The Custom House and Sloat's Flag

This low adobe with the long veranda is the Old Custom House, believed to be the oldest government building in California. Mexico built it in the eighteen twenties, and for decades it was the only port of entry on the entire Alta California coast. Every foreign ship, American, British, or South American, had to anchor off Monterey and pay its duties here before trading a single hide or barrel.

Whoever controlled this building controlled the wealth of California. On the seventh of July, eighteen forty six, with war raging between the United States and Mexico, Commodore John Drake Sloat came ashore with some two hundred fifty sailors and marines. He marched to the Custom House, raised the flag of the United States over the roof, and read a proclamation claiming California for his country.

With that act, more than six hundred thousand square miles changed hands. Nearly a century later, in nineteen thirty two, this building was named California Historical Landmark Number One, the very first such landmark recognized in the state. It still stands beside the harbor it once guarded.