Folsom Powerhouse

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. 14 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1891.

From the record

“Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park is a historical site preserving an 1895 alternating current (AC) hydroelectric power station - one of the first in the United States.”
Wikipedia article Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 106 National Register listings published here for Sacramento County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Off Folsom Blvd. in Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, Folsom, 95630
When was it listed? October 1973
Category. building
Census division. Folsom
National Register reference number. 73000426 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

316 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 316 fires within 5 miles of Folsom Powerhouse between 1992 and 2020, burning about 610 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 31 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	171
Equipment and vehicle use	65
Arson/incendiarism	31
Misuse of fire by a minor	21
Debris and open burning	13
Smoking	11
Natural	2
Other causes	1
Recreation and ceremony	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2001	Misuse of fire by a minor	4.0 acres	Amador-El Dorado Unit	LAKE
8 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Amador-El Dorado Unit	not named
7 September 2011	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Amador-El Dorado Unit	SCOTT
6 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Amador-El Dorado Unit	not named
6 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
6 September 2000	Equipment and vehicle use	3.0 acres	Amador-El Dorado Unit	GLORY
5 September 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
4 September 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	PIAZZA

Every fire recorded in Sacramento County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 50 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 50 workings within 5 miles of Folsom Powerhouse: 21 past producers, 13 producers, 12 occurrences, 3 unknowns. 13 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Chromium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
American River Area	Gold, Platinum, Silver	Past Producer
Folsom District	Gold, Silver, Platinum	Producer	1849
Mississippi Bar Pit	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Producer
Walker Mine	Chromium, Iron	Past Producer	Chromite
Folsom Prison	Granite	Producer
Folsom Prison	Granite	Past Producer
Joerger Mine	Chromium	Past Producer	Chromite
Fair Oaks Gravel Co.	Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Fair Oaks Gravel Co.	Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold	Past Producer
Merritt-Savin Construction Co.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Sacramento County

Storms near this property

5 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Folsom, the town this property stands in, in 5 storm reports between 2000 and 2018: 2 heavy rain, 2 hail, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2000	Heavy Rain	Folsom	$100,000	no account filed
May 2005	Hail	Folsom	$10	no account filed
March 2018	Flood	Folsom	-	Street flooding on Dean Way east of Wales Dr. in Folsom.
March 2005	Hail	Folsom	-	no account filed
January 2000	Heavy Rain	Folsom	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Sacramento County

Maps showing this location

14 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1891 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:125000
1892 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:125000 - 5 printings
1893 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:125000
1914 USGS Folsom quadrangle1:31680 - 2 printings
1941 USGS Folsom quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1944 USGS Folsom quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1947 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1948 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000
1954 USGS Folsom quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1956 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1957 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1967 USGS Folsom quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
1975 USGS Folsom quadrangle1:24000
1994 USGS Sacramento quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Cohn House	0.2 miles	1982
Folsom Depot	0.2 miles	1982
Murer House and Gardens	0.6 miles	2022
Southern Pacific Railroad Section Superintendent House	0.8 miles	2008
Chung Wah Cemetery	1.3 miles	1995
Fair Oaks Bridge, Old,	5.6 miles	2006

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 73000426 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Sacramento County	All 106 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.