Dev Notes 19: California had Approximately Five Capitals in Five Years

Dev Notes (DN) document progress towards some larger project or article. The notes build on towards a small project about California and state capitals. This document in its current form was loosely researched with Wikipedia + LLM assistance, and should not be viewed as authoritative.

California has had among the most capital cities of any US state. How many? Well, it seems pretty unclear. It is somewhere around five, but exact count seems somewhat debated. All the capital changes occurred in a short span right before and after the state's formation around 1850. This amount of movement appears unique among states.

The CA Capitals

Monterey

Today Monterey is a fairly small city of about 30,000 people, often little known except for its Aquarium, which gets around 2 million visitors a year this is the number Wikipedia gives at least, but the actual source seems to be from dividing a source that it had "more than 50 million visitors" between 1984 and 2016 with no recent annual number given. Whatever it is, it's a very large number of aquarium visitors per capita. , and some surrounding beautiful coastlines.

However, before long it hosted millions of people looking at thousands of jellyfish, Monterey was the capital of the Spanish and Mexican territories that would become California. The city was named in 1602 by a Spanish explorer, it seemingly did not seem a major Spanish presence until its founding as a city in around 1774, and became the capital of the province in around 1777. It became the only official entry for taxable goods into California.

When Mexico gained independence in 1821, Monterey remained the capital of Mexican Alta California. Later the U.S. took over, and in 1846 an American flag was raised over Monterey.

San Jose

In remarkably good timing for the Americans, Gold was discovered in California in January 1848, leading California's rapid population growth and rapid path to statehood. The first constitutional convention met in Monterey in September 1849, but soon after on December 15 things moved to San Jose for the first legislature session (about a year before California was admitted as a state in September 1850). This gave a fresh start away from the old Mexican capital.

However, the move was apparently rushed, as no Capital building was yet finished. As will become a theme, the legislature apparently did not have good luck with water, as devastating rains arrived in the winter of 1849-1850.

With everyone unhappy with the conditions in San Jose, state Senator Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo offered to donate land for a new capital on his property. The original San Jose capital was later destroyed by fire in 1853.

Vallejo

California's new capital was to be built on land from Senator Vallejo's ranch. There was a grand vision for a capital building, a governor residence, and several public institutions. ({Vallejo Naval \& Historical Museum}, n.d.)

However, when the legislature arrived in Vallejo in January 1852 the building was incomplete and senators struggled to find housing. Within a month senators fled to Sacramento, only returning briefly in 1853 to vote to move the capital permanently to Benicia.

Benicia

Benicia offered what previous capitals lacked: an actual building. When locals learned of the legislature's unhappiness, they built a red brick capitol in just four months using bricks made on-site. ({City of Benicia}, n.d.) The legislature convened there on February 11, 1853, with the Senate on the first floor and Assembly on the second. ({Benicia Chamber of Commerce}, n.d.)

But Benicia was simply too small. Sacramento courted the government aggressively, offering free use of its courthouse, fireproof vaults, and even free moving services. (Library, 2025) On February 24, 1854, the legislature voted to leave. The Benicia capitol survives today as a State Historic Park—the only pre-Sacramento capitol still standing. ({California State Parks}, n.d.)

Sacramento

Sacramento's rise is inseparable from the Gold Rush. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers, the city became the gateway to the gold fields and developed the infrastructure—hotels, steamship service, stagecoaches—that previous capitals lacked. ({ABC10}, n.d.)

The city had already hosted the legislature temporarily in 1852 when they fled Vallejo. When Benicia proved inadequate, Sacramento made its winning pitch. Governor Bigler signed the act making Sacramento the permanent capital on February 25, 1854. (Library, 2025) The city survived fires in 1854 and devastating floods in 1861–1862.

The California State Capitol, with a 220-foot dome modeled after the U.S. Capitol, was completed in 1874. At the 1879 Constitutional Convention, Sacramento was formally named the permanent capital. ({Wikipedia}, n.d.) Various cities have since attempted to claim the title—San Jose's 1893 effort actually passed the legislature before the Supreme Court struck it down—but Sacramento has remained California's capital for over 170 years. (Library, 2025)

San Francisco?

For a brief period the legislature met in San Francisco. In late 1861 and early 1862 there were heavy rains and the Sacramento River overflowed its banks. At the conclusion of the 1862 session the legislature returned to Sacramento.

So How Many Capitals?

It is fairly clear there are four official state capitals between September 1849 to February 1854. Then there was Monterey which was a capital of at least what was called "California". It is a little bit less clear on how to count San Francisco. The California State library (Library, 2025) lists it in its list of Capitals, but it also might be referring to it more as one of the "Capital buildings" rather than as a Capital city. The legislature never appeared to make San Francisco an official capital. Thus some sources do not seem to count it, giving 4 state Capitals plus Monterey.

These notes are preliminary research and are to be used to build into a further project around capitals.