Sacramento is home to one of the oldest and most resilient buildings in the area: The Lady Adams. This building was the sole survivor of a massive fire in Sacramento and years later it once again stood strong amidst a destructive flood that affected the greater Sacramento area. The refurbished Lady Adams now lives on as a kitschy tourist shop in the middle of Old Town Sacramento.
Charles Ebner built a hotel at this location in 1856 that was renowned for its luxurious accommodations and stylish design. The hotel was famous throughout the area and men such as John Sutter of California gold rush lore was a frequent guest and a friend of Charles Ebner. After years of neglect, the original building was demolished in 2003. Investors interested in rebuilding the Old Sacramento neighborhood hired architects and historical consultants following the demolition in order to build this replica in its place. The building is home to retail shops and offices on the second and third story.
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Built in 1853, this historic fire station was constructed to serve as a replacement firehouse for Sacramento’s Engine Company No. 3, after an earlier station burned down during a massive fire in Sacramento the year before. Although this existing firehouse on Second Street was eventually decommissioned in 1921, the structure remains standing today. It holds the distinction of being the oldest firehouse in Sacramento and also the oldest station in California. Around 1960, the property was converted into a restaurant and bar, and it was designated as a City Landmark. Today, the building is home to the popular Firehouse Restaurant. Historical markers placed on site commemorate the property’s significance for Sacramento’s early fire department and also note that this was the location of the first meeting of the Salvation Army in Sacramento in 1885.
Now a National Historic Landmark, what is currently called the "Big Four House" began life as three separate buildings for three different businesses in 1851. Over the next two decades, however, as Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker organized the Central Pacific railway and founded the Southern Pacific Railroad, the building was heavily remodeled to accommodate their booming business. The Railroad later moved its offices to San Francisco, allowing "Huntington & Hopkins" to expand their hardware store and occupy the entire structure. Though it had fallen into disrepair by the 1960s, the structure has since been moved to Old Town Sacramento and restored to its pre-1879 appearance.
Located in the oldest original building in Old Sacramento, itself a National Historic Landmark, the Wells Fargo History Museum has more than a passing relationship to the B.F. Hastings Building in which it’s housed. In fact, Wells Fargo Bank maintained a branch in the building for several years during the first decade of California’s statehood. Today, the Museum features interactive exhibits about communication and transportation technologies of the late 19th century that increased westward expansion and development--including the stagecoach, railroad, telegraph, and Pony Express (for which the B.F. Hastings Building was the western terminus). Visitors can also use a working telegraph to communicate with other Wells Fargo History museums.
Sculpted by third-generation Californian Thomas Holland, this larger-than-life bronze artwork was unveiled in 1976 as part of the nation’s many bicentennial celebrations, and is located at the western terminus of the famed Pony Express overland mail route. Though the history of the Pony Express has been overwhelmingly mythologized over the last century-and-a-half, the short-lived delivery service did manage to convey mail over nearly 2,000 treacherous miles between Sacramento and St. Joseph, Missouri in 10 days for most of its 18 months in operation. During an existence plagued by politics and scandal, and despite being made quickly obsolete by railroad and telegraph, the Pony Express captured the imagination of the United States and remains one of the most iconic symbols of the American West.
The California State Railroad Museum is one of Sacramento's largest and most popular visitor destinations. Opening in 1976, the museum complex has grown steadily over the decades and now consists of six original, reconstructed, and new buildings completed at a cost of $30 million and located at the heart of Old Sacramento. The museum’s exhibits, knowledgeable guides, and restored railroad cars and locomotives illustrate railroad history in California and the West--and include training programs for steam locomotive engineers and rides for museum patrons along the Sacramento Southern Railroad.
On the exterior, the Sacramento City Museum is an exact replica of the city’s original City Hall, constructed in 1854 as a municipal catch-all that held the mayor’s office, city council, police department, and the city’s waterworks. The original was torn down in 1913 due to structural problems, but the new Sacramento History Museum was constructed on the precise spot in 1985, presiding over the renewed Old Sacramento historic district just as it once did. Today the museum commemorates the history of the first inhabitants of the city of Sacramento through a wide variety of permanent and temporary exhibits, special programs, and tours of Old Town Sacramento, including the Sacramento Underground.
The Eagle Theatre was the first permanent theater built in the state of California, constructed in 1849 in the midst of the Gold Rush. The enterprise was short-lived, lasting only a few months before being destroyed in a devastating flood in June 1850, but the Eagle’s brief run that winter proved Sacramento’s appetite for more entertainment. After the Eagle’s destruction and a failed two-month attempt to open a new theatre in San Francisco, the Eagle’s manager returned to Sacramento and opened the Tehama Theatre roughly 200 feet to the east (which has also been reconstructed next the to the Eagle). The current Eagle Theatre, reconstructed in the 1970s, hosts a variety of programs related to the Old Sacramento State Historic park, and can also be rented by outside events and theater companies.
On January 8, 1863, construction began on the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. This historical marker pinpoints the location of "Mile Marker Zero," the groundbreaking site for the Central Pacific Railroad, which was extended east towards a point of convergence with the Union Pacific Railroad, which was extended west. The project took six years and thousands of workers to complete, costing many laborers their lives due to the dangerous conditions. Upon completion of the ambitious project, the nation was connected by a contiguous railroad for the first time in history. On May 8, 1869, a grand celebration was held in Sacramento, further boosting the city's national identity.
Built in 1927 for the California Transportation Company, the Delta King is a historic paddle-wheel steamboat (specifically, it is a type called a sternwheeler) that used to travel between Sacramento and San Francisco. It is 285 feet long and permanently docked on the Sacramento River. It now serves as a hotel, restaurant, and theater. The Delta King has a sister boat, also built in 1927, called the Delta Queen, which also sailed on Sacramento River before being used on the Mississippi Rivers and its tributaries (it is now a hotel and docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee). The Delta King is four decks tall and could accommodate 200 guests and freight. It opened to the public in 1989 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This short walking tour includes a dozen of highlights within the Old Sacramento Historic District, including several museums and historic buildings that tell the story of California in the mid-19th century.
