Tuolumne County Jail

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. 12 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1893.

From the record

One of 32 National Register listings published here for Tuolumne 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 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 156 W. Bradford St., Sonora, 95370
When was it listed? November 1978
Category. building
Census division. Sonora
National Register reference number. 78000822 - 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

1,011 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,011 fires within 5 miles of Tuolumne County Jail between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,390 acres in total. 23 started naturally. 55 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	405
Equipment and vehicle use	221
Debris and open burning	164
Misuse of fire by a minor	71
Arson/incendiarism	55
Smoking	31
Power generation/transmission/distribution	28
Natural	23
Recreation and ceremony	8
Other causes	2
Fireworks	2
Firearms and explosives use	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 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit	MONO
9 September 2000	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Central California District	ENOS
9 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit	LIGHTNING#21
9 September 1999	Natural	under an acre	Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit	LIGHTNING#37
9 September 1999	Natural	1.0 acres	Central California District	LIGHTING 24
9 September 1996	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit	COX
9 September 1992	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit	FERENCZY
8 September 2017	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.8 acres	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	CAMPBELL

Every fire recorded in Tuolumne County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 369 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 369 workings within 5 miles of Tuolumne County Jail: 140 unknowns, 91 past producers, 63 occurrences, 61 producers. 62 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Silver, Limestone, Dimension, 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
B Brown We Finch Ad Hunter	Talc-Soapstone	Occurrence
Bell Columbia Marble Quarry	Marble, Dimension	Producer	Metamorphic
Golden Star	Gold, Copper, Lead, Silver	Past Producer
Hard To Find	Gold, Silver, Copper	Past Producer
Mackey Mine	Chromium, Iron	Past Producer	1860, 1908
Reported Occurence	Slate, Dimension	Occurrence
Reported Occurence	Beryllium	Occurrence
Sonora	Silver, Gold	Producer
Sonora Plant	Magnesite	Producer
White Quarry	Pumice, Limestone, General	Producer

Every working recorded in Tuolumne County

Storms near this property

10 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sonora, the town this property stands in, in 10 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 4 flash flood, 3 heavy rain, 3 flood. The reports record 1 death. 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
November 1996	Flash Flood	Sonora	1 killed	no account filed
September 2005	Heavy Rain	Sonora	$5,000	no account filed
March 2023	Flood	Sonora	-	Caltrans District 10 reported a mudslide on State Route 49 between Fairview Lane and Mill Villa Court in Sonora due to heavy rain.
March 2023	Flash Flood	Sonora	-	Flash flooding was reported in the downtown area of Sonora due to heavy rain from a severe thunderstorm. Tuolumne County OES reported a creek flowing out of banks, and water flowing over Washington Street, impacting approximately 25 to 30 homes, 10 public buildings and 30 businesses.
March 2019	Flood	Sonora	-	Caltrans reported road flooding in the Sonora area.
March 2019	Flood	Sonora	-	Multiple reports of road flooding in Sonora, CA.
March 2019	Flash Flood	Sonora	-	Tuolumne County Sheriff Reported flash flooding at Woods Creek near Stockton St. in Sonora, Ca.
March 2016	Heavy Rain	Sonora	-	Spotter reported 1.01 inches of rain fell in 4 hours. Hasn't seen any flooding, but heard small creeks are running high and fast.
February 2000	Heavy Rain	Sonora	-	no account filed
February 1999	Flash Flood	Sonora	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Tuolumne County

Maps showing this location

12 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.

1893 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
1896 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
1897 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000 - 8 printings
1898 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:125000
1947 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
1948 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
1948 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:62500 - 2 printings
1949 USGS Sonora quadrangle1:24000
1956 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
1962 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1966 USGS San Jose quadrangle1:250000
1994 USGS Oakdale 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
Cady House	0.1 miles	1982
Tuolumne County Courthouse	0.1 miles	1981
Tuolumne County Courthouse (Boundary Increase)	0.2 miles	2007
City Hotel	0.2 miles	1983
Sugg House	0.2 miles	1984
Sonora Youth Center	0.7 miles	2009

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 78000822 in Record Group 79.
Tuolumne County	All 32 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.