Big Four Buildings

North Side of I Street, between Front and Second Streets

Built 1852

Reconstruction & Relocation

Can you name Sacramento’s “Big Four”? Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford, and Charles Crocker were the “big four” Sacramento businessmen who started the Central Pacific Railroad. In 1869, the Central Pacific Railroad joined the Union Pacific Railroad and created the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.

The Gold Rush brought all four men to California. They earned their wealth selling goods to the miners. Leland Stanford ran a wholesale merchandise store. Huntington and Hopkins operated a hardware store. Crocker opened a dry goods store. The four businessmen planned and developed the Central Pacific Railroad Company from the offices above their businesses. In 1873 they moved company headquarters to San Francisco.

Originally located on the south side of K Street between Second and Third Streets, these buildings are reconstructions of the originals.