About Us

Who We Are

The Sacramento History Museum is dedicated to telling the story of Sacramento’s people and place. From the home to its first people, to the cultures of its current population, you will discover the impacts of California’s Gold Rush – the massive migration of people from all over the world to the Sacramento region in search of opportunity, prosperity, and inspiration. The result is a region with richly diverse communities and cultures; an agriculture and transportation hub; and capital of the State of California, the 5^th largest economy in the world.

What We Do

Our mission is to explore Sacramento’s past, revealing its people, and sharing their stories.

We do this through exhibits, education programs, and special events created through collaborative partnerships, cultural advisory consultation, scholarly research, and immersive and entertaining storytelling. Our primary partnership is with the diverse communities of Sacramento. Our responsibility is to listen, collaborate, interpret, and sometimes, stay out of the way of, our community’s voices, and provide a publicly accessible platform for them to share histories of the people, places, and events in Sacramento through:

• Exhibits within the Museum
• Tours outside the Museum walls
• School programs
• Social media
• Special events

Why

We aspire to create empathy. When we understand who we were, we can appreciate who we are.  We are a public, accessible resource that reflects the achievements and challenges of the region’s people, both past and present. We strive to make Sacramento’s history relevant to our lives today, and accessible to all, by giving the communities and cultures that have been under-represented in Sacramento’s past, a voice, and a platform to share their stories.

Where

The Sacramento History Museum sits on the traditional territory and ancestral homelands of the Nisenan Tribal people. The Sacramento Valley was, and still is, land that has been inhabited for thousands of years since time immemorial by the Nisenan, Miwok, Patwin, and Maidu people.

Specifically, for Sacramento, the area was made up of small villages consisting of a couple dozen to a few hundred members that enjoyed prosperous and secure lives and were stewards of the land and its natural resources prior to European-American contact. Some of the Nisenan village names that inhabited what is today the City of Sacramento are Momoi, Sa’cum, Sama, Pusune, Sekumni, Yusumne, and Kadema.

Today, active members of Native Californian Tribes remain committed to holding and preserving their cultural heritage and working with historic sites and museums to make sure a more holistic history is discussed and interpreted.

The Sacramento History Museum is a reproduction of the 1854 City Hall and Waterworks building, which sat on our current site. The original building was completed in the spring of 1854 and was the city’s first municipal structure. It housed the City Waterworks, City Offices – including the Mayor’s office and Fire Department – the City Jail, and Police Court.

The original “fire proof” brick building housed the city’s water supply in rooftop water tanks and suffered from structural issues due to the extreme weight of the tanks. The failing building was soon converted into the city prison.

By 1870, the transcontinental railroad was in full swing, with Sacramento serving as its western terminus. The location of the City Waterworks building – so close to the new tracks! – forced the railroad’s main line to curve sharply around it. The constant vibration generated by the trains caused more structural damage to the already failing building. By 1880, most of the city offices had been relocated and concern was growing for the safety of the police officers and prisoners left inside.

In 1912, the Waterworks building was in such a state of disrepair that the city moved its police and prisoners to a temporary jailhouse, finally condemning the Waterworks building. It was sold to and demolished by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1913. A small portion of the old jail survived the demolition, serving as the only physical remains of the city’s very first municipal building.

The Sacramento History Museum is uniquely located in the nationally recognized historic landmark district of Old Sacramento Waterfront, located at the confluence of two of California’s major rivers – the Sacramento and American. Nestled inside Old Sacramento State Historic Park, we are at the western hub of California’s transportation system: from riverboats and steamships, to the transcontinental railroad, to the interstate highways.

Our Core Values

Authenticity
Diversity
Belonging
Lifelong Learning
Collaboration
Innovation
Fun