 |
 |
 |
|
In June of 1846,
Lieutenant Robert Semple, a young dentist
from Kentucky was escorting Mexican General Mariano C.
Vallejo to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. It was then
that he saw the Strait of Carquinez for the first time.
Most of the land north of the straits was owned by
General Vallejo. Later, Semple and Vallejo
came to an agreement that they would found a town on the
land. Vallejo deeded a half-interest in a large tract
to Semple on December 22, 1846 with the agreement that
it would be named after Vallejo's wife,
Francisca Benicia Carillo de Vallejo. Her
first name, Francisca, was the original choice. However
this conflicted with the newly designated town of San
Francisco. Therefore it was decided to use her second
name Benicia. In 1847, Semple enlisted the support of
the prominent American settler
Thomas O. Larkin. Semple and Larkin each
took half-interest in the land paying Vallejo the
nominal sum of $100. |
 |
|
|
The
first settler William I. Tustin who had been living in Sonoma,
arrived in Benicia with his wife and son in late June of 1847 to
find nothing but surveyors' stakes and fields of grass.
Tustin's forty foot by eighteen foot adobe house was the first
building in Benicia. It was quickly followed by a wood frame
home built by Semple then another adobe built by Benjamin
MacDonald which was quickly turned over to
Captain E.H. von Pfister and became a store during
the day and an informal hotel at night. This building may in
fact still exist as there is an adobe covered in wood siding in
the alley between C and D streets today. By November of that
year, there were fifteen buildings and by the end of the year,
Semple had constructed a wharf, the first hotel had been built
and enough people had settled in Benicia to receive a local
government. |
|
Early
in 1848, around Washington's Birthday, Charles Bennett and a
companion, stopped at Von Pfister's place on their way to
Monterey. They entered the store in the midst of a discussion
about how lucky the man who discovered coal in California would
be. Bennett could not resist from boasting, stating "Coal! I've
got something here which will beat coal and make this the
greatest country in the world!" at which he spilled out on the
counter approximately four ounces of gold nuggets up to the size
of a pea. The secret out, Benicia quickly emptied of all
able-bodied men, but despite this, Benicia continued to boom
during the Gold Rush era although not to the extent that Semple
and Von Pfister hoped it would. |
|
By
November 1850, there were over one hundred homes in Benicia and
the Pacific Mail and Steamship Company which carried mail and
freight between California and the Isthmus of Panama set up its
shops and wharves in Benicia. This made Benicia the home of the
first really large industrial works in California. They
remained in Benicia until 1869 when they moved to San
Francisco. Benicia was also the first city in the new state of
California to be incorporated and at the same time was named the
county seat of Solano County. |
|
 |
The Masonic Temple was constructed in 1850 and is the
oldest building in good condition still standing and in
use in Benicia. Until the State Capitol building was
finished in 1853, the lower floors of the Masonic Temple
were used for county offices as well as several
religious groups. The Masons sold the building in 1888
and the building was used for a time by the Kiwanis and
American Legion. In 1950 the Masons repurchased the
building and moved back to their original home. The
outside of the building is only slightly different than
its original appearance. However the interior has most
likely been entirely remodeled. |
|
|
The State Capitol building was completed in 1852 and
was the third statehouse in California from 1853 to
1854, at which time the Capitol was moved to its final
destination in Sacramento. The interior pillars are
made of old ships' masts and the window caps were made
from the local sandstone. This picture shows the
building during the Civil War when it was acting as City
Hall. At this time the Solano No. 1 Firehouse was
attached which also served as a Police Station. The
building also served as a public school, library and a
museum. |
 |
|
|
The
removal of the state legislature was a hard blow to the future
of Benicia. Many merchants and businessmen who came to the city
when the legislature arrived moved elsewhere. Benicia did
maintain a certain importance due to the prominent people who
remained there from the beginning such as Serranus Clinton
Hastings, who later became chief justice of the California
supreme court, and
Lansing Bond Mizner who was a prominent judge and
diplomat. |
|
 |
|
     
|