History
In 1839, Captain John Sutter settled in a remote area, later building Sutter’s Fort, amongst a relatively small and quiet population. This was the beginning of the establishment of Sacramento. All was calm, until 1848 when the town was forever changed by James Marshall’s discovery of gold. The lawless Wild West town faced thievery, gunfights, and murders until 1849 when Marshal N.C. Cunningham was appointed, along with two deputies, to provide law and order. Our first small downtown law enforcement office and jail was relocated in the first City Hall, known as the Water Works building, in 1854.
When the City split from the County over rebuilding in 1863, J.T. Clark was chosen as the first police chief to run the Police Department. Policing in this rough-and-tumble political town meant dealing with nightly squatters and petty thieves, but in 1879, it involved the investigation of one of the most ambitious murder plots ever recorded. Three men, one a Public Administrator, conspired to kill 55 wealthy citizens for their money.