Crooks Mansion

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. 16 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1896.

From the record

One of 38 National Register listings published here for Solano County · listed in 1978 · category: Building.

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

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 2 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
Address. 285 W. G St., Benicia, 94510
When was it listed? November 1978
Category. building
Census division. Vallejo
National Register reference number. 78000795 - 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.

Then and now

1896 to 1983

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 87 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Crooks Mansion, surveyed 1983

Topographic sheet covering Crooks Mansion, surveyed 1896

Fires near this property

401 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 401 fires within 5 miles of Crooks Mansion between 1992 and 2020, burning about 3,217 acres in total. None started naturally. 52 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	214
Equipment and vehicle use	55
Arson/incendiarism	52
Smoking	29
Misuse of fire by a minor	27
Debris and open burning	10
Power generation/transmission/distribution	8
Railroad operations and maintenance	4
Recreation and ceremony	1
Fireworks	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 2003	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Santa Clara Unit	FOUR
8 September 2005	Smoking	1.0 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
7 September 2011	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Santa Clara Unit	not named
7 September 2010	Smoking	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named
6 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.3 acres	Santa Clara Unit	not named
6 September 2011	Power generation/transmission/distribution	18 acres	Santa Clara Unit	BRICKYARD
6 September 1998	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Sonoma-Lake Napa Unit	SKY VALLEY
5 September 2005	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named

Every fire recorded in Solano County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 20 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 20 workings within 5 miles of Crooks Mansion: 9 unknowns, 5 occurrences, 4 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Mercury, Stone, Dimension, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Unnamed Location	Clay	Occurrence
Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Main Mine & Mill	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Martinez	Stone, Dimension	Occurrence
Mcnears	Stone, Dimension	Occurrence
Port Costa Shale Quarrys	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Sand Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown
Borges Prospect	Mercury	Occurrence	Cinnabar
Borges Prospect	Mercury	Unknown
Brownlie Property	Mercury	Past Producer	Cinnabar

Every working recorded in Solano County

Storms near this property

3 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benicia, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 2 flood, 1 heavy rain. 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
October 2025	Flood	Benicia	-	California Highway Patrol reported the westbound onramp of I-780 at Military Road completely flooded and shut down due to heavy rain.
November 2024	Flood	Benicia	-	California Highway Patrol reported roadway flooding at the Interstate 780 and Military West onramp, prompting a closure of the onramp from around 0945 AM PST through 1700 PST on November 23rd.
January 2000	Heavy Rain	Benicia	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Solano County

Maps showing this location

16 surveys

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

1896 USGS Carquinez Strait quadrangle1:62500
1898 USGS Karquines quadrangle1:62500
1901 USGS Carquinez quadrangle1:62500 - 5 printings
1901 USGS Karquines quadrangle1:62500
1902 USGS Napa quadrangle1:125000 - 6 printings
1940 USGS Carquinez Strait quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1942 USGS Carquinez quadrangle1:62500
1947 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
1949 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1950 USGS Benicia quadrangle1:24000
1952 USGS Benicia quadrangle1:24000
1958 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1959 USGS Benicia quadrangle1:24000 - 8 printings
1962 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
1964 USGS Santa Rosa quadrangle1:250000
1983 USGS Napa quadrangle1:100000

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
Joseph Fischer House	0.2 miles	1979
Benicia Capitol State Historic Park	0.2 miles	1971
Old Masonic Hall	0.3 miles	1972
Von Pfister General Store	0.3 miles	2015
Carr House	0.4 miles	1979
Benicia Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot	0.5 miles	2017

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 78000795 in Record Group 79.
Solano County	All 38 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.