Sacramento’s Tower Bridge, also known as the M Street Bridge, is a vertical lift bridge that spans the Sacramento River and connects West Sacramento with the Capitol Mall at West Capitol Avenue. Designed with a Streamline Moderne (a branch of art deco) architectural style, the Tower Bridge initially accommodated both autos and trains when it was dedicated in late 1935. Its two towers stand 160 feet tall and permit the bridge deck to be raised, vertically, 100 feet above the water’s surface to allow for the passage of river traffic below. The Tower Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
This historical marker commemorates the historic use of cobblestones as ballast in the 19th-century ships that sailed along the West Coast. Since the 1848 Gold Rush, ships transported supplies up the Sacramento River to unload their cargo on the docks of the Sacramento waterfront. After unloading their supplies, the wooden ships were at risk of toppling over, as they had tall masts and sat high in the water because of their buoyancy. To make the ships more stable, cobblestones were placed in the bottom of the ships as ballast, to keep them steady on the return journey. This historical marker was erected in 1998 by the Members of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the American Merchant Marine Veterans (AMMV), along with their friends and families.
Located near the Tower Bridge, this replica schoolhouse opened as a living museum site in 1978, adjacent to the Old Sacramento waterfront. The museum is a replica of a traditional one-room schoolhouse from the 1800s, with rows of desks, chalkboards, and a wood-burning stove. Although the historic replica was constructed around the time of the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, traditional one-room schoolhouses were established in 19th-century Sacramento to the south of X Street and in the northern part of Sacramento County. In 2022, the city decided to close the Old Schoolhouse Museum after forty-four consecutive years in operation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Dedicated in June 1989, this historical marker commemorates the former location of the New England Seed Store in Old Sacramento. Owned and operated by James L.L.F. Warren, the store became an important agricultural center amidst the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s. The marker notes the significance of the camellia, a flowering plant that was first introduced to California by the store's owner, who brought the seeds with him from Boston. Originally cultivated in China over two thousand years ago, camellias now bloom profusely throughout Sacramento, where they have become a tradition in the capital city. Designated as the official flower of the city and county in 1961, the camellia is associated with the 19th-century pioneers who helped to shape the state of California.
The Gold Rush drew thousands of colorful characters to California, and few were more colorful than Samuel Brannan. Brannan arrived in California as one of the leaders of an expedition of Mormons to what is now San Francisco. From that unlikely start, he became California's first millionaire. Like many Gold Rush stories, however, Brannan's ended in disappointment and loss.
Beginning in 1849, a one-story building at this location served as Sacramento’s first post office, but the structure burned down in 1852. The following year, Henry E. Robinson purchased the property from Samuel Brannan, and he constructed three-story brick building that opened in 1854 as the Jones Hotel. By 1855, the hotel was converted into a boarding house under the ownership of a female proprietor, O.J. Clark. Known as the Vernon House, the building was purchased a decade later by Samuel Brannan, the original owner of the lot and a founder of the city of Sacramento. He restored the property as a hotel and renamed it the Brannan House. The building was later designated as a California Historical Landmark, with a historical marker placed on site by the California State Parks Department. It was also listed as a contributing structure to the Old Sacramento Historic District, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.
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Originally constructed in 1849 for temporary use during the earliest years of the California Gold Rush, the Connecticut Mining & Trading Company Building is one of several reconstructed buildings in Old Sacramento State Historic Park. Located adjacent to the Eagle Theater, this one-story structure includes a “C.M.&T. Co.” sign in bold letters on the front façade. Until the building was dismantled in 1852, it served as a storefront for several general merchandise firms owned by Thomas McDowell. The Connecticut Mining & Trading Company Building was reconstructed in 1982 as part of the Old Sacramento Waterfront District, a National Historic Landmark. The building currently houses the California State Parks Capital District Public Safety Office.
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 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 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.
Dedicated in 1966, this historical marker notes the development of the city of Sacramento from its origins as a frontier fort established by Captain John A. Sutter in 1839. Following the discovery of gold in 1848 at Sutter's Mill in the nearby foothills, the site became a commercial hub during the California Gold Rush. As the first three thousand people poured into the area in search of gold, merchants also arrived, opening stores along the Sacramento River to take advantage of the waterfront location. The city first developed as a trading area for gold miners, and unlike many other mining boom towns, the community continued to grow after the initial gold rush. The original 1850s business district, which is known as Old Sacramento, was designated as a National Historic Landmark and a California State Historic Landmark, with the historical marker at this location erected by the California State Park Commission. The marker is adjacent to several others highlighting the history of Old Sacramento as a 19th-century commercial and agricultural center.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
Construction began in 1930 on this statue commemorating the contributions of the Central Pacific Railroad’s lead engineer, Theodore Judah, who planned the Transcontinental Railroad’s route through the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges. “Crazy” Judah’s determination to perform an industrial feat once thought impossible was one of the driving forces behind the Transcontinental Railroad’s creation. The monument was dedicated in 1931 in a municipal park near the Southern Pacific Railway station, and was relocated to Old Sacramento after Interstate Highway 5 was built through the city.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This short walking tour includes nineteen landmarks that explore the early history of Sacramento. The tour includes monuments, museums, historic buildings, and other landmarks that share the story of the city's founding figures through art, artifacts, and monuments.
