Benicia Capitol State Historic Park is a state park in Benicia, California. The park is dedicated to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

’s third capitol building, where the California State Legislature convened from February 3, 1853 to February 24, 1854, when they voted to move the state capital to

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. It is the only pre-Sacramento capitol that remains. The park includes the Fischer-Hanlon House, an early Benicia building that was moved to the property and converted into a home in 1858, after the legislature departed. Benicia Capitol State Historic Park just off the city's main street also includes a carriage house, workers' quarters and sculptured gardens.

History

Following large complaints by state legislators of inadequate furniture and sleeping quarters in

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to th ...

in early 1853, the Legislature, with the consent of Governor John Bigler, relocated the state capital to nearby Benicia that same year. The Legislature would convene in the Benicia City Hall for a little more than a year, when again complaints over poor weather conditions, inadequate and uncomfortable sleeping quarters, and "the insecure condition of the public archives" arose in January 1854. After a proposal by Sacramento to use the Sacramento County Courthouse free of charge as a capital building, the Assembly and Senate passed an enabling act, voiding all previous legislation, to move the state capital to its new location upriver in Sacramento. On February 25, 1854, Governor Bigler signed the act into law, moving the capital to its current location. The Legislature and governor climbed aboard the steamship '' Wilson G. Hunt'' to take up its new quarters. "So much opposed to the removal were the good people of Benicia," the ''

Sacramento Union ''The Sacramento Union'' was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with ' ...

'' reported, "that the owners of the wharves, it is stated, refused to permit the steamer ... to land to take on the legislative furniture, unless she would pay $500." This request was refused and the furniture was shipped from a different wharf. The

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

building was listed as a California State Historic Landmark on January 11, 1935. The

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

placed the Benicia capitol on the federal list on February 12, 1971.

Present day

The original building has been restored with reconstructed period furnishings and exhibits. The interior includes a reconstruction of the building's original floor with

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

. The desks, four of which are from the 1850s or earlier, are furnished with a

candlestick A candlestick is a device used to hold a candle in place. Candlesticks have a cup or a spike ("pricket") or both to keep the candle in place. Candlesticks are less frequently called "candleholders". Before the proliferation of electricity, candl ...

, a 19th-century

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

, a

quill pen A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal- nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventuall ...

, blotting sand, a spitoon, and a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...

. The historic park is located at 115 West G Street in Benicia, a city in the northern San Francisco Bay Area between San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay. On February 16, 2000, the California State Legislature met in the old Capitol in a symbolic session to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Legislature's first meeting.

Proposed for closure

The Benicia Capitol State Historic Park was one of the 48

California state parks The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

proposed for closure in January 2008 by California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of a deficit reduction program, since rescinded following public outcry. It also was placed on the Governor's list of two hundred parks to close in fall of 2009 in response to the ongoing budget crisis and was on

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

's 2011 list of 70 proposed state park closures in the continuing budget crises. In March 2013, then-Director of California Department of Parks and Recreation, Anthony L. Jackson, announced that no state parks would close during his tenure and that he had "done away with park closures."

Gallery

Former_California_capitol_2022-04-17_1723_2.jpg, From the southwest Former_California_capitol_2022-04-17_1723_3.jpg, Front portico Former_California_capitol_2022-04-17_1723_5.jpg, From the southeast Former_California_capitol_sign_2022-04-17_1723_2.jpg, Park sign

References

External links

Benicia Capitol State Historic Park official site

California's State Capitols, 1850-present
{{National Register of Historic Places 1935 establishments in California Benicia, California California State Historic Parks Former state capitols in the United States Government buildings completed in 1852 Greek Revival architecture in California History museums in California History of Solano County, California Legislative buildings Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Museums in Solano County, California National Register of Historic Places in Solano County, California Palladian Revival architecture in California Parks in Solano County, California Protected areas established in 1935