Colton Hall

Monterey County · Pacific between Jefferson and Madison, Monterey · location approximate

In this building from September 1 to October 15, 1849, assembled the convention which drafted the Constitution under which California was admitted to statehood, September 9, 1850. The 48 delegates met on the upper floor, which ran the length of the main building. Robert Semple was chairman and William G. Marcy secretary. The stairway leading to the convention hall was in the rear of the building. Rev. Walter Colton, first American alcalde in Monterey, erected this building, which bears his name, as a public hall and schoolhouse. Colton and Robert Semple established in Monterey on August 15, 1846, the first American newspaper in California.

1971 register text, presented as a historical document. It uses the period's terms for Native people; the state's landmark listings still carry most of this wording, and the California Office of Historic Preservation maintains the program's current texts.

Many of these plaques have since been recast or their texts revised. The California Historical Landmarks program and its current texts are maintained by the California Office of Historic Preservation. California Office of Historic Preservation ↗

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: State of California, Department of Parks and Recreation, California Historical Landmarks (1971)

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