Interesting facts about Sacramento

sacramento

Sacramento is the capital city of the US state of California.

It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in Northern California’s Sacramento Valley.

As of April 2020, the population of Sacramento is about 515,000 people. It is the 6th most populous city in California, the 9th largest capital, and the 36th most populous city in the United States.

The city covers a total area of 259 square kilometers (100 square miles).

The average altitude is 9 metres (30 feet) above sea level.

sacramento-2

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Nisenan branch of the Native American Maidu inhabited the Sacramento Valley area.

The Spanish were the first Europeans to explore the area, and Sacramento fell into the Alta California province of New Spain when the conquistadors claimed Central America and the American Southwest for the Spanish Empire.

alta california history

Sacramento was started in 1848 by German-born Swiss pioneer John Sutter.

The city was named after the Sacramento River, which forms its western border. The river was named by Spanish cavalry officer Gabriel Moraga for the Santisimo Sacramento (Most Holy Sacrament), referring to the Catholic Eucharist.

As a result of the California Gold Rush, Sacramento became a major commercial center and distribution point for Northern California, serving as the terminus for the Pony Express and the First Transcontinental Railroad.

sacramento history

Today, Sacramento is the fastest growing big city in California in terms of population.

The California State Capitol is home to the government of the U.S. state of California. The building houses the bicameral state legislature and the office of the governor. The Neoclassical structure was completed between 1861 and 1874 at the west end of Capitol Park.

california state capitol

Old Sacramento State Historic Park occupies around one third of the property within the Old Sacramento Historic District of Sacramento. The Old Sacramento Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District. The Historic District is sometimes abbreviated as Old Sacramento, or Old Sac, and since the 1960s has been restored and developed as a significant tourist attraction.

old sacramento

The California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento is the world-class tribute to the role of the “iron horse” in connecting California to the rest of the nation. The museum features 21 restored locomotives and railroad cars, some dating back to 1862.

california state railroad museum

The Crocker Art Museum, formerly the E. B. Crocker Art Gallery, founded in 1885, is the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River. The Museum holds one of the state’s premier collections of Californian art. The museum contains American works dating from the Gold Rush to the present, European paintings and master drawings, one of the largest international ceramics collections in the U.S., and collections of Asian, African, and Oceanic art.

crocker art museum

Sutter’s Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province. The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Helvetia (New Switzerland) by its builder John Sutter, though construction of the fort proper wouldn’t begin until 1841. The fort was the first non-Indigenous community in the California Central Valley. The fort is famous for its association with the Donner Party, the California Gold Rush, and the formation of Sacramento.

sutter's fort

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Currently, the cathedral is considered both a religious and civic landmark. It is the mother church of the diocese, which stretches from the southern edge of Sacramento County north to the Oregon border and serves approximately 1,000,000 Catholics.

Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament

The Sacramento Zoo is a zoo located in William Land Park in Sacramento. It opened on June 2, 1927, with 40 animals. At that time, it occupied 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres), which remained the case until the early 1960s when the zoo expanded to its current 5.8 ha (14.3 acres). The zoo have over 500 animals on site.

sacramento zoo

Sacramento is known for its evolving contemporary culture, dubbed the most “hipster city” in California.

In 2002, the Harvard University Civil Rights Project conducted for Time magazine named Sacramento “America’s Most Diverse City”.

In 2012, Sacramento started the marketing campaign as “America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital” due to Sacramento’s many restaurants that source their food from the numerous surrounding farms.

Sacramento is home to one major league sports team – the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association.