# @sachistorymuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbZEJ3qyfWr
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68554556-sachistorymuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/8ec171757a.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-29T21:19:49.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sacramento History Museum (@sachistorymuseum) — https://gondola.cc/sachistorymuseum

## Caption

On July 29, 1884, Belle Cooledge was born in Sutter Creek, California. After graduating from Sacramento High School, located at 18th and K Streets, in 1900, Cooledge attended University of California, Berkeley where she graduated with a Master of Arts degree in education. After graduation, she started teaching and by 1912 she was teaching mathematics at Sacramento High School. Four years later, on the upper floors of the high school, Sacramento Junior College was founded. As the administrator of the college, she was the first de facto president.

In 1918, Sacramento Junior College closed when the United States entered the First World War. Cooledge took a sabbatical from teaching and worked as an Army nurse during the war. In 1920, she reopened Sacramento Junior College in its own wing at the Sacramento High School’s new location at 34th and Y Streets. Sacramento Junior College, now known as Sacramento City College, relocated to its permanent location at the corner of Sutterville Road and Freeport Boulevard in 1926.

Belle worked for the college until 1947 when she was elected to the Sacramento City Council. She was appointed by the City Council as the mayor in 1948 making her the first female mayor of Sacramento. In 1948, she was actually the only woman mayor of a city in the United States with a population of more than 30,000 people. She served as mayor for two years but did not win her reelection to the City Council in 1951. 

Belle Cooledge passed away November 9, 1955. The Land Park branch of the Sacramento Public Library and the Belle Cooledge Community Center in Land Park are both named in her honor.

Photograph of Mayor Belle Cooledge throwing out the first ball at the season opener on March 30, 1948 at the newly reconstructed Edmonds Field, from the Sacramento Bee Collection courtesy of the Center for Sacramento History. 

#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #sacramento #sacramentohistory #sachistorymuseum

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## Tags

sacramentohistory, sacramento, todayinhistory, onthisday, sachistorymuseum

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