California's Capital Region: The Sacramento Valley

C ALIFORNIA’ S
H EARTBEAT
The Sacramento Capitol Building was constructed
between 1861 to 1874 and was based on the U.S.
Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. A portico
can be found at the center of the building, held up by
seven granite archways. The entire structure is of
Neoclassical design. The building holds the official governing
body of the State of California, in which the
State Legislature, the Governor’s Office, and the Capitol
Museum is housed.
After the end of the Mexican-American war, the governing
body that emerged in California began to seek
statehood. Early legislators in the state organized in
Monterrey and then San Jose, California.
The early California ruling body found the conditions
in Vallejo unfit for governing, with no real housing
for it’s members. For a brief moment the State Capitol
was moved to Benicia, which was found too small for
governing. Eventually the city of Sacramento offered it’s
courthouse for members to convene, and in 1854 legislators
officially started governing the new golden state.
It was soon decided that the city of Sacramento had
all the proper amenities for running a state government,
and in 1861 construction began on a permanent
California State Capitol Building.
In 1869 legislators finally moved into parts of the
building still under construction, which would continue
for another five years until its completion in 1874.
The California State Capitol Building opened its doors
and remained relatively unchanged until 1949 when additional room was required for legislative offices, the Governor’s office,
and multiple committee rooms.
The Capitol Annex attaches itself to the eastern end of the original building, and has been modernized many times over to
keep up with technological growth and improvements.
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