Benicia Capitol State Historic Park

State historic park of California

United States historic place

Significant dates

Benicia Capitol State Historic Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
California Historical Landmark No. 153^[2]

California State Capitol, 1853-1854
38°3′1″N 122°9′28″W / 38.05028°N 122.15778°W / 38.05028; -122.15778
Area	0.5 acres (0.20 ha)
Built	1852
Architectural style	Greek Revival-Palladian
NRHP reference No.	71000204^[1]
CHISL No.	153^[2]
Added to NRHP	February 12, 1971
Designated CHISL	January 11, 1935

Benicia Capitol State Historic Park is a state park in Benicia, California, United States. The park is dedicated to California'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. 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 in early 1853, the Legislature, with the consent of Governor John Bigler, relocated the state capital to nearby Benicia that same year. The Legislature convened 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 capitol 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.^[3] "So much opposed to the removal were the good people of Benicia," the Sacramento Union 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.^[4]

The Greek Revival-Palladian building was listed as a California State Historic Landmark on January 11, 1935. The National Register of Historic Places 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. The desks, four of which are from the 1850s or earlier, are furnished with a candlestick, a 19th-century newspaper, a quill pen, blotting sand, a spitoon, and a top hat.

Senate chambers at Benicia. Period hats represent the senators of the time

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 proposed for closure in January 2008 by California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of a deficit reduction program, since rescinded following public outcry.^[5] 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's 2011 list of 70 proposed state park closures in the continuing budget crises.^[6]^[7]

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."^[8]

Gallery

From the southwest
Front portico
From the southeast
Park sign

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ "Benicia Capitol". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
^ "Arrival of the State Officers, State Archives, and Members of the State Legislature." Sacramento Union. 1854-03-01.
^ "First Session of the Legislature at Sacramento -- Benicia." Sacramento Union. 1854-03-02.
^ CBS5.com: List Of Calif. Parks To Close In Budget Proposal Archived February 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
^ "Advocates 'ecstatic' that Benicia's state parks will stay open". East Bay Times. 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
^ "Two Benicia parks targeted". Times-Herald. 2008-01-11. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
^ "MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY L. JACKSON". California Museum. Retrieved 2020-05-04.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benicia Capitol State Historic Park.

Benicia Capitol State Historic Park official site
Genealogy Society of Vallejo-Benicia
California's State Capitols, 1850-present
The Benicia State Capitol // Benicia Context Statement (2011). — P. 35 — 38.

Protected areas of California

National Park System

National Parks	Channel Islands Death Valley Joshua Tree Kings Canyon Lassen Volcanic Pinnacles Redwood Sequoia Yosemite
National Preserves	Mojave
National Monuments	Cabrillo Castle Mountains César E. Chávez Devils Postpile Lava Beds Muir Woods Tule Lake
National Seashores	Point Reyes
National Historical Parks	Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front San Francisco Maritime
National Historic Sites	Eugene O'Neill Fort Point John Muir Manzanar
National Memorials	Port Chicago Naval Magazine
National Recreation Areas	Golden Gate Santa Monica Mountains Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity

State Parks

State Parks	Ahjumawi Lava Springs Andrew Molera Angel Island Año Nuevo Anza-Borrego Desert Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland Bidwell–Sacramento River Big Basin Redwoods Border Field Bothe-Napa Valley Burton Creek Butano Calaveras Big Trees Castle Crags Castle Rock Caswell Memorial China Camp Chino Hills Clear Lake Coast Dairies Crystal Cove Cuyamaca Rancho D. L. Bliss Del Norte Coast Redwoods Donner Memorial Dos Rios Ranch Ed Z'berg Sugar Pine Point Emerald Bay The Forest of Nisene Marks Fort Ord Dunes Fremont Peak Garrapata Gaviota Great Valley Grasslands Grizzly Creek Redwoods Grover Hot Springs Hearst San Simeon Hendy Woods Henry Cowell Redwoods Henry W. Coe Humboldt Lagoons Humboldt Redwoods Jedediah Smith Redwoods Julia Pfeiffer Burns Leo Carrillo Limekiln MacKerricher Malibu Creek Manchester McArthur–Burney Falls Memorial McLaughlin Eastshore Mendocino Headlands Mendocino Woodlands Montaña de Oro Morro Bay Mount Diablo Mount San Jacinto Mount Tamalpais Navarro River Redwoods Pacheco Palomar Mountain Pfeiffer Big Sur Placerita Canyon Plumas-Eureka Point Mugu Portola Redwoods Prairie Creek Redwoods Red Rock Canyon Richardson Grove Rio de Los Angeles Robert Louis Stevenson Russian Gulch Saddleback Butte Salt Point Samuel P. Taylor San Bruno Mountain Sinkyone Wilderness South Yuba River Sue-meg Sugarloaf Ridge Sutter Buttes Tolowa Dunes Tomales Bay Topanga Trione-Annadel Van Damme Washoe Meadows Wilder Ranch
State Natural Reserves	Antelope Valley California Poppy Armstrong Redwoods Azalea Caspar Headlands John B. Dewitt John Little Jug Handle Kruse Rhododendron Los Osos Oaks Mailliard Redwoods Mono Lake Tufa Montgomery Woods Point Lobos Smithe Redwoods Torrey Pines Tule Elk
State Marine Reserves	Albany Anacapa Island SMR Asilomar Begg Rock Big Creek Bodega Head Cabrillo Carmel Pinnacles Carrington Point Del Mar Landing Elkhorn Slough Emeryville Crescent Estero de Limantour and Drakes Estero Fitzgerald Gerstle Cove Gull Island Harris Point Judith Rock Laguna Beach Long Point Lovers Point Montara and Pillar Point Moro Cojo Slough Morro Bay Natural Bridges Piedras Blancas Point Arena Point Buchon Point Cabrillo Point Dume Point Lobos Point Reyes Point Sur Richardson Rock Russian River Santa Barbara Island Scorpion Sea Lion Gulch Skunk Point South Cape Mendocino Stewarts Point Vandenberg
State Historic Parks	Anderson Marsh Antelope Valley Indian Museum Bale Grist Mill Benicia Capitol Bidwell Mansion Bodie California Citrus California State Indian Museum Chumash Painted Cave Colonel Allensworth Columbia El Presidio de Santa Barbara Empire Mine Folsom Powerhouse Fort Humboldt Fort Ross Fort Tejon Governor's Mansion Hearst Castle Indian Grinding Rock Jack London La Purísima Mission Leland Stanford Mansion Los Angeles Los Encinos Malakoff Diggins Marconi Conference Center Marsh Creek Marshall Gold Discovery Monterey Old Sacramento Old Town San Diego Olompali Pigeon Point Light Station Pío Pico Point Sur Railtown 1897 Rancho Petaluma Adobe San Juan Bautista San Pasqual Battlefield Santa Cruz Mission Santa Susana Pass Shasta Sonoma Sutter's Fort Tomo-Kahni Wassama Round House Watts Towers Weaverville Joss House Will Rogers William B. Ide Adobe Woodland Opera House
State Beaches	Asilomar Bean Hollow Bolsa Chica Cardiff Carlsbad Carmel River Carpinteria Caspar Headlands Cayucos Corona del Mar Crown Memorial Dockweiler Doheny El Capitán Emma Wood Gray Whale Cove Greenwood Half Moon Bay Huntington Leucadia Lighthouse Field Little River Malibu Lagoon Mandalay Manresa Marina McGrath Montara Monterey Moonlight Morro Strand Moss Landing Natural Bridges New Brighton Pacifica Pelican Pescadero Pismo Point Dume Point Sal Pomponio Refugio Robert H. Meyer Memorial Salinas River San Buenaventura San Clemente San Elijo San Gregorio San Onofre Santa Monica Schooner Gulch Seacliff Silver Strand Sonoma Coast South Carlsbad Sunset Thornton Torrey Pines Trinidad Twin Lakes Westport-Union Landing Will Rogers William Randolph Hearst Memorial Zmudowski
State Recreation Areas	Admiral William Standley Auburn Austin Creek Benbow Benicia Bethany Reservoir Brannan Island Candlestick Point Castaic Lake Colusa-Sacramento River Folsom Lake Franks Tract George J. Hatfield Harry A. Merlo Kenneth Hahn Kings Beach Lake Del Valle Lake Oroville Lake Perris Lake Valley Martial Cottle McConnell Millerton Lake Picacho Providence Mountains Salton Sea San Luis Reservoir Silverwood Lake Standish-Hickey Tahoe Turlock Lake Woodson Bridge
State Vehicular Recreation Areas	Carnegie Clay Pit Heber Dunes Hollister Hills Hungry Valley Oceano Dunes Ocotillo Wells Prairie City
Other	Burleigh H. Murray Ranch California State Capitol Museum California State Mining and Mineral Museum California State Railroad Museum Castro Adobe Delta Meadows Estero Bay Hatton Canyon Indio Hills Palms Point Cabrillo Light Ishxenta State Park Point Montara Light Reynolds Wayside Campground San Timoteo Canyon Stone Lake Verdugo Mountains Ward Creek Wildwood Canyon

National Forests and Grasslands

National Forests and Grasslands	Angeles Butte Valley NG Cleveland Eldorado Humboldt–Toiyabe Inyo Klamath Lake Tahoe Basin Lassen Los Padres Mendocino Modoc Plumas Rogue River–Siskiyou San Bernardino Sequoia Shasta–Trinity Sierra Six Rivers Stanislaus Tahoe
National Wilderness Preservation System	Agua Tibia Ansel Adams Bucks Lake Caribou Carson–Iceberg Castle Crags Cucamonga Desolation Dick Smith Dinkey Lakes Emigrant Golden Trout Hoover Inyo Mountains Ishi Jennie Lakes John Muir Kaiser Marble Mountain Mokelumne Mount Shasta Wilderness North Fork Pine Creek San Gabriel San Jacinto San Rafael Sanhedrin Sespe Siskiyou Snow Mountain South Fork Eel River South Sierra South Warner Thousand Lakes Trinity Alps Ventana Yolla Bolly–Middle Eel Yuki
National Monuments and Recreation Areas	Giant Sequoia National Monument San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Sand to Snow National Monument Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Smith River National Recreation Area Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area

State Forests
Boggs Mountain Demonstration Ellen Pickett Jackson Demonstration Las Posadas LaTour Demonstration Mount Zion Demonstration Mountain Home Demonstration Soquel Demonstration

National Wildlife Refuges
Antioch Dunes Bitter Creek Blue Ridge Butte Sink Castle Rock Clear Lake Coachella Valley Colusa Delevan Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Ellicott Slough Farallon Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Hopper Mountain Humboldt Bay Kern Lower Klamath Marin Islands Merced Modoc Pixley Sacramento Sacramento River Salinas River San Diego Bay San Diego San Joaquin River San Luis San Pablo Bay Seal Beach Sonny Bono Salton Sea Stone Lakes Sutter Tijuana Slough Tule Lake

National Wildlife Refuges

State Wildlife Areas

Wildlife Areas	Antelope Valley Ash Creek Bass Hill Battle Creek Big Lagoon Big Sandy Biscar Butte Valley Buttermilk Country Cache Creek Camp Cady Cantara/Ney Springs Cedar Roughs Cinder Flats Collins Eddy Colusa Bypass Coon Hollow Cottonwood Creek Crescent City Marsh Crocker Meadows Daugherty Hill Decker Island Doyle Dutch Flat Eastlker River Eel River Elk Creek Wetlands Elk River Fay Slough Feather River Fitzhugh Creek Fremont Weir Grass Lake Gray Lodge Green Creek Grizzly Island Hallelujah Junction Heenan Lake Hill Slough Hollenbeck Canyon Honey Lake Hope Valley Horseshoe Ranch Imperial Indian Valley Kelso Peak and Old Dad Mountains Kinsman Flat Knoxville Laguna Lake Berryessa Lake Earl Lake Sonoma Little Panoche Reservoir Los Banos Lower Sherman Island Mad River Slough Marble Mountains Mendota Merrill's Landing Miner Slough Monache Meadows Morro Bay Moss Landing Mouth of Cottonwood Creek Napa-Sonoma Marshes North Grasslands O'Neill Forebay Oroville Petaluma Marsh Pickel Meadow Pine Creek Point Edith Putah Creek Rector Reservoir Red Lake Rhode Island Sacramento River San Felipe Valley San Jacinto San Luis Obispo San Luis Reservoir San Pablo Bay Santa Rosa Shasta Valley Silver Creek Slinkard/Little Antelope Smithneck Creek South Fork Spenceville Surprise Valley Sutter Bypass Tehama Truckee River Upper Butte Basin Volta Warner Valley Waukell Creek West Hilmar Westlker River White Slough Willow Creek Yolo Bypass
Ecological Reserves	Albany Mudflats Alkali Sink Allensworth Atascadero Creek Marsh Bair Island Baldwin Lake Batiquitos Lagoon Blue Sky Boden Canyon Boggs Lake Bolsa Chica Bonny Doon Buena Vista Lagoon Butler Slough Butte Creek Canyon Butte Creek House Buttonwillow By Day Creek Calhoun Cut Canebrake Carlsbad Highlands Carmel Bay Carrizo Canyon Carrizo Plains China Point Clover Creek Coachella Valley Coal Canyon Corte Madera Marsh Crestridge Dairy Mart Ponds Dales Lake Del Mar Landing Eden Landing Elkhorn Slough Estelle Mountain Fall River Mills Fish Slough Fremont Valley Goleta Slough Indian Joe Spring Kaweah Kerman King Clone Laguna Laurel Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Lokern Magnesia Spring Marin Islands Mattole River McGinty Mountain Morro Dunes Morro Rock Napa River North Table Mountain Oasis Spring Panoche Hills Peytonia Slough Phoenix Vernal Pools Pine Hill Piute Creek Pleasant Valley Rancho Jamul Redwood Shores River Springs Lakes Saline Valley San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon San Felipe Creek San Joaquin River Santa Rosa Plateau Springville Stone Corral Sycamore Canyon Sycuan Peak Thomes Creek Tomales Bay Upper Newport Bay Watsonville Slough West Mojave Desert Woodbridge Yaudanchi
Marine Protected Areas	Abalone Cove and Point Vicente Anacapa Island SMCA Año Nuevo Arrow Point to Lion Head Point Batiquitos Lagoon Big Creek Bodega Head Bolsa Chica Cambria Campus Point Carmel Bay Cat Harbor Crystal Cove Dana Point Duxbury Reef Edward F. Ricketts Elkhorn Slough Estero Americano Estero de Limantour and Drakes Estero Estero de San Antonio Fagan Marsh Famosa Slough Farnsworth Onshore and Offshore Goleta Slough Greyhound Rock Lovers Cove and Casino Point MacKerricher Marin Islands Morro Bay Naples Pacific Grove Marine Gardens Painted Cave Piedras Blancas Point Arena Point Buchon Point Dume Point Reyes Point Sur Portuguese Ledge Pyramid Point Robert E. Badham Robert W. Crown Russian Gulch Russian River Salt Point San Diego-Scripps San Dieguito Lagoon San Elijo Lagoon Saunders Reef Sea Lion Cove Sonoma Coast Soquel Canyon South La Jolla South Point Southeast Farallon Island Stewarts Point Swami's Tijuana River Mouth Upper Newport Bay Van Damme Vandenberg White Rock (Cambria)

Bureau of Land Management National Conservation Lands

National Monuments	Berryessa Snow Mountain California Coastal Carrizo Plain Cascade–Siskiyou Fort Ord Mojave Trails Sand to Snow Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains
National Conservation Areas	California Desert King Range
Wilderness Areas	Argus Range Big Maria Mountains Bigelow Cholla Garden Bighorn Mountain Black Mountain Bright Star Bristol Mountains Cadiz Dunes Carrizo Gorge Chemehuevi Mountains Chimney Peak Chuckwalla Mountains Chumash Cleghorn Lakes Clipper Mountain Coso Range Coyote Mountains Darwin Falls Dead Mountains Dick Smith El Paso Mountains Fish Creek Mountains Funeral Mountains Garcia Golden Valley Grass Valley Headwaters Forest Reserve Hollow Hills Ibex Indian Pass Inyo Mountains Jacumba Kelso Dunes Kiavah Kingston Range Little Chuckwalla Mountains Little Picacho Machesna Mountain Malpais Mesa Manly Peak Matilija Mecca Hills Mesquite Newberry Mountains Nopah Range North Algodones Dunes North Mesquite Mountains Old Woman Mountains Orocopia Mountains Otay Mountain Owens Peak Pahrump Valley Palen/McCoy Palo Verde Mountains Picacho Peak Piper Mountain Piute Mountains Red Buttes Resting Spring Range Rice Valley Riverside Mountains Rodman Mountains Sacatar Trail Saddle Peak Hills San Gorgonio Santa Lucia Santa Rosa Sawtooth Mountains Sespe Sheephole Valley South Nopah Range Stateline Stepladder Mountains Surprise Canyon Sylvania Mountains Trilobite Turtle Mountains Whipple Mountains

National Marine Sanctuaries
Channel Islands Cordell Bank Greater Farallones Monterey Bay

National Estuarine Research Reserves
Elkhorn Slough San Francisco Bay Tijuana River

University of California Natural Reserve System
Angelo Coast Range Año Nuevo Island Blue Oak Ranch Bodega Marine Box Springs Burns Piñon Ridge Carpinteria Salt Marsh Chickering American River Coal Oil Point Dawson Los Monos Canyon Eagle Lake Field Station Elliott Chaparral Emerson Oaks Fort Ord Hans Jenny Pygmy Forest Hastings James San Jacinto Mountains Jepson Prairie Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh Landels-Hill Big Creek Lassen Field Station McLaughlin Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Motte Rimrock Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Point Reyes Field Station Quail Ridge Rancho Marino Sagehen Creek Field Station San Joaquin Marsh Santa Cruz Island Scripps Coastal Sedgwick Stebbins Cold Canyon Steele Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Valentine Eastern Sierra White Mountain Younger Lagoon

University of California Natural Reserve System

Angelo Coast Range
Año Nuevo Island
Blue Oak Ranch
Bodega Marine
Box Springs
Burns Piñon Ridge
Carpinteria Salt Marsh
Chickering American River
Coal Oil Point
Dawson Los Monos Canyon
Eagle Lake Field Station
Elliott Chaparral
Emerson Oaks
Fort Ord
Hans Jenny Pygmy Forest
Hastings
James San Jacinto Mountains
Jepson Prairie
Kendall-Frost Mission Bay Marsh
Landels-Hill Big Creek
Lassen Field Station
McLaughlin
Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland
Motte Rimrock
Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert
Point Reyes Field Station
Quail Ridge
Rancho Marino
Sagehen Creek Field Station
San Joaquin Marsh
Santa Cruz Island
Scripps Coastal
Sedgwick
Stebbins Cold Canyon
Steele Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert
Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains
Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert
Valentine Eastern Sierra
White Mountain
Younger Lagoon

Private Conservation Land Trusts
Agua Hedionda Lagoon Arastradero Preserve Arroyo Conejo Open Space Audubon Canyon Ranch Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve Blue Ridge Berryessa Natural Area Bluff Lake Big Sur Land Trust California Rangeland Trust Catalina Island Conservancy Claremont Canyon Conservancy Cosumnes River Preserve Fairfield Osborn Preserve Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County Pacific Forest Trust Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy Peninsula Open Space Trust Pepperwood Preserve Sanctuary Forest Santa Cruz Island Santa Lucia Preserve Sempervirens Fund Sierra Nevada Alliance Sogorea Te Land Trust The Nature Conservancy Trust for Public Land The Wildlands Conservancy

Private Conservation Land Trusts

Heritage registers: National Natural Landmarks

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