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| Maidu Village |
Folsom’s history is a rich as – and also includes – the California Gold Rush. From the original natives’ enjoyment of the area’s abundant natural bounty, through the halcyon years of the Gold Rush, to today’s thriving, prosperous community, Folsom has always flourished. For thousands of years, the area we know as Folsom was home to the Nisenan Maidu Indians, who lived a peaceful existence hunting and gathering along the Yuba, Consumnes, Mokelumne, Sacramento and Natomon (American) Rivers. The Maidu communities began disappearing very early in the Gold Rush Era, when many miners arrived and began extensive mining operations along the river bars and surrounding hills. Peaceful hunting and gathering cultures were almost immediately overwhelmed as traditional forage areas and ancient milling sites became the scene of mining and commercial activities.
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| William Leidesdorff |
In 1842, William Leidesdorff, a successful trader who owned a prosperous shipping business, was granted 35,000 acres along the American River. The holdings, which he named The Rancho Rio de los Americanos (The American River Ranch), extended from today’s Bradshaw Road along the south side of the American River to the present city of Folsom. Leidesdorff died in 1848 – just 12 days before the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – and the land passed to his heirs in the Danish West Indies.
Meanwhile, on January 24 that same year, prospector James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, just 20 miles up the American River, marking the start of the California Gold Rush. In the absence of anyone to represent the interests of Leidesdorff’s heirs, settlers moved into the area, starting a settlement first known as Negro Bar. The surrounding area was extensively placer-mined during the gold rush, with minor lode mining. Numerous Chinese worked the region from the 1860s through the 1890s, and the tailings from their labors are still piled along today’s Folsom Boulevard, just north of Hwy 50.
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| Joseph L. Folsom |
In 1854, after years of negotiating with Leidesdorff’s heirs, former U.S. Army Captain Joseph L. Folsom secured title to the Rancho Rio de los Americanos. Folsom hired fellow railroad pioneer Theodore Judah to help establish a town site near the Negro Bar mining spot on the American River. Their early plans included shops along Sutter Street and a railroad depot, naming the new town “Granite City.” Judah and Folsom planned the town as a railroad terminus before there were railroads in California. Folsom died at the age of 38, in July, 1855, and the executors of his estate changed the name of Granite City to Folsom, in his honor. On Feb. 22, 1856, just six months after his death, Folsom’s railroad dreams became reality, when the first train on the first railroad in the West arrived in Folsom from Sacramento. By then, every lot in the town had been sold, and three new hotels were operating in the town now known as Folsom.
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| Theodore Judah |
Several decades later, construction began on Folsom Prison. Inmates helped construct the facility, which opened in 1880 when the first prisoners were moved to relieve over-crowding at San Quentin.Following the 40-year construction of the Folsom Powerhouse, Folsom made history in 1895 with the first long-distance transmission of electricity: 22 miles from Folsom to Sacramento. The Powerhouse helped usher in the age of electricity with this notable accomplishment. The city’s historic truss bridge was completed in 1893 to transport people, cattle and small vehicles across the American River. In 1917, the Rainbow Bridge opened to accommodate automobiles, and it was the only option for crossing the river until the Lake Natoma Crossing opened in 1999, just below the Folsom Lake Dam.
Following a campaigned spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce in 1946, Folsom became an incorporated city, and Eugene Kerr was elected as the city’s first mayor. Folsom caught the nation’s attention in 1955, when Johnny Cash’s single, Folsom Prison Blues, became a chart-topping hit. Contrary to urban legends, Cash himself never served any time at Folsom State Prison, but on January 13, 1968, he did come to Folsom to perform two concerts for the inmates.
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Sutter Street during the 1950s
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| Sutter Street, 1900 |
