Discovery Museum - Gold Rush History Center

About Discovery Museum - Gold Rush History Center:

A catastrophic fire in 1852 prompted the citizens of Sacramento to collect a tax to build a waterworks that could protect the emerging city and provide a reliable water supply. At the same time, the city council was meeting in various locations ranging from local stores, a sailing ship, a steam boat, Sutter’s Fort, and hotels. It was decided that there needed to be a permanent “council room.” Eventually these two needs would come together at the corner of Front and I Street as the City Hall and Waterworks. Construction started in 1853 and was completed April 1, 1854. It was the first centralized city building in the growing city of Sacramento, and served as the city hall, fire department dormitory, jail, court, and police court.

The water supply to the city was gravity fed; hence the majority of buildings built during the use of the building were no taller then three stories, the height of the placement of the tanks. The pump house that was located behind the Waterworks pumped directly from the Sacramento River and chain gangs from the jail would occasionally clean out the mud from the bottom of the water tanks.

Only two prisoners were executed at the location, both murderers. Prisoners were brought to the jail on foot until 1859 when the first patrol wagon, unofficially named the “Black Maria”, was purchased.


Almost from the day it was completed, the building suffered structural problems due to the heavy weight of the water tanks on the roof. Council members complained of leaks from the roof during meetings and an article in the Sacramento Bee expressed concern for keeping prisoners in such an unsafe building that had tons of water on the roof. City offices were removed in 1880 from the deteriorating building; however the police and water department remained until it was demolished in 1913.

Today a replica of the original building stands in the same location. Built in 1985, the replica is modeled after the appearance of the City Hall and Waterworks in the mid 1850s on two of the four sides of the building. The non-replica sides were constructed in a manner to accommodate the new purpose of the building as a history museum.