Benicia History
COVID Quarantine Camelcast – Episode 6 – Gold Rush in the Golden State
Listen to the sixth episode of the Benicia Historical Museum’s COVID Quarantine Camelcast!Hosted by Benicia resident and BHS graduate Dean Putong, our podcast provides a “camel’s eye view” of Benicia’s unique history. In Gold Rush in the Golden State, Dean...
COVID Quarantine Camelcast – Episode 5 – Rezanov and Concepción
The fifth episode of the Benicia Historical Museum’s COVID Quarantine Camelcast is now live! Our 2020 summer intern and podcast host Dean Putong has returned to Yale for his senior year, but he recorded several episodes of our COVID Quarantine Camelcast with Executive...
COVID Quarantine Camelcast – Episode 4 – Matthew Turner
The fourth episode of the Benicia Historical Museum’s COVID Quarantine Camelcast is now live! Hosted by Benicia resident and BHS graduate Dean Putong, our podcast provides a “camel’s eye view” of Benicia’s unique history. In Matthew Turner: Benicia's Genius Who...
COVID Quarantine Camelcast – Episode 3 – California’s Place in the Civil War
The third episode of the Benicia Historical Museum's COVID Quarantine Camelcast is now live! Hosted by Benicia resident and BHS graduate Dean Putong, our podcast provides a “camel’s eye view” of Benicia’s unique history. In The War Within the State Meets the...
COVID Quarantine Camelcast – Episode 2 – Manifest Destiny, or “Do You Have a Flag?”
The second episode of the Benicia Historical Museum's COVID Quarantine Camelcast is now available! Hosted by Benicia resident and BHS graduate Dean Putong, our podcast provides a “camel’s eye view” of Benicia’s unique history. In this episode, Dean and...
Today in History: July 23 – Former President Ulysses S. Grant Dies
On July 23, 1885, just after completing his memoirs, Civil War hero and former president Ulysses S. Grant died of throat cancer. A brief biography of Grant can be found on the History Chanel Website at...
COVID Quarantine Camelcast – Episode 1 – Why Are There No Camels at the Camel Barns?
Welcome to the first episode of the Benicia Historical Museum's COVID Quarantine Camelcast! Hosted by Benicia resident and BHS graduate Dean Putong, our new Museum podcast series provides a “camel’s eye view” of Benicia’s unique history. Our 2020 summer intern,...
Today in History: June 19 – Juneteenth
On this day in History, June 19th, 1865, Union soldiers arrive in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War is over...Posted by Benicia Historical Museum at the Camel Barns on Friday, June 19, 2020
Benicia Historical Museum Marks 35th Anniversary
After a year and a half of renovations, on May 19, 1985, the former Benicia Arsenal Building #9 became the Camel Barn Museum and opened its doors to the public. 35 years later, the Benicia Historical Museum celebrates the hard work and dedication of the many...
Benicia’s History – The First Pandemic
By Executive Director Elizabeth d'Huart, March 20, 2020 As I was preparing the Spring edition of the Museum newsletter, I received the Solano County “Shelter in Place” notification, an unsurprising development considering other neighboring county shutdowns and...
Solano Chronicles – Matthew Turner
By Brendan Riley Published in the Vallejo Times-Herald, March 29, 2020 Captain Matthew Turner designed and built more watercraft than any other American shipbuilder working at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – a total of 228 brigantines, sloops,...
The Birth of Benicia exhibit gallery
Our newest permanent exhibit Gallery, The Birth of Benicia, had its official opening on Friday, November 15. The latest update in the ongoing renovation of the Museum’s permanent exhibit offerings features Robert Semple – Founding Father, The Vision, Semple and the...
Ferry Service in Benicia
by Beverly Phelan Ferry service in Benicia dates back to 1847 after Robert Semple and Thomas Larkin purchased the City’s section of the Suscol Grant from Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. One of the conditions set by Vallejo for the sale of the land...
Majestic Theater
by Beverly Phelan The Majestic Theatre in Downtown Benicia opened with great fanfare on February 23, 1920. By 7:30 PM – opening time – there were more than 1200 people waiting to be admitted, with only half of the people fortunate enough to get in at the first show!...
The Mizners – A Very Interesting Family!
The Mizner Family was one of Benicia's most interesting pioneer families. They arrived in California at the founding of Benicia in the 1840's. They built a house and kept a small farm on what is now East L St. near First St. (where the Benicia Public Library is...
1860’s, 1870’s, 1880’s & 1890’s
The original land grants gifted to General Vallejo in 1843, incorporating much of Solano and Sonoma County, were ultimately invalidated in the 1860's. This was due in part due to their sheer size as well as the fact that they were granted by the Mexican Governor,...
The Pony Express
Benicia was not on the regular Pony Express Route, but when the riders' missed their steamer connection to San Francisco from Sacramento, they took the alternative route through Solano County. This happened a total of 19 times in the 19 month history of the Pony...
Athens Of California – Founding of Benicia Schools in 1850’s – 60’s
There were a large number of schools established in the first years of Benicia's history, which lead Benicia to be known as the "Athens of California" in the 1850's-60's. The first two schools opened in 1852; Blake's School for Boys and the Benicia Young Ladies'...