History of the City of Vallejo

Mariano G. Vallejo saw the promise of this North Bay Area in 1844.  General Vallejo offered a portion of his lands adjacent to the water to the new state of California as a site for the State Capitol.  The state accepted the offer and met in the new city, now named for the General, during 1851 and 1852.  

In the second half of the Nineteenth Century, Vallejo grew into an important shipping and naval center.  Prosperity attracted other business--a tannery, three breweries, hotels, a cigar factory, a carriage plant, an ice cream plant and creamery, and the General Mills-Sperry Mills flour plant that is still in operation.

Today, Vallejo's past is very much a part of its present.  Mare Island Naval Shipyard, established in 1854 by Captain David Farragut, was the west coast's first shipyard.  Mare Island remains an important community asset for economic development opportunities including over 40 new tenants.  Beautifully restored homes in Vallejo and on Mare Island are some of the most interesting examples of Victorian and early Twentieth Century architecture in the Bay Area.