Although the Stanfords were married in 1850, and
Mr. Stanford came to California in 1857, it was not until 1855 that Mrs.
Stanford came to make her home in Sacramento. At that time there was no
suitable dwelling for rent, so they lived in a hotel until a small house on
Second Street between O and P Streets became vacant. They furnished this
house in a very frugal manner, and Mrs. Stanford did her own
housekeeping.
Wealth and distinction came to the Stanfords during their stay in
Sacramento. It was here, at 54 K Street, that the Big Four–Stanford,
Crocker, Huntington and Hopkins–conceived and carried into
successful execution the daring scheme of building a transcontinental
railroad. Also very important to us is the fact that these same men were all
charter life members of the Sacramento Library Association, which later
became the Sacramento Public Library.
The Stanfords entertained frequently in the days of their growing wealth
and growing popularity. Yet for all their prominence, only brief mention
is to be found in books of the home life of the Stanfords during their
residence in Sacramento. Considering the vast amount of material that has
been published about them this is rather surprising. After exhausting the
references in our indexes we found it necessary to make a diligent search
of newspapers, directories, county records, etc., for information.
The first item we located read as follows:
GUBERNATORIAL MANSION.-Leland Stanford purchased yesterday of
S. C. Fogus the house and lot on the southeast corner of Eighth and N
streets, for the sum of $8,000. The property consists of two full lots–
a quarter of a block–with a two-story brick dwelling
house, finished in a costly manner inside and out, with addition of frame
building, brick stable, fruit trees, shrubbery, etc., surrounding it.
The article appeared in the Sacramento Union of July 12, 1861,
and the caption "GUBERNATORIAL MANSION" is optimistic, to say the
least, because Stanford, though nominated for governor on June 19th of
that year, was not elected until September 4.
From the records in the
assessor's office it was found that the house was originally built between
the years 1857 and 1858 by Shelton C. Fogus, a wholesale merchant and
one time city councilman of Sacramento. It was sold to Stanford for less
than the 1858 assessed valuation.
In 1872, just after the mansion had been renovated, the assessment against
Stanford included $45,000 for improvements and $1,000 for a library. In
addition to his other assessments there was listed against him the following
personal property: 11 vehicles, $3,000; 12 mares, $3,500; 4 horses,
$1,500; 1 horse [probably "Occident"], $20,000; 2 colts, $150, and 2 cows,
$100.
The following description of the mansion by Colonel James Lloyd La
Fayette Warren, who restored the grounds after the flood, appeared in the
California Farmer of July 4, 1862:
...The mansion itself can be said to be the most perfect specimen of a
residence in this State, the main building is 46 by 40, with a wing in the
rear of 20 feet by 31. another wing to which is attached the Governor's
office, is 32 feet by 18. The office of the Governor is furnished with
reference to convenience of business, yet with taste and neatness. it contains
the department for clerks and his private office, the whole complete in
itself, easily communicating with his dwelling. The whole design forms a
unique and faultless structure.
The saloons on each side of the hall occupy the whole size of the building,
and are lofty and elegant, being 16 feet high. The side centers are
ornamented with chaste Corinthian columns and caps, with architraves over
the doors, these, with rich central ornaments of pure white for the
chandeliers, make a fine contrast to the oak-grained wood-work, and give
to the whole an elegant appearance. The chambers, also, are the entire size
of the building, but making four in number, are 14 feet high, furnished
perfectly, with blinds and shades so as to control both heat and light.
The mansion, to the view, is lofty, having a heavy rich cornice and coping
for each window and ornaments under the cornice. [Parenthetically let me
say that on each of the ornamented windows the head of a man is carved,
and up to the present time we have not been able to determine who is
represented. I throw this out as a challenge to the historians gathered here.]
The front entrance is furnished with Corinthian columns and caps. The
outside of the building (being of brick, with extra solid foundations) is
finished in blocks and painted a delicate stone color; cornices and copings a
lead color, which present a soft yet delicate tint. Yet the whole is much
more beautiful in its natural view, than any illustrations can make it....
In front of the mansion a noble liberty pole, 116 feet high, was raised, and
from its point waved the Stars and Stripes–a banner 30 feet long.
Beautiful gardens surrounded the building, but they were destroyed by the
flood of 1861-62.
It was owing to this flood that the inauguration ceremonies incidental to
Stanford's assuming the office of governor were made as brief as possible.
On January 10, 1862, the day of the inauguration, flood waters swept
Sacramento. The Governor-elect went to the capitol, at that time on
I Street at Seventh, in a row boat, and when he returned home a few hours
later, the water was so deep, he had to enter the house through a second
story window. In those days the house that now stands three stories high
was but two. It was not until ten years later that the building was raised and
what is now the ground floor placed beneath.
Ella Sterling Mighels, who knew the Governor as a tiny child, once wrote
that her father said that the waters rose and surrounded the house, and
everyone left the city who could. Governor Stanford's mansion was
abandoned. But in the midst of the worries of everybody, there was seen a
poor cow in the drawing room of the mansion, with her head sticking out
of the window and mooing incessantly for help. finally a boat went up
alongside and pitched in some hay for her and she settled down peacefully
in her headquarters.
The story has been told that the piano was floating about in the reception
room on the lower floor. Being a bit skeptical about this story, we tried to
verify it in contemporary papers, but were not able to do so. However, we
did find one article that stated that the piano in the parlor of the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, though perched on chairs, was soaked and
probably rendered worthless, and that the pictures in the parlor of the new
Governor were spoiled.
Mrs. Stanford actively participated in the social affairs of Sacramento, and
in an article in the San Francisco Alta California, of February 23,
1863, we find a notice which states that ladies will be interested to
understand a new rule of etiquette lately decreed by Mrs. Governor
Stanford, with the concurrence of the wives of various officials of the city.
This rule was that Mrs. Stanford would expect the first call from ladies
visiting Sacramento. This rule had become a matter of necessity because so
many wives of members of the legislature came to the capital to spend a
few days, and the Governor's wife would like to call upon them, but she
did not know when they were in the city or where they stopped. Evidently
there was objection to this new procedure, because the article explained in
great length that it was based on a rule well established in Washington and
other places.
We found that many notables were entertained in this house during the time
the Stanfords lived here.
William H. Seward and party were guests overnight on August 24, 1870,
President Hayes, the first President of the United States who during his
term of office found time and inclination to visit such a remote part of the
republic as California, was the guest of Leland Stanford in September
1880. He was accompanied by Mrs. Hayes, Secretary of War Alexander
Ramsey, and General William T.
Sherman. A reporter for the Sacramento Daily Record-
Union tells us that when the first carriage arrived at the front
entrance of the Stanford residence, which had been fitted up for the
occasion, Governor Stanford ran nimbly down the steps and himself
opened the carriage door and handed out the occupants. After a few
hurried words of welcome he drew Mrs. Hayes's arm within his own, led
her upstairs, and in the absence of Mrs. Stanford, who was in Europe,
installed her as hostess of the mansion. At this juncture, General Sherman
and the President again descended the steps, walked out of the front gate,
and shook hands with the boys of Sumner Post, conversing with each for a
moment. The day was observed as a general holiday.
The most brilliant affair that occurred was the magnificent ball given in
February 1872, in honor of Governor Newton Booth and the members of
the legislature. A San Francisco newspaper sent a special reporter to the
party, and a three-column description was telegraphed to the paper.
The headlines would have captured the fancy of a Hollywood producer of
today.
The party was given just after the mansion had been thoroughly renovated,
the house had been raised, a lower floor and mansard roof constructed,
additional wings built, and altogether its appearance radically changed.
In order that you may visualize the home as it was at that time, I will read,
with your permission, excerpts from the description that appeared in the
Chronicle of February 7, 1872.
...It [the mansion] contains forty-four rooms, all most elaborately and
luxuriously furnished and fitted up. Good taste and cultured imaginations
have been exhausted in furnishing the establishment. Magnificent and costly
furniture in every room; lace curtains of the finest fabric; carpets that
receive with noiseless tread the footfall; frescoes beautiful in design and
exquisite in artistic perfection, adorn the wars and ceiling. Large bouquets
of natural flowers are placed in every room, and their fragrance perfumes
the air. Added to these are numerous baskets of artificial flowers, pendent
from which artificial birds warble forth the rarest music, imitating
canaries and other sweet singers. These artificial birds are an ingenious
piece of mechanism, winding up like a clock. It requires an expert to say
that they are not live birds. The bedroom and adjacent apartment in which
the supper is served present a most inviting appearance. For each guest
there are six different wine glasses. The entire service, from
napkin-rings to centerpieces, is of solid silver, all being entirely
new. There is room for 200 guests at a sitting. [From] the sidewalk to the
grand entrance of the mansion is a waterproof canopy. Ladies descending
from carriages are thus protected from rain, and an elegant carpet adds to
the comfort. Everything is on a scale of unsurpassed magnificence.
Seven hundred invitations were issued by the hospitable Stanfords,
principally to their friends and acquaintances, who were asked to come and
make themselves it home. Of these five hundred were issued to friends in
Sacramento; the others to those in San Francisco....
On entering the mansion of the Stanfords the guests were escorted upstairs,
where appropriate dressing rooms had being prepared wherein the ladies
could prepare themselves for the general muster and the gentlemen give
their claw-hammers the last graceful touch. Being so prepared, and
everything in apple-pie order, the guests descend. In the parlors to
the right as you enter Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford receive their guests.
The Governor looks pleasant, and has a hearty greeting for all his friends.
Mrs. Stanford looks radiant, and feels happy at the idea that this, her grand
reception, is a grand success in every sense of the word. She has pleasant
words for the ladies and vies with the Governor in exchanging
compliments. The guests then pass on to the other apartments.
The disciples of Terpsichore soon find where they can worship at their
favored shrine. Church & Clark of Sacramento furnish the music. Seven
pieces are stationed in the parlors to the left which connect with a large hall
30 by 86. The parlors are 20 by 50. The second band is stationed on the
lower floor in the hall beneath the main upper hall. This lower hall is also
30 by 86. This gives, according to our hurried mathematics, 6,000 square
feet of space covered with the tireless dancers....
For those of you who might be interested in knowing about the order of
dances, the menu, the names of those present, and a description of the
gowns worn by the ladies, a photostatic copy of the Chronicle
article is on display in an exhibition case in the State Library. Mayhap one
of you will find the name of a member of your family among the list of
guests.
It was in this house that Leland Stanford, Jr., was born on a sunny day in
May 1868. This to both Mr. and Mrs. Stanford was the crowning event of
their lives. They had been married eighteen years and had not before been
blessed with a child.
You are all familiar with the story told by Bertha Berner in her biography
of Mrs. Leland Stanford, that shortly before the birth of young Leland Mr.
and Mrs. Stanford and a group of friends were enjoying a tea party out of
doors on the front veranda. Mrs. Stanford, sitting in a rocking chair,
overbalanced and tipped off the porch into a flowering bush. Her husband
was stunned, but Mrs. Stanford was rescued without mishap and laughingly
assured them that she was not hurt in the least."
Miss Berner also tells this story:
When the baby was only a few weeks old, Mr. Stanford asked Mrs.
Stanford to arrange a dinner party for a group of their particular friends.
It was a large party, and when they were seated the waiter brought in a
large silver platter with a cover and placed it in the center of the table.
Mrs. Stanford was very much surprised, for she had planned nothing of the
sort and also had not seen the platter before. Then Mr. Stanford arose and
said, "My friends, I wish now to introduce my son to you!" When the
cover of the silver dish was lifted, the baby was discovered lying in it on
blossoms. He was carried around the table and shown to each guest. He was
smiling, and went through introduction very nicely.
The platter, beautifully engraved, now reposes on the sideboard with other
pieces of an elaborate silver service.
Mrs. Mighels recalled memories of Mrs. Stanford driving with her mother
and sister, Miss Lathrop, and said that when the little boy was taken along,
he looked like a baby prince, he was so bedecked and so cherished, as if he
were more than an ordinary child. He had dark eyes and resembled his
mother and his aunt more than his father. As he grew, he was very fond of
playing at railroading, so a track was built for him and he was given a little
car to run on it.
The son was six years of age when the family moved to San Francisco. His
death in Florence, Italy, at the age of sixteen, was the cause of great grief
to his parents.
Mr. Stanford's beloved mother lived with them for a time and died here in
February 1873.
When the Stanfords moved to San Francisco in 1874 they left the home in
Sacramento completely furnished. Mrs. Stanford always kept a very warm
spot in her heart for Sacramento and frequently remembered the city with
generous gifts in later years. On February 7, 1888, she sent a check from
Washington, D.C. for the Protestant Orphan Asylum. On April 25, 1890,
in keeping with her creedless religious ideals, she sent $1,000 to the mayor
with the request that the sum be distributed among the more worthy
charities of the city. That same year she had placed in St. Paul's Episcopal
Church a magnificent memorial window of stained glass, said to be at that
time the most costly in this country or Europe. A few years later she
presented to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament a magnificent painting
of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, copied by permission from the Royal
Gallery in Dresden. She also contributed a sum of money to assist in the
purchase of Sutter's Fort.
On April 18, 1900, she came to Sacramento to make a final disposal of the
mansion where her happiest days had been spent and her loved son born.
For twenty years this home had been unoccupied, save for a solitary
caretaker who had served in that capacity since Senator and Mrs. Stanford
had removed to San Francisco. Before leaving for a prolonged stay in
Europe, Mrs. Stanford wished to safeguard for all time the cherished place
and its sacred memories. Money could not buy the "old home," and love
forbade that it should ever be given over to profane use. Therefore, she
offered to the Most Reverend Thomas Grace, Bishop of Sacramento, and
his successors in the bishopric, forever, the home, together with an
endowment of $75,000. The Bishop, honoring the charity and lovable
intentions of Mrs. Stanford, accepted the gift, and promised that the
hallowed spot should be preserved according to her wishes.
When going through the building you will notice evidence of the railroad
builders interest. Two crystal light shades on a chandelier in the banquet
room remain of all those that bore etched designs of an engine resembling
the famed "C. P. Huntington." Again, the railroad design appears in
Stanford's own glass enclosed bookcase. At the top, the engine and one car
are carved, and the initial "S" appear on both frosted glass doors of the
case.
In conclusion, may I say that we are still seeking information about the
Stanfords. No doubt, there are invitations, photographs, original letters,
etc., concerning them in the possession of individuals. It is our earnest hope
that this material will be brought to the attention of the Library or the
Historical Society in order that the information may be made available to
future historians.
California Historical Society Quarterly
September 1940
Return to top of page.
