John A. Sutter became the first honorary member of the Sacramento Pioneer Association in 1854 at the Jones Hotel (Sam Brannan House) on January 24, 1854Sam Brannan House, also called the Vernon-Brannan House, Jones Hotel and Vernon House is an 1853 historical building in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

. The building is a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

No. 604 listed on May 22, 1957. The three-story brick Sam Brannan House is at 112 J Street, Sacramento in

Old Sacramento State Historic Park Old Sacramento State Historic Park occupies around one third of the property within the Old Sacramento Historic District of Sacramento, California. The Old Sacramento Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District. The Histori ...

History

Before the Sam Brannan House was built, the lot had an 1849 wooden building that was Sacramento's first US post office. The US post office was burnt to the ground in an 1852 fire. The three-story brick building was built on the lot in 1853, by Henry E. Robinson. The lot was owned by Samuel Brannan. The three-story brick building became the Jones Hotel. In 1854 the Sacramento Pioneer Association was founded in the Jones Hotel meeting room. The Jones Hotel was sold in 1855 and became the Vernon House run by Miss O. J. Clark as

boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...

. Clark sold the building to Peter Bryding, who returned it to a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

in 1865 and renamed it the Brannan House, in honor to the first owner of the land,

Samuel Brannan Samuel S. Brannan (March 2, 1819 – May 5, 1889) was an American settler, businessman, journalist, and prominent Mormon who founded the '' California Star'', the first newspaper in San Francisco, California. He is also considered the first to ...

(1819–1889). The City of Sacramento had a 13-year program in the 1860s and 1870s, to raise the buildings and streets in Sacramento to stop the flooding problem in the city, like the

Great Flood of 1862 The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of California, Oregon, and Nevada, inundating the western United States and portions of British Columbia and Mexico. It was preceded by weeks of continuous rains and snows tha ...

. The Sam Brannan House was raised 9 feet in 1865, stopping the flooding by the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...

and

American River The American River is a List of rivers of California, river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it ...

. The Historical building is a Colderbank office today in Old Sacramento.

Sacramento Pioneer Association

The Sacramento Pioneer Association was founded on January 24, 1854, in the Jones Hotel (Sam Brannan House) by 70 Sacramento California pioneers. Just five years after the 1849

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

, these early pioneers wanted to celebrate and preserve the unique time and place of the Gold Rush and those that came west for opportunity. Some of the Sacramento Pioneer Association founding members were: Joseph W. Winans (first president), Mark Hopkins, General Albert Maver Winn,

John Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Switzerland, Swiss immigrant who became a Mexican and later an American citizen, known for establishing Sutter ...

, James W. Marshall, J. Neely Johnson,

John Bigler John Bigler (January 8, 1805November 29, 1871) was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he served as the third governor of California from 1852 to 1856 and was the first California governor to ...

Newton Booth Newton Booth (December 30, 1825July 14, 1892) was an American entrepreneur and politician who served as the 11th governor of California from 1871 to 1875 and as U.S. Senator from California from 1875 to 1881. He was the only member of the Anti-Mo ...

, B. F. Hastings, D. O. Mills, Hugh McElroy LaRue,

Collis Potter Huntington Collis Potter Huntington (October 22, 1821 – August 13, 1900) was an American industrialist and railway magnate. He was one of the Big Four of western railroading (along with Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker) who invested ...

, Nathaniel D. Goodell, James Anthony (

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 ' ...

) and

James McClatchy James McClatchy (1824–1883) was an Irish-born American newspaper editor. He was the second editor of '' The Sacramento Bee'', which grew into The McClatchy Company, taking over just days after the newspaper began publication as ''The Daily Bee ...

. Sacramento Pioneer Association works to preserve Sacramento's history, the historical past, including: artifacts, documents and historic buildings. Sacramento Pioneer Association worked on the

Sutter's Fort Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican ''Alta California'' province. Established in 1839, the site of the fort was originally part of a utopian colonial project called New Helvetia (''New Switzerland'') ...

project. The Sacramento Pioneer Association's president from 1857 to 1859 was Dr. John F. Morse, he wrote the first history of Sacramento and built the Morse Building. Sacramento Pioneer Association are owners and run the Pioneer Grove Cemetery that with in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery. Sacramento Pioneer Association owns and run the Pioneer Hall on Seventh Street. Pioneer Hall built in 1868 is the oldest building in California under continuous ownership of one owner. Before Pioneer Hall was built the Sacramento Pioneer Association had meeting at the County Court at Front and J Streets and the Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 firehouse on 8th Street. Sacramento Pioneer Association incorporated the non-profit organization Sacramento Pioneer Foundation in 1966. Pioneer Hall is the headquarters of Sacramento Society of California Pioneers

References

{{reflist 1853 in California 1853 establishments in California California Historical Landmarks History of Sacramento County, California

History

Sacramento Pioneer Association

See also

References