A historical marker on Sacramento Street in downtown Vallejo marks the site of what was briefly the California State Capitol in 1851 and 1852. California had been admitted to the Union in 1850, and the state needed a capital — Vallejo's founder, General Mariano Vallejo, offered to fund construction of state buildings if the capital were placed here. The legislature agreed, but the facilities proved inadequate, the lodgings were poor, and legislators decamped first to Benicia and eventually to Sacramento.
The site today is an ordinary block of downtown Vallejo, with no surviving structure from the capitol period. The significance is entirely historical — but it places Vallejo in a peculiar category of American cities that held high status briefly and then watched it leave.
General Mariano Vallejo himself is commemorated by busts in downtown — his land grant covered much of northern California, and his decision to welcome American settlers rather than oppose them shaped the region's history.