# @sachistorymuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbPY3_Ph0ND
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68291920-sachistorymuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/497688fbcf.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-26T03:12:54.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sacramento History Museum (@sachistorymuseum) — https://gondola.cc/sachistorymuseum

## Caption

With the California State Fair underway, we thought we would share some history of how our State Fair originated here in Sacramento. On September 20, 1852, California’s first agricultural fair began at James Lloyd Lafayette Franklin Warren’s New England Seed Store, located on J Street between Front and Second Streets, just over a block from where our museum stands today in Old Sacramento.

J.L.L.F. Warren invited farmers and others in the industry to display their products, mineral collections, and to discuss farming issues. This event would become a precursor to the California State Fair. Warren’s New England Seed Store, unfortunately, burned down in the Great Conflagration on November 2, 1852.

Warren later founded the California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences newspaper in 1854 and also helped establish the California State Agricultural Society. The State Agricultural Society was authorized by the California Legislature to hold exhibitions of livestock, manufactures, and productions. On October 4, 1854, the society held the first California State Fair in San Francisco. A different city hosted the State Fair each year until Sacramento became the permanent location in 1859.

In 1859, a pavilion was constructed on M and 6th Streets in Sacramento to house the Agricultural Society’s offices and annual State Fair exhibitions. A larger pavilion replaced that hall in 1884. The State Fair grew over the years relocating around Sacramento needing more and more space. On July 1, 1968, the California Exposition (Cal Expo) fairgrounds opened as the new home for the California State Fair.

Today, a plaque in Old Sacramento sits at the original location of the New England Seed Store just east of the Tehama Block building on J Street. Have you visited the State Fair yet this year? 

Copy of a lithograph of the New England Seed Store ca. 1852, courtesy of the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley.

#CAStateFair #sacramento #oldsacramento #sachistorymuseum

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oldsacramento, castatefair, sacramento, sachistorymuseum

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