Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital of California. The city began as the gateway to the Gold Country during the California gold rush of the mid-nineteenth century and evolved into a primary commercial center due to the city's central location and proximity to the Central Valley, which produces California's wide array of agricultural crops. As the seat of state government, Sacramento has been primarily dominated by politics, but it emerged as the most diverse city in America at the turn of the twenty-first century, according to Time magazine in 2002.

Landscape

Sacramento is located in Northern California along the banks of the Sacramento River, just south of where it intersects the American River. The city lies at the flat center of California's Central Valley, where a large amount of the state's agricultural produce is grown. The northern part of the valley is known as Sacramento Valley, while the southern edge is called San Joaquin Valley. The valley, which measures approximately twelve thousand square miles, yields oranges, pistachios, strawberries, and grapes. The mountainous Gold Country, site of the famed California gold rush, is situated northeast of Sacramento.

The city encompasses less than ninety-eight square miles, and Sacramento proper is divided into three distinct sections. The first, Old Sacramento, consists of four square blocks located along the piers of the Sacramento River. Old Sacramento contains many of the original buildings built during the gold rush and is famous for its historical architecture. The downtown area, separated from Old Sacramento by a highway, contains all of the government and political buildings. The third section, Midtown, is characterized by picturesque tree-lined streets and retail activity.

Because of its location, Sacramento experiences primarily unvaried weather patterns. The winters are mild, with temperatures rarely dropping much below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Summers are hot, often reaching above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The city's twelve-month average temperature is 61 degrees Fahrenheit. Sacramento experiences moderate rainfall during the fall, spring, and winter seasons. Summers are drier, with monthly precipitation averaging only 0.1 inches or less.

People

Sacramento is California's sixth-largest city, with an estimated 2022 population of 528,001. Sacramento is highly diverse, and as of 2022, an estimated 36 percent of the city's residents aged five years or older spoke a language other than English at home. According to the US Census Bureau in 2022, 30.8 percent of the city's population was White. Hispanics or Latinos of any race make up an estimated 29.4 percent of the population, people of Asian descent constitute an estimated 19.5 percent, and Black or African Americans comprise an estimated 12.6 percent. According to Time magazine and research conducted by Harvard University in 2002, the high number of minorities and interracial marriages and educational systems made Sacramento the most integrated city in America.

Economy

Sacramento's location at the center of the Central Valley made the city a primary hub for the shipping and trading of much of California's agricultural products. In the 1880s, following the end of the gold rush, agriculture replaced the industries of mining and cattle trading as Sacramento's most profitable activity. Sacramento is considered the Almond Capital of the world for the huge volume of almonds grown around the city.

Long after the end of the gold rush, a renewed interest in American history resulted in the restoration of numerous small mining towns north of the city. Several museums about the gold rush also opened, and tourism became a major source of revenue for the city. A sizeable revenue stream also comes from events held at the California Exposition and State Fair Center, popularly known as the Cal Expo. The most well-known event sponsored by the Cal Expo is the California State Fair, which has taken place in Sacramento since 1861.

Health and social services, government, hospitality, professional and business services, and trade, transportation, and utilities were largest employment sectors in Sacramento in 2023. The education sector is bolstered by the presence of several colleges and universities, including California State University, Sacramento, better known as Sacramento State, as well as regional campuses, such as the University of San Francisco and the University of California, Davis.

Landmarks

Sacramento's most famous landmark is perhaps the California State Capitol, located at the center of town. The building is a model of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, and was built during the 1860s. The first floor of the building contains an arts and artifact museum, the California State Capitol Museum. Although it has been renovated many times, the Capitol retains most of its original architecture. The city is also home to the Governor's Mansion, which housed California's governors from 1903 until 1967. Built in the Victorian style in 1877, the mansion is now a popular tourist attraction.

Sacramento contains over 120 parks spanning more than two thousand acres. The Sutter Fort State Historic Park, located in Midtown, contains the original settlement founded by John Sutter in 1839. The outdoor park retains the look it had in 1846, and a guided experience of settlement life in early America is provided in the park's interior.

Old Sacramento, a region of four square blocks in the city, is located along the length of the piers that lead from the Sacramento River to the city. Old Sacramento preserves an old-time look and feel, including wooden sidewalks, horse-drawn carriages and riverboats for transportation, and cobblestone streets. Historic Sacramento also contains several small museums, as well as pubs and restaurants built and decorated to look like saloons from the Old West. Old Sacramento boasts the oldest architecture in the city, with over one hundred original buildings.

History

The Sacramento region was first populated by numerous American Indian peoples. The area, part of the Spanish territory of Alta California, was discovered by Spanish soldiers voyaging into Sacramento Valley in 1808. However, Spain showed no real interest in colonizing the valley. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, taking ownership of Alta California as a result, but shared Spain's disinterest in the area.

In 1839, a Swiss immigrant named John Augustus Sutter was granted Mexican citizenship so that he could settle fifty thousand acres at the intersection of the Sacramento and American Rivers. On August 12, he established the colony of New Helvetia, which he intended to keep as a trading post while he farmed nearby land. In 1841, Sutter began constructing Sutter's Fort with the help of local tribes. They built a mill, a winery, and a tannery—the first cornerstones of what would become a bustling, modern city.

In 1846, California declared independence from Mexico. Later that year, the state was claimed as a US territory. Sutter thus began the urban planning of Sutterville, now an American city. In 1848, the first buildings were built on the banks of the Sacramento River, an area that would later become Old Sacramento. The settlement was a success and rapidly developed into a trading center. Then, on January 24, 1848, James Marshall, an employee of Sutter's, discovered a nugget of gold on the banks of the American River.

Though Sutter tried to suppress the news, rumors spread of the discovery of gold in California. The California gold rush began in earnest later that year, and hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the area to pan for gold. Within three years, the population of Sacramento had increased to almost twenty times its original amount. Sutter's employees quit to try their hands at gold panning, and his settlement was soon overrun by people hurrying to the Gold Country.

Because it was located at the point at which miners disembarked from the Sacramento River to enter Gold Country, Sacramento soon became the supply point for miners and gold diggers, It was also the key point between the Gold Country and San Francisco, which was a burgeoning port town at the time. As more miners traveled into Sacramento to purchase supplies for gold digging, the city began to evolve. By the time the gold rush ended, fewer than ten years later, Sacramento was considered an affluent town. Even after the miners deserted the region, Sacramento's central location made it a convenient point for transportation: the city was the last stop of the Pony Express and the first stop on America's first transcontinental railroad. The city continued to be a rail hub from the mid-nineteenth century into the early twentieth century.

A fire in 1852 destroyed 85 percent of the city, but it was soon rebuilt with brick. Sacramento was named the permanent state capital of California in 1854. After a series of severe floods in 1849, 1850, and 1861–62, the central business district of Sacramento was raised fifteen feet in the early 1860s. Central Valley began to yield impressive amounts of produce, particularly fruit, and by 1880, agriculture had entirely replaced the mining industry and the cattle trade. As Sacramento developed into an administrative and government center, it adopted a political identity.

Sacramento's Tower Bridge was constructed as a federal Works Progress Administration project in 1935. Sacramento ballooned in size in the post–World War II period, tripling in territory between 1946 and 1965 by annexing adjacent areas. Its capitol building was restored between 1975 and 1982.

In 2015, Sacramento's Walerga Assembly Center, a migrant camp used as a detention center during World War II, was rededicated. The revamped historic site featured a temple-like wooden structure, more than a dozen cherry trees, and a granite marker commemorating the 5,121 Japanese American residents of Sacramento who were rounded up in 1942 and interned in remote camps for the war's duration.

Bibliography

Eifler, Mark A. Gold Rush Capitalists: Greed and Growth in Sacramento. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 2002. Print.

"History." City of Sacramento Fire Department, City of Sacramento, www.cityofsacramento.org/Fire/About/History. Accessed 2 May 2019.

"History." Old Sacramento. Old Sacramento Business Assn., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Magagnini, Stephen. "Sacramento World War II Japanese Detention Center Rededicated." The Sacramento Bee, 25 Aug. 2015, www.sacbee.com/news/local/history/article32396262.html. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

“QuickFacts: Sacramento city, California.” United States Census Bureau, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sacramentocitycalifornia/PST0452237. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Stapp, Cheryl Anne. Sacramento Chronicles: A Golden Past. Charleston: History, 2013. Print.

Stodghill, Ron, and Amanda Bower. "Welcome to America's Most Diverse City." Time. 25 Aug. 2002. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Thomas, G. Scott. "Sacramento Relies More Heavily on Government Jobs than Any Other Metro." Business Journals. Amer. City Business Journals, 15 May 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.