Structures and Monuments in Which
California Stone was Used

Finished Product from California Stone in California (Continued)

• Benicia, Solano County, California – the Benicia Arsenal and Barracks (The following information is from Historic Spots in California, 3rd ed., by Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, Ethel Grace Rensch, revised by William N. Abeloe, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1966, pp. 515.)

  According to the section on the “Benicia Arsenal and Barracks,” the designation of the arsenal occurred in April 1852. “The oldest stone magazine, built in 1857 at a cost of $35,000 has...a vaulted ceiling modified Corinthian pillars, constructed by French artisans recruited by the United States Government...This and other structures of hand-hewn sandstone blocks from the surrounding hills are among the finest examples of the stonecutter’s art in the state....” This section goes on to note that some of the other buildings constructed of local stone include the following: the first hospital built in 1856, the three-story Clock-Tower building, and two stone warehouses later used as camel barns.

  • You can read more about the arsenal and barracks on the Benicia Historical Museum web site.
  • The Posts at Benicia (Benicia Arsenal, Benicia Barracks, Benicia Quartermaster Depot), (history & photographs) by Colonel Herbert M. Hart, USMC (retired) Executive Director, Council on America’s Military Past, presented by California State Military Department, California State Military Museum.
• Benicia, Solano County, California - the Benicia Camel Barns/Warehouses (The following information is from Historic Spots in California, 3rd ed., by Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, Ethel Grace Rensch, revised by William N. Abeloe, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1966, pp. 515-516.)

  According to the section on the “Benicia Arsenal and Barracks,” “The...stone magazine...and other structures (were constructed) of hand-hewn sandstone blocks from the surrounding hills are among the finest examples of the stonecutter’s art in the state....” These two sandstone buildings were first used as warehouses and later used to house U.S. Army camels which were “...brought from the Near East in 1856-57 for the transportation of military supplies across the desert wastes of our Southwest.” The article also notes that a small sandstone guardhouse built during the same time period as the camel barns is located between the two larger buildings.

  • You can read more about the camel barns on the Benicia Historical Museum web site.
• Benicia, Solano County, California – Benicia Arsenal Buildings located at and near the Camel Barns constructed from sandstone quarried on the Benicia Arsenal grounds. (Photographs taken by Peggy B. Perazzo in July 2009.) Visit the Photographic Tour of the Benicia Arsenal section to view more photographs of the arsenal buildings and quarries located near the camel barns.

  Front Benicia Arsenal Camel Barn 9

  Benicia Arsenal Camel Barn 9

  Camel Barn 7 (on left) & Office (on right)

  Benicia Powder Magazine 10

  Benicia Powder Magazine 10

• Benicia Arsenal Buildings (not including the Camel Barns and Powder Magazine #10) The following photoraphs were taken in July 2009, and our guide was Benicia historian James E. Lessenger, a volunteer at the Benicia Historical Museum.
  • Guard House on the Benicia Arsenal Grounds

    Guard House

    Detail above Guard House Door

    Guard House Sign

    Landscaping to left of Guard House

    Rock in front of Guard House
  • Benicia Arsenal Headquarters with cast concrete door decoration
  • Benicia Arsenal Office Building

    Front of office building on Benicia Arsenal grounds

    Date at base of wall

  • Benicia Arsenal California Historical Landmark Plaque suspended from sandstone posts

    

    (Below is the transcription of the plaque in the photograph above.)

    1849 – Benicia Arsenal – 1964

    On this historic site for more than a century military history was written. The loyalty, courage and devotion of the military and the civilian who served their country here furnished material for a brilliant page in the saga of the far west. What we see here – will like autumn leaves, soon fall and fade away. What they did here will live forever. As the final curtain falls on the 115th anniversary of the founding Benicia Arsenal, a grateful national salutes you.

    Erected by the Historic Landmarks Committee of the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Benicia Parlor of No. 89, Native Sons of the Golden West.

    Marker dedicated at Benicia Arsenal, California , March 31, 1964.

    California Historical Landmark Registration No. 176.

• Benicia, Solano County, California - the Benicia Clock-Tower (The following information is from Historic Spots in California, 3rd ed., by Mildred Brooke Hoover, Hero Eugene Rensch, Ethel Grace Rensch, revised by William N. Abeloe, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1966, pp. 515.)

  According to the section the clock-tower was originally a three-story building with two towers. Only one tower and two stories survive today due to damage from an explosion and fire in 1912. The clock-tower was constructed from sandstone quarried from the hills near Benicia.

  • You can read more about the Clock-Tower on the Benicia Historical Museum web site (history and photographs)
  • Benicia Clock Tower Historic Restoration, City of Benicia, Benicia, CA, by Interactive Resources (photograph)
  • Benicia, Solano County, California – the Benicia Clock Tower (The following photographs were taken in July 2009 during a trip my husband Pat and I made in order to photograph the Clock Tower and the Benicia Arsenal quarries and buildings. Our guide was Benicia historian James E. Lessenger, a volunteer at the Benicia Historical Museum. Unfortunately, I was unable to photograph the front of the Clock Tower due to people setting up for a party. I will add that view after our next visit to Benicia. You can view a photograph of the front of the Clock tower on the California State Military Museum web site at the link below. Peggy B. Perazzo

    Photograph of the front of the Benicia Clock Tower is available on the California State Military Museum web site.

    Clock Tower, constructed of locally quarried sandstone. (Photographs taken in July 2009. Peggy B. Perazzo)
• Benicia, Solano County, California - Cemetery Stones & Retaining Walls for Private Residences in Benicia - Excerpt from the Tenth Annual Report of The State Mineralogist For The Year Ending December 1, 1890, California State Mining Bureau, Sacramento: State Printing Office, pp. 1890, pp. 770.

  SolanoCounty, by W. A. Goodyear, Geologist & Assistant in the Field.

  “...A similar sandstone (to the sandstone quarried on government land at Benicia), which has been used to some extent for retaining walls about private residences and for tombstones in the cemetery, was quarried in the northern part of the town of Benicia.”

• Benicia, Solano County, California - the Old State Capitol (photographs)

  The following excerpt was taken from a sign inside the capital building, which is open for the public to tour. The hills behind Benicia today are mostly covered with houses. See the photographs above and below.

  State Capitol, Benicia

  "...thousands of bricks for the building were made from Benicia's local clay. In the rush to complete the building, the bricks were not kept in the kiln long enough and they came out with theirdistinctive color. The sandstone for the windows, sills and foundation was quarried in the hills just behind Benicia. (The building was constructed in 1852.)"

   

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