozen landmark buildings and a few additional entries dedicated to historical events within downtown Sacramento, this walk starts at the location of the Sacramento Bee and works its way east and then south to conclude at Hotel Senator.

Founded in 1857, The Sacramento Bee newspaper published its first issue on February 3, 1857. Its original headquarters was a two-story brick building at this location near Third and J Street. James McClatchy, an Irish immigrant, founded the newspaper after arriving on the West Coast amidst the California Gold Rush of 1849. He had previously worked under Horace Greeley, editor and publisher of the highly regarded publication, New-York Tribune. Although McClatchy's search for gold was unsuccessful, he sought to create a reputable newspaper on the West Coast, and he established what ultimately became a media empire. According to an editorial in the newspaper’s first issue, McClatchy hoped that the paper would be known not only for its independence, but also for its permanence, an objective that has been upheld to this day.After McClatchy’s death, his two sons, C.K. and V.S. took over the newspaper as editor and publisher, respectively. Under their leadership, the paper became known for its progressive approach to journalism. Although the original headquarters building was later demolished in the mid-20th century to make way for the construction of Interstate-5 through Old Town Sacramento, a fragment of the building remains underneath the I-5 overpass. A wooden doorway surrounded by red brick appears to be a portal to nowhere, yet it provides a glimpse into the original appearance of The Sacramento Bee headquarters. Several other buildings in Old Town Sacramento were also demolished during the construction of Interstate-5, including the Overton Building, the Western Hotel, and the Darius Ogden Mills Bank Building.Prior to its demolition, The Sacramento Bee headquarters building was located in the area that became the Old Town Sacramento National Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. As the flagship publication of the McClatchy Company, The Sacramento Bee is currently the company’s largest newspaper in circulation amongst the dozens of daily and non-daily newspapers that the company publishes. Since winning its first Pulitzer Prize in 1935, The Sacramento Bee has received many major awards, including a total of five Pulitzer Prizes. The newspaper covers the Northern Sacramento Valley and the surrounding region south to Stockton, north to Redding, east to Reno, and west to the San Francisco Bay area.

Constructed in 1857, the building that originally stood at this location was the headquarters for The Sacramento Bee newspaper, until the building was demolished in 1957 to make way for the construction of Interstate-5. Prior to the building's demolition, The Sacramento Bee headquarters was located within the area that became the Old Town Sacramento National Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Today, an original building fragment is still visible underneath the Interstate-5 overpass. Consisting of a wooden door framed by red brick, this remnant is all that remains of the original building. Now located at 1601 Alhambra Boulevard, The Sacramento Bee is the flagship publication of the McClatchy Company, which owns thirty daily and almost fifty non-daily newspapers.

The Sacramento Bee Building (1857 - 1957)

Prelude to ViolenceIn 1848, John Sutter was in trouble. For the decade leading up to the Gold Rush, his land grant in Alta (Northern) California from the Mexican government had allowed the ambitious Swiss immigrant to build a seemingly unassailable fiefdom straddling the Sacramento Valley. Built on the backs of several hundred Native American slaves (and a mounting sum of debt), Sutter’s agricultural empire spanned tens of thousands of acres from his fort at the confluence of the Scramento and American Rivers. When the United States wrested control of California from Mexico in 1846-48, Sutter was wary of the seismic shift in power, but generally maintained good relations with the American troops who passed through his properties and occasionally occupied his fort.The discovery of gold on his land in nearby Coloma, however, brought the most rapid change to Sutter’s de facto kingdom of New Helvetia. He soon found his mills abandoned, his crops in ruin, and his herds decimated by an influx of prospectors, speculators, and squatters from the United States and other countries. Financially devastated, Sutter was persuaded to divide his land into lots and sell it off to a growing list of entrepreneurs who wished to establish businesses in Sacramento--and the resulting deals promised to free Sutter from the crushing debt of his pre-American investments.A number of Sacramento’s new citizens were dissatisfied with Sutter’s arrangements, claiming he was selling land not included in his legitimate grant from the Mexican government (California Governor Micheltorena, ousted militarily by Californios in 1845, had expanded Sutter’s holdings). They were emboldened by the California Constitutional Convention that had submitted its request for statehood to the U.S. Congress in late 1849, and hoped that the arrival of American government would uphold their rights to “homestead” the property they claimed Sutter had no right to sell.The squatters would never get the opportunity to find out. By April 1850, popular sympathies lay primarily in the camp of wealthy businessmen who had purchased property from Sutter, and conflicts began to break out between the squatters--who had formed the Sacramento Settlers Association--and Sutter’s customers, who were supported by Sacramento’s city government and, according to newspaper accounts, most of the citizenry. Following a series of ejections wherein at least one squatter’s cabin was burned by Sutter’s supporters, the Settlers Association, headed by a Massachusetts doctor named Charles Robinson, the attitude of the squatters hardened. They removed lumber and building materials belonging to Sutter’s customers, built their own fences, and in May hired their own surveyors and assessors and issued certificates of land title to members of the Association who had paid their dues. The Guns of AugustOn August 10, 1850, judgment was rendered in court against squatter John F. Madden, and a statement made by the judge was construed to mean that Madden had no right to appeal. Two days later Charles Robinson and the infuriated Settlers Association issued a manifesto refusing to recognize the California courts and legislature (since California was in limbo waiting upon its ratification as a state, its current government had little legal standing). A tense meeting between Mayor Hardin Bigelow, Robinson, and 200 squatters brought about a temporary calm, but tempers flared anew on August 13 when two more squatters were arrested and thrown into the city’s jail--then merely La Grange, a ship anchored on the riverbank.The next morning, Sacramento Sheriff Joseph McKinney seized a squatter’s house, which was soon reclaimed by a large armed party of squatters under the leadership of a James Maloney, cutting a puzzling figure on horseback with pistols and sword. Maloney’s men then moved toward the waterfront, where it was speculated they might attempt to free their imprisoned compatriots aboard La Grange. For reasons unknown, they turned away from the prison brig and eventually passed within mere blocks of Sacramento Mayor Hardwick Bigelow, who was passionately rallying citizens to arms.Mayor Bigelow’s ad-hoc militia caught up with the squatters at the intersection 4th and J Streets. Maloney’s men turned and formed a line across 4th while the Mayor reportedly ordered the squatters to lay down their arms--whereupon, according to newspaper reports of the day, Maloney commanded his band to open fire. Mayor Bigelow fell with four bullet wounds (which he would survive, despite dire expectations). The city assessor, J.M. Woodland was mortally wounded and died in minutes. Maloney was killed, and Charles Robinson was also wounded. The Sacramento Transcript of the following day reported four total dead, and five wounded.Deprived of leadership, the squatters scattered. Many were rounded up in the following days and arrested as militia poured in from San Francisco and Benicia under command of the Lieutenant Governor--though the violence was not yet over. Sheriff Joseph McKinney was killed the day after the downtown shootout while rounding up a band of squatters in the Brighton neighborhood, becoming the first Sacramento County sheriff killed in the line of duty. Most of the indictments against squatters fell away within weeks of the riots, as California received news of its freshly ratified statehood in October (a month after it had been approved by Congress).Though the riots themselves had fizzled out quickly, their legacy proved durable. Mayor Bigelow never recovered from his wounds, succumbing to a cholera epidemic in San Francisco a few months later. The legal debates between squatters and the “pro-Sutter” party continued to play out in newspaper editorials for months, and historians later argued that the suppression of homesteading in the area severely inhibited Sacramento’s population and economic growth for years afterward. The issue boiled over again during a more violent cycle of unrest in San Francisco the following year.

A plaque mounted on the corner of the California Fruit Building commemorates the exact location where gunfire broke out between two groups of Sacramento citizens on August 14, 1850. Though the Fruit Building would not be built until 1914, a line of rebellious squatters formed across 4th Street at this intersection and, by most accounts, opened fire upon a similarly armed posse led by Sacramento’s Mayor Hardin Bigelow. Though the squatters were dispersed and many arrested in the following days, the dispute over land rights would have long-standing effects on the development of the city. The 1982 plaque lists those who were killed in the gunfight, in the violence of the following days, or subsequently of their wounds.

Sacramento Squatters' Riots of 1850

For many years, the marshy banks of Sutter Lake was occupied by many of the Chinese residents of Sacramento. It was known as China Slough and was considered by the city's white population to be a wasteland. In 1909, the city expelled the Chinese residents of China Slough, filled in the marshes, and built a railroad on the site. Though there is nothing there now to mark the area's history, the site on which the Southern Pacific&nbsp;Railroad depot sits was once home to many of Sacramento's Chinese. Many of them lived in shanties along I Street. Years of dumping and neglect turned the area into an unsanitary, hazardous area. The city's white residents shunned the area and because of the racism which was prevalent at the time, the Chinese of Sacramento were relegated to building their homes there. Consequently, the area was referred to pejoratively as China Slough. After years of complaints from residents, and concerns that the area made an unwelcoming entrance to the city, in 1909, the city forced the Chinese out of the area. In 1909, the railroad began dredging sand from the American River and filling in the swampy area. The remains of China Slough were buried and a new railroad was built. &nbsp;There is no marker to recognize the existence of China Slough, but the depot that now stands on the site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.&nbsp;

Constructed in 1926, this historic railroad depot features a mural that depicts a celebratory scene of the construction of what would become the western terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad. Since 1971, the station has served Amtrak customers and remains one of the busiest American rail depots. The land where the station stands was once home to Chinese immigrants who were forced out of the area in the early 1900s. 

Sacramento Valley Station, Formerly the Southern Pacific Depot 

Built in 1999, this federal building is sixteen stories tall, overlooking a plaza that features a decorative fountain and outdoor sculptures. The exterior is clad in a buff-colored limestone intended to suggest the warmth of California’s Central Valley climate, with green granite on the ground floor intended to blend with the city’s street trees. Additionally, the building’s arcing, tinted blue-green glass is meant to evoke the flow of the nearby Sacramento River. The interior contains several notable works of art, such as George Miyasaki’s 1999 painting, “Dream within a Dream, in Honor of Pacific Asian Pioneers” and Tony Berlant’s 1999 painting, “On this Spot Stood the First Chinese Settlement in Sacramento.”The building was named in honor of the late Robert T. Matsui (1941-2005), who served Sacramento for twenty-six years while representing California’s Fifth Congressional District as a Democratic Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives. A third generation Japanese-American, Matsui was six months old in 1942 when he and his family were taken to the Lake Tule Camp, a World War II-era federal internment camp for people of Japanese descent on the West Coast, following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many years later, while serving as a U.S. Congressman, Matsui worked to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-383), which provided some redress for Japanese-Americans by offering compensation to victims and a public apology from the federal government.During his long career, Matsui was also instrumental in allocating land for a Japanese-American memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C., and also in designating Manzanar (a wartime relocation camp in California) as a National Historic Site. While representing California’s Fifth Congressional District, Matsui was particularly committed to issues related to public safety, the preservation of Social Security, flood control in at-risk areas, open trade policies, and federal participation in Sacramento’s transformative growth. Upon Matsui’s death in 2005, President Bill Clinton commended his efforts to work for change within the system, describing Matsui as “a man who could have given in to bitterness, but instead overcame it.”

Completed in 1999, this federal building was named for the late Robert T. Matsui (1941- 2005), a Japanese-American politician who served Sacramento for twenty-six years as a Democratic U.S. Congressman while representing California’s Fifth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. The sixteen-story federal building contains the Sacramento Division of the U.S. District Court for the State of California. It also houses several other federal agencies and offices, including the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, U.S. Pretrial Services, U.S. Trustees, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California. The interior contains notable works of art by painters such as George Miyasaki and Tony Berlant, as well as by the poet Rita Dove.

Robert T. Matsui Federal Building 

Built in the Beaux Arts/Neo-Classical style, the Sacramento Hall of Justice was designed by the architectural firm of Shea and Lofquist in 1917 at the peak of the City Beautiful Movement. Intended to instill civic pride, the building’s design incorporated classical motifs and conveyed a strong sense of history and place. Neo-Classical architecture was based on Greek and Roman designs, reflecting monumentality, symmetry, and restraint. The influence of the Beaux Arts style on Neo-Classical architecture, in particular, was based upon the French Classical style taught at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris during the 19th century. This style drew upon 17th- and 18th-century architecture that revitalized Classical designs from antiquity combined with eclectic decorative elements.Currently, there are only a handful of civic buildings constructed in the Beaux Arts/Neo-Classical style that are still standing in Sacramento. These structures include the Beaux Arts City Hall building, designed in 1911 by Rudolph Herold, and the Neo-Classical Bank of D.O. Mills designed in 1912 by Willis Polk. They also include Sacramento’s Library &amp; Courts Building (1925) and Office Building One (1928), which face each other across a circular courtyard with a decorative fountain in between them. Sacramento’s Hall of Justice initially served as a police office, a city courthouse, and a prison, and the building was later converted into an emergency hospital and a chemical laboratory. For its architectural and cultural significance, the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.In the early 21st century, an adaptive reuse project was completed at the Sacramento Hall of Justice by the architects and preservation specialists, Barton Myers Associates. A four-story addition was designed using a contemporary steel frame and glass. This new structure was constructed adjacent to the original stone and brick building. Along with a seismic retrofit to prevent potential damage from future earthquakes, the adaptive reuse project successfully incorporated the modern with the classical, creating a striking juxtaposition of architectural styles side by side. The Sacramento Hall of Justice received a 2002 Design Award from the California Preservation Foundation for its significant achievements in design, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse.

Completed in 1917, the Sacramento Hall of Justice is a Beaux Arts/Neoclassical building designed by the architectural firm of Shea and Lofquist. Built at the height of the City Beautiful Movement, the steel frame building was constructed from stone and brick with ornamental terra cotta details. Throughout the 20th century, it served as a police office, a city courthouse, a prison, an emergency hospital, and a laboratory. The Sacramento Hall of Justice was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. In the early 21st century, a major adaptive reuse project included a four-story addition built with steel and glass, successfully juxtaposing the modern with the classical.

Sacramento Hall of Justice

Built to serve the needs of a small congregation of African-Americans who had been gathering for religious services in Daniel Blue’s home on I Street near 4th and 5th streets, the first St. Andrews AME Church was constructed on 7th Street at a location that is now owned by Sacramento County and is near to where it now sits at 2131 8th Street. Two of its first leaders were Blue and Barney Fletcher, the latter was one of the organizers of the services that were held at Blue’s home. Pastor John Fitzgerald was perhaps the first preach within the church itself. &nbsp; &nbsp; First named Bethel, the St. Andrews AME Church was a haven attracting African-Americans from hundreds of miles around. It gave them, people who often lived lives on the margins that were full of uncertainty, a place of fellowship, a place to be and feel safe, and a base from which they were able to change their world.&nbsp; One of the first societal changing agents to grow out of the warm embrace of the St. Andrews AME Church was the hosting of the California Colored Citizens convention from November 20 to 22, 1855. This gathering of African-Americans from all around the state raised legislative issues and helped change many laws that were not just to African Americans in the US. This convention was held again 1856 and 1865.&nbsp; Although the original church on 7th Street is now owned by the county, St. Andrews AME Church has been recognized as a California Historical Landmark and a plaque commemorating its historical importance is now hung in the place of the church to this day. The church at its current location is still open and doing God’s work. And, as it always has been, the church and its congregation is dedicated to being a beacon that reaches out to an ethnically and politically diverse Capital City.

The St. Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1850, making it the oldest African American church on the Pacific Coast. 

St. Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church, Sacramento,  The First AME Church on the Pacific Coast

Built during the 1930s, this historic U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Federal Building was designed by the architectural firm of Stark and Flanders. The firm had designed other civic buildings, including the nearby City Hall, and other structures in Sacramento and Northern California, such as the Fox Senator Theater and the Alhambra Theater (both demolished in the 1970s), the Fresno Bee Building, the Sacramento Elks Tower, and the C.K. McClatchy High School. After the construction of the Sacramento Federal Building in 1933, a U.S. Post Office operated for a time on the main level. The fourth floor contained two elaborate federal courtrooms.Additional wings were added from 1937 to 1938, expanding the square footage, while complementing the symmetrical design. Situated along I Street, the building’s Neo-Classical colonnade and row of fifteen recessed windows created a striking and imposing façade. The exterior is clad with California granite on the first story, and the upper three stories are surfaced with terra cotta and buff brick. The interior of the building contains architectural materials such as marble, plaster, and glazed tile. At each entrance, the words “United States of America” are inscribed over the doorways.A historical marker was placed on site by the U.S. Department of the Interior, commemorating the property’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The marker is visible at knee level to the right of the entrance. The building currently contains the offices of the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration and several other government agencies that provide services in Sacramento and Northern California. These include the Sacramento Public Defenders Office, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Federal Railroad Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Hearing and Appeals Office, and the Indian Gaming Commission.

Completed in 1938, this federal building was designed in the Neo-Classical style by the architectural firm of Stark and Flanders. The monumental building initially opened in 1933 with a U.S. Post Office on the ground level, along with two elaborate courtrooms on the fourth floor, and office space on the floors in between. Additional wings were added a few years later in 1938, making this structure the third largest federal building in the state of California. In 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Federal Building. Currently, it is known as the Sacramento Federal Building, and it contains the offices of several government agencies providing services in Sacramento and Northern California.

Sacramento Federal Building

The Sacramento Library Association was founded by the city's early civic leaders E.B. Crocker, Leland Stanford, and C.P. Huntington. Together, they established Sacramento’s first public subscription library in 1857. The Association initially purchased a building with furnished first-floor library on I Street (between 7th and 8th Streets) in 1872. Due to financial difficulties, however, ownership of the building was transferred to the City of Sacramento only a few years later, in 1879. The Sacramento Free Public Library subsequently began operating at this location later the same year. In 1908, a county-wide public library system was established, with multiple branch libraries throughout the city and county of Sacramento.In 1914, the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie allocated $100,000 to improve the building, and it was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by the San Francisco architect, Loring Rixford, before reopening to the public in 1918. Well-situated on a prominent corner in downtown Sacramento, the Central Library is located near a federal building, City Plaza Park, and City Hall. The façade of the three-story brick Central Library was designed in “rosy buff,” with ornamental terra cotta manufactured by Gladding McBean of Lincoln, California, incorporated throughout the façade. On the first floor, square windows were separate by decorative lion heads, while the second story featured large, arched windows in a Classical Revival style.Along with several renovations over the years, a major addition was completed on the west and south side of the building that integrated a modern glass galleria and a glass-roofed foyer. The original 1918 Carnegie-funded building was left in-tact and has been preserved. Today, Sacramento’s city and county public library systems include more than two dozen branches, including the original Central Library (also known as the City Library). This historic building contains the Sacramento Room, a repository for state and local history. The Sacramento Central Library, or City Library, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as part of a multi-property nomination for California’s Carnegie Libraries.

Completed in 1918, Sacramento's Central Library was funded in the early 20th century by Andrew Carnegie. In the 19th century, the Sacramento Library Association was founded by the city's early civic leaders, with Sacramento’s first public subscription library established in 1857. After purchasing a building on I Street with a furnished first-floor library in 1872, the Association transferred ownership to the city in 1879. The Sacramento Free Public Library opened at this location, becoming the Central Library in Sacramento's city and county library systems. After Carnegie allocated $100,000 to improve the building in 1914, it reopened to the public in 1918. Today, Sacramento’s city and county library systems include over two dozen branches, in addition to the Central Library. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 as part of a multi-property nomination for California's Carnegie Libraries.

Sacramento's Central Library

In the late 1800s, the beer industry was a major part of Sacramento's economy. The city was well-known for its locally-grown hops, and a number of breweries flourished there. Hops continued to be widely grown in and around Sacramento until Prohibition in the 1920s. Frank Ruhstaller immigrated to the United States from Swtizerland as a young man in 1862. He helped found and managed the Buffalo Brewing Company--at that time the largest brewery west of the Mississippi--and the Forum Investment Company. By the time he was 35, Ruhstaller was successful enough that he began his own brewery, Ruhstaller Brewing. To house his business ventures, he had the Ruhstaller Building built at the corner of 9th and J Streets. The building was one of the first in the city to use air conditioning. Prohibition ended Sacramento's beer producing heyday. For many years, the Ruhstaller Building housed offices and businesses. Recently, however, breweries are making a comeback in Sacramento. In 2011, entrepreneur J.E. Paino, who had long been fascinated by the building, bought the Ruhstaller brand and launched a new, Sacramento-produced beer called Ruhstaller 1881. Like its namesake's products, the new beer is produced with only locally grown hops. The Ruhstaller Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Frank Ruhstaller was a Swiss immigrant who came to Sacramento as a young man. In 1881, he founded the Ruhstaller Brewery, which became one of the city's leading breweries. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Ruhstaller Building 

After a huge fire swept through the City of Sacramento in 1852, local residents and public officials recognized an immediate need for an organized fire department with "a well-trained constellation of units" comprised of firefighters, equipment, and horses. In response, volunteer units such as the Young America Engine Company No. 6 were formed to fill this need. Organized by residents of Sacramento's third ward in June of 1855, Engine Company No. 6 officially took up residence on Tenth Street in 1858, when a new two-story, brick fire station and engine house were completed that year. The Young America Engine Company No. 6 continued to use this firehouse until 1972.At that time, the California State Legislature voted to create a professional fire department with paid firefighters based on the city's existing structure of volunteer units. With its firefighters now funded by the city, the Sacramento Fire Department became the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River. After the city began to fund the new Sacramento Fire Department in 1872, previous volunteer units such as the Young America Engine Company No. 6 were disbanded. Thereafter, the original Engine Company No. 6 Firehouse became the headquarters for one of the city' new professional units, Engine Company No. 2.Although this firehouse was eventually torn down in the 1920s, a large celebration was held in Plaza Park across the street from its original location to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the firehouse on January 1, 1933. The event honored all of the professional and volunteer firefighters who had worked at the "No. 6 Firehouse" since its dedication in 1858. Historic photographs and postcards in the Sacramento Public Library's Digital Collections offer descriptions of the celebration, stating: "The Young American Engine Company Number Six Firehouse ... commemorated seventy-five years of service in January of 1933 with a large party and a large cake. According to newspaper accounts of the event, held in what was then known as Plaza Park, the huge treat prepared for the festivities was rushed by children and park hangers-on, resulting in a flurry of frosting that flew in all directions."

This small historical marker at the pedestrian entrance to the city hall parking garage commemorates a former fire station constructed in 1858. Following the city's incorporation in 1849, the Sacramento Fire Department was established one year later as an all-volunteer department. Organized in 1855, the Young America Engine Company No. 6 was an all-volunteer unit of firefighters formed by residents of Sacramento's Third Ward. A firehouse for Engine Company No. 6 was constructed in 1858, with the cornerstone dedicated on the first day of that year. In 1872, the city launched its new Sacramento Paid Firefighting Department, and volunteer units were replaced by paid professional firefighters and this became a city fire station. Although the original firehouse is no longer standing, a historical marker was added to the site on January 1, 1933, marking the 75th Anniversary of the Young America Engine Company No. 6.

Young America Engine Company No. 6 Historical Marker

Sacramento’s Elks Lodge No. 6, was founded in 1877 but saw its charter rescinded two years later for “illegal and immoral activity.” The group reclaimed their charter three decades later in 1908. By 1922, booming membership made the Lodge’s facilities untenable, and it was determined that a new home would be built. In 1925, California-born architect Leonard F. Starks was commissioned to design the Elks Tower (often referred to as the Elks Temple), destined to be one of Sacramento’s first skyscrapers.The fourteen-story building, whose architectural motifs echo those of the Italian Renaissance, required 150 men to build. Ground was broken by the Order of Elks Exalted Ruler, John G. Price, using a golden shovel to turn the first spadeful of earth in January 1925. 5,000 yards of concrete and 165,250 bricks later, the elegant structure was completed in June 1926. Aside from a number of restaurants on the ground floor, the rest of the building was originally intended for use by the Elks Lodge No. 6. The distinctive skyscraper’s architect, Leonard F. Starks, later designed a number of important Sacramento structures, including its downtown post office and the Alhambra Theatre. The beloved Alhambra’s demolition in the early 1970s touched off a wave of preservation efforts whose success can be seen today in the large number of historic buildings still present in Sacramento’s downtown.Additional businesses slowly made their way into the building. In the late 1940s, the Top Of The Town Restaurant opened on the Tower’s fourteenth floor, where it would remain until the early 1970s. During the 1960s, KXRQ 98.5 radio had its station on the thirteenth floor, moving out when the Tower changed hands in 1973. The incorporation of these businesses may have been due to dwindling Lodge membership into the 1960s--and the corresponding loss of revenue that eventually forced the Elks to sell the building. Lacking the funds to comply with new city building codes in 1972, the Lodge sold the Tower to a real estate developer, who proceeded with a rapid renovation of the interior that erased much of the original decor.The building was purchased by steel magnate and real estate developer Steve Ayers in 2003, after three decades of neglect. Employing full-time “architect in residence” Peter Dannenfelser (whose offices also reside in the building), Ayers began to restore much of the Tower’s original interior flourishes. Since then, a number of businesses have flocked to the refurbished tower, including notable public relations firm Edelman and renowned seafood chain McCormick and Schmick’s. Most of the Elks Tower’s new tenants have cited its historic character as a decisive factor in their choice of venue.The top floor is now used as a rentable venue, known as the Elks Tower Event Center. As of 2017, developers hope to obtain permits to host a cardroom and casino within the historic building.&nbsp;

This historic Sacramento building became the tallest in the city when it was completed in 1926 at a cost of $1.5 million. The 242-foot structure was designed by local architect Leonard F. Starks who complied with the request of Elks Club members that their building surpass the height of the California State Capitol by five feet. With the completion of Elks Tower, several states and municipalities passed laws which stipulated that private construction projects could not exceed the height of government buildings. The structure’s Italian Renaissance styling makes Elks Tower a recognizable feature of the downtown skyline, even though the Order of Elks was forced to sell the iconic structure in the 1970s as their membership and influence declined. Some of the building's interior underwent a hasty remodel in that era, but current owners and tenants such as restaurants, offices, and lofts have supported a gradual restoration of the building's historic interiors. In addition to its architectural significance, Elks Tower reflects the influence of leading fraternal organizations and the construction boom of the late 1920s. 

Elks Tower, Sacramento 

The Sacramento Masonic Temple was built in 1854 and was the fortieth Masonic lodge built in the state of California. It was the fifth lodge to be chartered in the city of Sacramento.&nbsp; The five-story building was designed by Sacramento architect Rudolph Herold and was built in a style that combines Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau elements. Herold designed numerous buildings in the Sacramento area, but the Masonic Temple is regarded as one of the finest structures from the early 1900s in the city. Though the building serves numerous functions and is often chosen as a location for weddings and other important events, it still serves as a Masonic temple. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Sacramento Masonic Temple was completed in 1918 and was designed by Rudolph Herold. The building is largely unaltered from the time of its construction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Sacramento Masonic Temple 

The iconic structure that was, for a time, Sacramento’s tallest building was largely the result of efforts driven by the Sacramento diocese’s first bishop, Patrick Manogue. As a gold miner in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California in the 1850s, Manogue planned from the beginning to use his earnings to finance a religious education. The 6-foot, 3-inch Irishman prospected for four years to support his siblings while continuing studies on his own. At long last, he had saved enough to move to Paris, where he completed his training and was ordained as a Catholic priest. His first assignment, as the Civil War raged in 1862, was Virginia City, Nevada. The silver boom in the area had given birth to a rough frontier town to which the physically imposing Irishman was well-suited. Performing commendably there for eighteen years, he was made Bishop in 1880.In 1884, he was moved to Grass Valley, California, but stayed only two years--Manogue had lobbied to move the headquarters of the archdiocese to Sacramento, no doubt witnessing California’s shift away from prospecting and mining to more permanent enterprises. His efforts met with success. In 1886, the Catholic church officially shuttered the Archdiocese of Grass Valley and opened the new Archdiocese of Sacramento (making Manogue the final bishop of the former and the first bishop of the latter), and work began immediately on the new cathedral.The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament’s design was heavily influenced by the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris, which Manogue greatly admired during his training there. The exterior was reminiscent of Italian Renaissance church architecture, while the interior was distinctly Victorian (the era in which the Blessed Sacrament was built). Tapped for this ambitious undertaking was San Francisco-based architect Bryan James Clinch, an Irish immigrant like Manogue, who before his death in 1906 would design over thirty Catholic churches and church buildings in California. Manogue’s longstanding friendship with the miners of the area also proved useful as John Mackay, owner of Nevada’s lucrative Comstock Lode, and several other mining magnates donated funds to the construction.The new Cathedral was dedicated three years later in 1889, with seats for 1,400 parishioners. Manogue died in 1895, still bishop of the diocese he built. Manogue’s cunning choice of location next to the Capitol grounds, which he intended to express the co-equal cultural pillars of Church and State, has served the Cathedral well through the 20th Century, as the building has frequently been chosen for state inaugurations and funerals. Former California Governor Pat Brown’s funeral was held there in 1996.Frequent additions, redecorations, and other changes through the decades took their toll on the aesthetic unity of the Cathedral’s interior, however, and the venerable structure’s architectural identity lay much obscured as it entered the 21st Century. In August 2004, the Blessed Sacrament closed its doors to begin a titanic construction project, intended to both modernize the building while restoring it closely to its 1889 appearance. Seismic improvements, marble flooring, and alterations to the pews were made, along with the suspension of a 2,000-pound crucifix. Most dramatic of all was restoration of the original church dome, which had been replaced by a shallower ceiling in the 1930s, for reasons unknown, and of which no photographs existed to aid in reconstruction. It was feared to be destroyed, making restoration all but impossible. Fortunately, when the ceiling was removed, the interior of the original dome was found to be almost entirely intact, which allowed for a detailed and accurate modernization process.Though the renovation also included other huge improvements and refinements, the Cathedral reopened just over a year later in November 2005, at a cost of $34.5 million. Despite the success of the project itself, the diocese received some criticism for the unexpected expense--originally projected at less than $20 million--which is the largest in the diocese’s history, and which critics have pointed out could have gone to charitable causes instead. Church officials pointed out that the money had already been allotted, and would serve to keep the Cathedral operational for generations to come. <div> </div>

Built from 1886-1889, the ornate Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament was, at the time of its construction, the largest cathedral west of the Mississippi--and though currently dwarfed by Sacramento’s downtown skyscrapers, at a towering 216 feet it was also the tallest structure in the city for a time. The cathedral was the brainchild of Catholic Bishop Patrick Manogue, who had previously mined gold in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to pay for his church education. John Mackay, owner of the famed Comstock Lode silver mine in Nevada, was one of the cathedral’s key financiers. Built intentionally near the State Capitol, it has held inaugurations and funerals for mayors and governors through the decades. A recent $34 million restoration has reopened the iconic dome to the public again for the first time since the 1930s.

History of Downtown Sacramento Walking Tour

Hotel Senator

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources