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 dramatic and diverse history of Sacramento unfolds in the museum’s galleries.
Boom or Bust, launching from the newly relocated Sacramento Visitors Center, guests to the Old Sacramento Waterfront can experience what it was like to catch gold fever in the River City while getting actively involved in the intriguing Gold Fever! Game and tour. Participants take on personas of characters in history – or “real-life rascals” – who scratched and clawed their way to make this area the center of the Gold Rush. Never the same experience twice, Gold Fever! Game relives Sacramento’s early days when gold fever ruled amid horrible disasters that threatened fates and fortunes.
