History of Sacramento, California
To resolve the problems, the city worked to raise the sidewalks and buildings and began to replace wooden structures with more resilient materials, like brick and stone.
[8] The area that would become the city of Sacramento was initially observed by many European and American mapmakers as home to Great Plains-based rivers that stretched across the Rocky Mountains and emptied into the Pacific Ocean.
[13] As New Helvetia continued to develop economically, Sutter constructed a ranch at the Nisenan village of Hok and named it "Hock Farm", designating it his official retreat.
[15] Sutter's empire began to disintegrate when he decided to back the unpopular Alta Californian governor Manuel Micheltorena, who was soon overthrown by Alvarado and José Castro in an 1841 coup d'état.
[18] While the "Bear Flaggers" under William B. Ide and John C. Frémont continued to wage war against the Mexican government, Sutter attempted to resume a state of normalcy in New Helvetia, although the lack of manpower as a result of the revolt left productivity lagging.
California, along with Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming, were annexed by the United States in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Continuing business as normal, John Sutter dispatched associate James W. Marshall, who was to construct a sawmill in the foothills of the Sierra at the city of Coloma, in 1847.
[22] When news reached San Francisco, a rush of hopeful prospectors began to move northwards to the Sacramento Valley, and by the middle of the year, so-called "Argonauts" flooded Sutter's holdings in search of gold.
[31] Sacramento City was serviced by organized public transportation via the rivers and upheld regular street maintenance by 1850; the settlement had reached a "home-and-garden" stage in development by the same time.
In response to growing fear of a potential catastrophe, citizen volunteers founded California's first fire protection organization, named the "Mutual Hook and Ladder Company."
[43] The year 1852 saw a diversification in the Sacramentan economy; pharmacies, attorney firms, brass foundries, and lingerie shops, among others, lined the streets of the city during this era.
[44] Additionally, companies were beginning to take advantage of the fish populations in the American and Sacramento Rivers, a resource that Sutter had discovered and utilized during the era of New Helvetia.
The Central Valley's capacity for agriculture was also noted, and wheat surpluses that had originated in the Sacramento area were often shipped en route to foreign countries.
[52] As a means of communication meant to replace the inefficient letter delivery via ocean around South America's Cape Horn, the Pony Express was brought to Sacramento in 1860.
The American Civil War began, and president Abraham Lincoln approved the railroad without the Southern forces that would've normally opposed the operation;[60] ground was broken in downtown Sacramento on January 8, 1863.
[65] Despite the anti-Asian sentiment, all types of foreigners were drawn to the city starting in the 1890s, ranging from Europeans that had immigrated from Italy, Portugal, and Croatia to Japanese, Korean, Punjabi, and Filipino arrivals.
[64] At the same time, the Rancho Del Paso and Rancho San Juan Mexican land grants that encompassed much of the northern parts of the county were sold to the public; people who invested in county development would construct the settlement of Citrus Heights on the land designated as the grant; plans for communities like Orangevale, Carmichael, and Fair Oaks were set into motion to complement the city's reputation as a fruit production powerhouse.
[72] City tensions increased with the bombing of the governor's mansion in 1917, and suspects affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World militant party were detained and jailed, although never convicted.
[73] When the war ended in 1918, the city celebrated the return of the 363rd Infantry regiment of the 91st Division and the visit of president Woodrow Wilson, who arrived to advocate his League of Nations proposal in 1919 in the face of staunch opposition headed by Governor Johnson and Sacramento Bee editor Charles Kenny McClatchy.
A contract with the government led to the opening of Mather Air Force Base in the county, and Sacramento grew to rely on the biplanes for continued economic growth up until the end of the war.
[75] In addition, the river front city border with Yolo County, known as the West End, devolved into a slum that was filled, notably, with speakeasies, bordellos, and buildings used for gambling.
[36] As an exchange for locating Mather AFB near Sacramento, a member of the United States Department of War demanded that the city deal with the West End's problems.
[75] The events that followed World War I decreased the popularity for the reformist Progressive movement in the city; hundreds of Sacramentans joined the conservative local chapter Ku Klux Klan.
However, they worked to portray themselves as anti-racist; notably, the Sacramento Ku Klux Klan helped to paint a local African American church during this time period.
[78] A 1915 proposal to filtrate the impure Sacramento tap water passed, and president Calvin Coolidge ceremoniously activated the purification system from Washington, D.C. in 1923.
The local canning industry was affected first as demand for canned goods dropped drastically, laying off workers; a freeze later destroyed half of the Sacramento area's citrus trees in December 1932.
[88] The bridge, which was funded by the Works Progress Administration, was one of a number of WPA-funded projects, which included 220 miles (350 km) of highway, 46 public buildings, and new runways at local airports.
[87] An additional economic boost was provided in the construction of McClellan Air Force Base, which began in 1936 and was completed in 1939, and the reopening of the previously closed Mather AFB in 1936.
[90] Pearl Harbor, a deep-water military port nearby Honolulu, Hawaii, was subject to a surprise attack on the morning of December 7, 1941; McClellan AFB was active by 2 pm that day, and hundreds of B-26 Marauders and Curtiss P-40s were being readied for battle, destined for assignment in Alaska.
Meanwhile, the city government formulated emergency plans; mayor Thomas Monk increased security around public buildings and kept careful watch over the levees on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
