Sacramento County's Courthouses
by Lawrence A. Schei

California became a part of the United States when a war with Mexico ended on February 2, 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe. Mexico agreed to cede California and Texas to the United States and the United States agreed to pay Mexico $15,000,000 and to allow Mexicans remaining in California to keep their property.

The end of Mexican rule left California without a court system. San Francisco and Sacramento tried, without much success, to make use of the existing legal systems. The influx of thousands of gold-seekers that followed the discovery of gold in January of 1848 added to the chaos. California needed a workable system of government. To meet this need delegates to a Constitutional Convention were selected. Those delegates went to work in Monterey on September 1, 1849. On October 31 they had finished their work and California had a new Constitution.

That Constitution created a state government with legislative, executive and judicial branches. The judicial branch was to be headed by a Supreme Court of three justices. Each County was to have a District Court for the trial of cases plus a Justice Court for cases of lesser importance.

James S. Thomas, the first judge of Sacramento's District Court, opened his court in rented quarters on May 6, 1850. Plans for a courthouse were drawn that summer. On September 1, 1850 an election was held to elect county officers, including judges. On September 9, 1850 Congress made California one of the United States.

Sacramento's first courthouse, located at 7th and I streets, was two stories high, 50 feet wide and 75 feet long. The cornerstone was laid June 20, 1850. A year and a half later, on December 24, 1851, construction was completed. Our District County Courts met there in early 1852, but not for long. In April 1852 the state legislature voted to make Vallejo the capital of California, even though there was no building in Vallejo suitable for its meetings. Sacramento, hoping to become the capital, offered to let the legislature use its new courthouse. When that offer was accepted, Sacramento had to find another space for its courts and other offices. The state continued in exclusive possession of Sacramento courthouses from the middle of 1852 until December of 1869 when the new State Capitol was finally completed.

On November 2, 1852, a fire destroyed many of Sacramento's buildings. Our first courthouse survived that fire but was burned to the ground on July 14, 1854 when an even worse fire swept through Sacramento. Plans were drawn for a new courthouse. That second courthouse, also located at 7th and I Streets, was 60 feet high, 80 feet wide and 120 feet long. The state agreed to pay $12,000 a month rent. The cornerstone was laid on September 27, 1854. The state moved in on January 1, 1855 and remained in possession until 1869 when it moved into the new Capitol building on 10th street.

In mid-1852, Sacramento County rented space for its courts in the Carpenter Building on the Front Street levee between L and M streets. That building was never satisfactory. In April 1857 part of the ceiling fell on the heads of the members of the Grand Jury. An attempt to repair the Carpenter Buildings was unsuccessful. The county then rented a new building at 7th and K from the owner of a stable next door. County offices were moved there in January 1858. They stayed there until November of 1865 when they moved into larger quarters in the new Masonic Temple at 6th and K. In late December of 1869, after operating in rented quarters for more than seventeen years, Sacramento County's courts and other officers were finally able to use the county's own courthouse at 7th and I streets. They stayed in that home for the next forty years.

As the years went by it became increasingly apparent that more space was needed. The Board of Supervisors decided to replace our second courthouse with a larger one to be built in the same place. This meant, of course, that the old courthouse had to be torn down. This was done in July 1910. The county retained architect Rudolph A. Harrold to design its third courthouse. A cornerstone was laid in 1911 but the Board of Supervisors forgot to provide anything to put in it. On June 20, 1913, after construction was finally completed, a dedication ceremony was held. After three years of working in rented space our courts were back in their own home.

In the 1950s the volume of litigation and other county business had increased to a point where it was obvious that larger facilities on a larger piece of ground were needed. The Board of Supervisors decided to build a fourth courthouse on the entire block bounded by G, H, and 8th and 9th streets. A groundbreaking ceremony was held October 28, 1961. The writer of this paper, then president of the Sacramento County Bar Association, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors and other county officials spoke to a substantial audience.

The first set of plans, drawn by architects Starks, Jozzens & Nacht, called for a building with 22 courtrooms plus space for 15 more. When bids were opened on October 19, 1962, the lowest bid was $7,322,000. That was more than the county wanted to spend, so they rejected all bids, revised the plans by eliminating some courtrooms and called for new bids. This time Continental, Heller & Campbell were the low bidders at $6,363,000. The contract was awarded to that firm. A so-called cornerstone was laid in October 1964, not at the corner of the building, but thirty or forty feet away at the 9th and H street entrance. The new courthouse was dedicated at ceremonies held October 16, 1965. Chief Justice Roger J. Traynor was the principal speaker and Federal Judge Thomas J. MacBride was master of ceremonies.

In the years since 1965 the demands on Sacramento's court system have continued to increase. The need for more space has prompted construction or rental of satellite buildings, some near the courthouse and some in outlying areas.

The end is not yet. Sacramento will continue to grow. Its population will become more and more diverse. New problems call for new answers. As they have from the beginning, the people of Sacramento will supply those answers.