 Native
Americans lived here for millennia from 500 BC to 500 AD, before
others from different parts of the world landed on Monterey's
shores. We know very little about the First People who settled in
the vicinity of what is now Monterey, but we do know what drew
them here: an abundance of fish and wildlife and other natural
resources. The native people hunted and gathered food "eating
salmon and steelhead, mussels and abalone, quail and geese, rabbit
and bear, as well as a host of other mammals, birds, shellfish,
reptiles, and plants. Several of their village sites have been
identified and preserved.Historical records indicate that
Monterey was "discovered" again by other peoples when Spanish
explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo first saw La Bahia de los Pinos
(Bay of Pines) on November 17, 1542. Many years later, in
December, in 1602, Sebastian Viscaino officially named the port
"Monterey", in honor of the Viceroy of New Spain who had ordered
his expedition. His band of 200 men gave thanks to God for their
safe journey in a ceremony held under a large oak tree overlooking
the bay.
An expedition by land and sea brought Gaspar de Portolá and
Franciscan Father Junipero Serra to Monterey in 1770. There they
established the Mission and Presidio of San Carlos de Borromeo de
Monterey, and the City of Monterey. Under the same oak tree where
Vision had prayed, Father Serra said mass for his brave group. A
year later, in 1771, Father Serra moved the mission to Carmel,
which offered a better agricultural and political environment; the
Presidio Church in Monterey, however, continued in use.
 In
1776, Spain named Monterey as the capital of Baja (lower) and Alta
(upper) California. This same year, Captain Juan Bautista de Anza
arrived from Sonora with the first settlers for Spanish
California, most of them bound for San Francisco. Monterey’s
soldiers and their wives lived at the Presidio for decades. In
1818, Argentinean revolutionary privateer Hippolyte Bouchard
sacked the town in an effort to destroy Spain’s presence in
California. After this shocking event during the next decade,
residents began to expand outside the Presidio, building
residences throughout Monterey.
In April, 1822, the people of Monterey learned that Mexico had
seceded from Spain; California pledged allegiance to the Mexican
Government. While Spain had not allowed foreigners to trade with
California, Mexico opened up the area to international trade, and
Monterey was made California’s sole port of entry. Traffic with
English and American vessels for the hide and tallow trade became
an important part of the economy. A dried steer hide valued at
about a dollar was termed a "California Bank Note". The hides were
shipped to New England, where they were used to make saddles,
harnesses, and shoes. Tallow was melted down in large rendering
pots and poured into bags of hides or bladders to be delivered to
the trading ships, for ultimate conversion to candles. In 1827, in
response to the increasing importance of foreign trade, the Custom
House was built in Monterey. The booming trade, especially with
New England, brought a number of Americans, called "Yanquis"-- to
Monterey. Many of them married into Mexican families, and became
Mexican citizens. In 1842 the United States established a
consulate in Monterey and Thomas Larkin was appointed its first
consul.
 Under
Mexican rule, the missions were secularized in the mid-1830s, and
many land grants were made to private citizens. An elite class of
landed "Californios" grew up in California. They became the basis
for the romanticized vision of Mexican California that was
reflected in such novels as Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona.
In July, 1846, Commodore John Drake Sloat’s flagship arrived in
Monterey Bay and his troops raised the American flag, claiming the
region for the United States. This began a period of American
occupation that lasted until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was
signed in 1848, making all of Alta California part of the United
States. This included the land now known as California, Utah,
Nevada, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
In Monterey, U.S. Naval Chaplain Walter Colton, was appointed to
serve as Monterey’s first American Alcalde, a position defined as
Mayor and Judge. Colton, a graduate of Yale University and Andover
Seminary, was well-known as a just and honorable man and thus was
considered well qualified to hold this important position. In
1846, he and Robert Semple established California’s first
newspaper, The Californian. Colton designed and supervised the
construction of the first public building constructed under the
American flag, Colton Hall, built to serve as a public school and
town meeting hall.
In 1849, California’s military governor called for a
constitutional convention, to be held in Monterey’s Colton Hall.
The new constitution was signed on October 13, 1849. In 1850, the
U.S. Congress voted to adopt California as the thirty-first state
of the Union. San Jose was chosen as the seat for the first
Legislature. (The official definition of a State Capital is where
the Legislature sits; therefore Monterey never was the State
Capital.)
 After
California gained its Statehood, the legislature formed counties.
Monterey served as the Monterey County seat of government until
1873, when Salinas took over that role. From 1873 to 1896, Colton
Hall was the Monterey Public School. Since then, the building has
been used as city offices, police courts, and today, as a museum.
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