Sacramento, California

== History ==
{{Main|History of Sacramento, California}}
{{For timeline}}

=== Pre-Columbian period ===
<!--If we could talk about this heading instead or re-editing that would be great. Please see talk page. -->
[[Nisenan]] (Southern [[Maidu]]), [[Modoc people|Modoc]], and [[Plains Miwok]] American Indians have lived in the area for perhaps thousands of years. Until the settlers arrived who would eventually make Sacramento their home, these tribes left little evidence of their existence. Their diet was dominated by [[acorn]]s taken from the plentiful oak trees in the region and by fruits, bulbs, seeds, and roots gathered throughout the year.

=== Spanish period ===
In 1808, the Spanish explorer [[Gabriel Moraga]] encountered and named the [[Sacramento Valley]] and the Sacramento River. A Spanish writer with the Moraga expedition wrote:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cathedralsacramento.org/ |title=Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament – Sacramento, California |publisher=Cathedralsacramento.org |date=November 11, 2012 |access-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116093832/http://www.cathedralsacramento.org/ |archive-date=November 16, 2012}}</ref>
<blockquote>
Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current. Birds chattered in the trees and big fish darted through the pellucid depths. The air was like [[champagne]], and (''the Spaniards)'' drank deep of it, drank in the beauty around them. "¡Es como el sagrado sacramento! (It's like the Blessed Sacrament.)"
</blockquote>
The valley and the river were then christened after the "Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ," referring to the Catholic [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacrament]] of the [[Eucharist in the Catholic Church|Eucharist]].

=== Mexican period ===
[[File:Sutterfort (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|In 1839, [[John Augustus Sutter]] established [[Sutter's Fort]], which he called [[New Helvetia|Nueva Helvetia]]. In 1841, he was officially granted the land by Governor [[Juan Bautista Alvarado]].]]

[[John Sutter|John Sutter Sr.]] first arrived in the area on August 13, 1839, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers with a Mexican land grant of {{convert|50,000|acre|ha}}. The next year, he and his party established Sutter's Fort, a massive adobe structure with walls {{convert|18|ft|m}} high and {{convert|3|ft|m|spell=in}} thick.<ref name="legendsofamerica.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-oldsacramento.html|title=Old Sacramento, California – Walking on History|publisher=Legends of America|access-date=October 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525050816/http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-oldsacramento.html|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Representing Mexico, Sutter Sr. called his colony New [[Helvetia]], a Swiss-inspired name, and was the political authority and dispenser of justice in the new settlement. Soon, the colony began to grow as more and more pioneers headed west. Within just a few short years, Sutter Sr. had become a grand success, owning a {{convert|10|acre|ha|adj=on}} orchard and a herd of 13,000 cattle. Fort Sutter became a regular stop for the increasing number of immigrants coming through the valley. In 1847, Sutter Sr. received 2,000 fruit trees, which started the agriculture industry in the Sacramento Valley. Later that year, Sutter Sr. hired James Marshall to build a [[sawmill]] so he could continue to expand his empire,<ref name="legendsofamerica.com" /> but unbeknownst to many, Sutter Sr.'s "empire" had been built on thin margins of credit.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/johnsutterlifeon00hurt/page/83 <!-- quote=his father's loose business habits. --> John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier] By Albert L. Hurtado. University of Oklahoma Press, 2006. p. 236. Retrieved September 10, 2017.</ref>

=== American period ===
[[File:Sacramento california 1849.jpg|thumb|left|Sacramento in 1849, when the city was an economic center of the [[California Gold Rush]]]]
In 1848, when [[James W. Marshall]] discovered gold at [[Sutters Mill|Sutter's Mill]] in [[Coloma, California|Coloma]] (some {{convert|50|mi|km|1|abbr=on|disp=or}} northeast of the fort), numerous gold-seekers came to the area, increasing the population. In August 1848, Sutter Sr.'s son, [[John Augustus Sutter Jr.|John Sutter Jr.]], arrived to assist his father in reducing his [[debt]]. The Sutters struggled to contain the effects of thousands of new gold miners and prospectors in the area, many of whom squatted on unwatched portions of the vast Sutter lands or stole various unattended Sutter properties or belongings. For Sutter, his employee's discovery of gold in the area turned out to be a bane.

By December 1848, John Sutter Jr., in association with [[Samuel Brannan]], began laying out the City of Sacramento, {{convert|2|mi|km}} south of his father's settlement of New Helvetia. This venture was undertaken against the wishes of Sutter Sr., but the father, being deeply in debt, was unable to stop it. For commercial reasons, the new city was named "Sacramento City" after the [[Sacramento River]]. Sutter Jr. and Brannan had [[United States Army]] Captain [[William H. Warner]] assigned to draft the official layout of the city, which included 26 lettered and 31 numbered streets (today's grid from C St. to Broadway and from Front St. to Alhambra Blvd.) Relations between Sutter and his son became embittered after Sacramento became an overnight commercial success. (Sutter's Fort, Mill, and the town of [[Sutterville, California|Sutterville]], all founded by John Sutter Sr., eventually failed).
[[File:Sacramento, CA USA - panoramio (10).jpg|thumb|[[Old Sacramento State Historic Park|Old Sacramento]], the oldest quarter of the city, grew up along the [[Sacramento River]] in the mid-1800s.]]
Residents of Sacramento adopted a [[Municipal charter|city charter]] in 1849, which was recognized by the state legislature in 1850. Sacramento is the oldest [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] city in California, incorporated on February 27, 1850.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cityofsacramento.org/about_the_city.htm |title=About the City of Sacramento |publisher=City of Sacramento |access-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-date=November 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123091648/http://www.cityofsacramento.org/about_the_city.htm}}</ref>

On January 10, 1850, a flood occurred that devastated the city. The rushing waters uprooted homes and drowned livestock. The city was almost destroyed. Due to the efforts of [[Hardin Bigelow]], Sacramento's first elected mayor, the construction of the city's first levee was completed in early 1852 (the city became known as "The Levee City"). However, a month after it was completed, it was breached during the first major storm of the season and the city flooded again. A new levee was built for $50,000, but it also broke, causing more flooding of the city.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Solomon |first1=Samantha |title=When Sacramento became 'Levee City' {{!}} Marking the 170-year anniversary of the flood that started it all |url=https://www.abc10.com/article/news/history/when-sacramento-became-levee-city/103-48d5063b-ad48-4b32-9709-c7ca4fe8ea79 |website=abc10 |date=January 10, 2020 |publisher=KXTV-TV |access-date=August 20, 2022}}</ref> Between October and December 1850, Sacramento was hit with a cholera epidemic that killed 1,000 residents, including Mayor Bigelow and 17 of the city's 40 physicians. Up to 80 percent of the populace left town.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gibbons |first1=H. |title=The Cholera in California in 1850 |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DAC18651009.2.4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 |website=UCR California Digital Newspaper Collection |publisher=DL Consulting |access-date=August 20, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 17 Doctors of the 1850 Sacramento Cholera Epidemic |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12485 |website= The Historical Marker Database |access-date=August 20, 2022}}</ref> On November 2, 1852, a fire known as the Great Conflagration burned more than 80 percent of the structures in the city. It is estimated that the total damage was around six million dollars. Within a month 761 structures were re-built, many of them in brick.<ref>{{cite web |title=This Day in History, November |url=http://sachistorymuseum.org/field-trips/fun-facts/ |website=Sacramento history Museum |date=February 23, 2015 |access-date=August 20, 2022}}</ref> In spite of all these hardships the new city's location just downstream from the [[Mother Lode]] in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] proved irresistible, and it grew rapidly during the early 1850s, attracting a population of 10,000. The [[Great Flood of 1862]] from December 1861 to January 1862 caused the worst flooding in Sacramento's history. In 1861, Governor [[Leland Stanford]], who was inaugurated in early January 1862, traveled to his inauguration in a rowboat.
[[File:'Sacramento Railroad Station' by William Hahn.JPG|thumb|left|An 1874 depiction of a Sacramento railway station by painter [[William Hahn]]]]
The [[California State Legislature]], with the support of Governor [[John Bigler]], moved to Sacramento in 1854. The capital of California under Spanish (and, subsequently, Mexican) rule had been [[Monterey, California|Monterey]], where, in 1849, the first [[Constitutional Convention (California)|Constitutional Convention]] and state elections were held. The convention decided [[San Jose, California|San Jose]] would be the new state's capital. After 1850, when California's statehood was ratified, the legislature met in San Jose until 1851, [[Vallejo, California|Vallejo]] in 1852, and [[Benicia, California|Benicia]] in 1853, before moving to Sacramento. During the 1850s the city was [[Consolidated city-county|consolidated with]] the County of Sacramento.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P_sBAAAAYAAJ&num=9 ''The California State register and year book of facts: for the year 1859''], Henry G. Langley and Samuel A. Morison, San Francisco, 1859, p.315</ref> In the [[California Constitutional Conventions|Sacramento Constitutional Convention of 1879]], Sacramento was named the permanent state capital.

The [[Classical Revival]]-style [[California State Capitol]], similar to the national Capitol, was started in 1860 and completed in 1874. In 1861, the legislative session was moved to the [[Merchants Exchange Building (San Francisco)|Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco]] for one session because of the massive flooding in Sacramento. From 1862 to 1868, part of the [[Leland Stanford Mansion]] was used for the governor's offices during Stanford's tenure as the Governor; and the legislature met in the Sacramento County Courthouse. The legislative chambers were first occupied in 1869, while construction continued around them.
[[File:Construction_of_the_California_Capitol_in_1868.jpg|thumb|The [[California State Capitol]], built between 1860 and 1874, shown here under construction in 1868]]
With its new status and strategic location, Sacramento quickly prospered. It was designated as the western terminus of the [[Pony Express]]. Later it became a terminus of the [[First transcontinental railroad]], which began construction in Sacramento in 1863 and was financed by "[[The Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|The Big Four]]"—[[Mark Hopkins Jr.|Mark Hopkins]], [[Charles Crocker]], [[Collis P. Huntington]], and [[Leland Stanford]]. Both the American and especially Sacramento rivers were key elements in the economic success of the city. Sacramento effectively controlled commerce on these rivers, and public works projects were funded through taxes levied on goods unloaded from boats and loaded onto rail cars in the historic [[Sacramento Railyards|Sacramento Rail Yards]].

From 1862 until the mid-1870s, Sacramento raised the level of its downtown by building reinforced brick walls on its downtown streets and filling the resulting street walls with dirt. The previous first floors of buildings became [[basement]]s, with open space between the street and the building, previously the [[sidewalk]], now at the basement level. Over the years, many of these underground spaces have been filled or destroyed by subsequent development. However, it is still possible to view portions of the "[[Old Sacramento State Historic Park#Old Sacramento Underground|Sacramento Underground]]".

=== Modern era ===
{{See also|Urban redevelopment in Sacramento, California}}
[[File:Tower Bridge Sacramento edit.jpg|thumb|left|Built in 1935, [[Tower Bridge (California)|Tower Bridge]] connects Sacramento to [[West Sacramento]].]]
The city's current charter was adopted by voters in 1920.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/<!-- Incomplete URL --> |newspaper=[[Sacramento Bee]] |date=September 26, 2009 |title=Status quo for city governance? |access-date=November 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120223741/http://www.sacbee.com/ |archive-date=November 20, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> As a [[charter city]], Sacramento is exempt from many laws and regulations passed by the [[California State Legislature|state legislature]]. The city has expanded continuously over the years. The 1964 merger of the City of [[North Sacramento]] with Sacramento substantially increased its population, and large annexations of the [[Natomas, Sacramento, California|Natomas]] area eventually led to significant population growth throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Sacramento County (along with a portion of adjacent [[Placer County, California|Placer County]]) is served by a customer-owned electric utility, the [[Sacramento Municipal Utility District]] (SMUD). Sacramento voters approved the creation of SMUD in 1923.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Sacramento Bee]]|date=September 26, 2012|title=Endorsements: Michael Picker is best pick for SMUD Ward 5|author=Editorial Board|access-date=November 21, 2012 |url=http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/26/4855122/endorsements-michael-picker-is.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109061646/http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/26/4855122/endorsements-michael-picker-is.html |archive-date=November 9, 2012}}</ref> In April 1946, after 12&nbsp;years of litigation, a judge ordered [[Pacific Gas and Electric Company|Pacific Gas & Electric]] to transfer the title of Sacramento's electric distribution system to SMUD. Today SMUD is the sixth-largest public electric utility in the U.S. and is a leader in innovative programs and services, including the development of clean fuel resources, such as [[solar energy|solar power]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hydrorelicensing.smud.org/public/pub_com.htm |title=UARP Relicensing Public Participation Community Oriented Utility |publisher=SMUD |access-date=November 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208105239/http://hydrorelicensing.smud.org/public/pub_com.htm |archive-date=February 8, 2013}}</ref>

The year following the creation of SMUD, 1924, brought several events in Sacramento: [[Standard Oil]] executive Verne McGeorge established [[McGeorge School of Law]], American [[department store]] [[Weinstock & Lubin]] opened a new store at 12th and K street, the US$2&nbsp;million [[Senator Hotel]] was opened, Sacramento's drinking water became filtered and treated drinking water, and Sacramento boxer Georgie Lee fought [[Francisco Guilledo]], a [[Filipino people|Filipino]] professional [[Boxing|boxer]] known as Pancho Villa, at L Street Auditorium on March 21.<ref name="Prohibition">{{cite news|page=27 |newspaper=[[Sacramento Bee]] |date=July 30, 1989|title=1920s A Wet Prohibition, A City of North Sac, The First Woman Mayor |first=Don |last=Stanle}}</ref>

[[File:Sacramento DSC 0063 (5673641314) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Elks Tower]] was built in 1926 in an [[Italianate architecture|Italianate style]].]]

Early in World War II, the Sacramento Assembly Center (also known as the Walerga Assembly Center) was established to house Japanese Americans [[Internment of Japanese Americans|forcibly "evacuated" from the West Coast]] under [[Executive Order 9066]]. The camp was one of fifteen temporary detention facilities where over 110,000 [[Japanese Americans]], two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were held while construction on the more permanent [[War Relocation Authority]] camps was completed. The assembly center was built on the site of a former migrant labor camp, and inmates began arriving from Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties on May 6, 1942. It closed after only 52 days, on June 26, and the population of 4,739 was transferred to the [[Tule Lake Unit, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument|Tule Lake]] concentration camp. The site was then turned over to the Army Signal Corps and dedicated as [[Camp Kohler]].

After the war and the end of the incarceration program, returning Japanese Americans were often unable to find housing and so 234 families temporarily lived at the former assembly center. Camp Kohler was destroyed by a fire in December 1947, and the assembly center site is now part of the Foothill Farms-North Highlands subdivision.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Sacramento%20%28detention%20facility%29/ |title=Sacramento (detention facility) |publisher=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=August 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810173504/http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Sacramento%20%28detention%20facility%29/ |archive-date=August 10, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The Sacramento-Yolo Port District was created in 1947, and the ground was broken on the Port of Sacramento in 1949.
[[File:Ford rushed from Sacramento assassination attempt image A6320-24A.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Gerald Ford assassination attempt in Sacramento|1975 assassination attempt]] of President [[Gerald Ford]] in [[Capitol Park (Sacramento, California)|Capitol Park]]]]

On June 29, 1963, with 5,000 spectators waiting to welcome her, the Motor Vessel ''Taipei Victory'' arrived.<ref>{{cite book|last=Avella|first=Steven M.|title=Sacramento: Indomitable City|year=2003|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-2444-3|page=124}}</ref> The [[Nationalist Chinese]] flagship docked at the [[Port of Sacramento]], being the first ocean-going vessel in Sacramento since the steamship ''Harpoon'' in 1934.

In 1967, [[Ronald Reagan]] became the last [[Governor of California]] to live permanently in the city. The 1980s and 1990s saw the closure of several local military bases: [[McClellan Air Force Base]], [[Mather Air Force Base]], and Sacramento Army Depot. In 1980, there was another flood. Despite military base closures and the decline of agricultural food processing, Sacramento has continued to experience population growth in recent years. Primary sources of population growth are an influx of residents from the nearby [[San Francisco Bay Area]], as well as immigration from Asia and Latin America.

In 1985, Hugh Scrutton, a 38-year-old Sacramento, California, computer store owner, was killed by a nail-and-splinter-loaded bomb placed in the parking lot of his store. In 1996, his death was attributed to the Unabomber, [[Theodore Kaczynski]].

After acquiring the majority stake in the [[Sacramento Kings]], the team's new owner, [[Vivek Ranadivé]], with the help of the city, agreed to build a new arena in the downtown area. With a final estimated cost of $558.2&nbsp;million, Sacramento's [[Golden 1 Center]] opened on September 30, 2016.