John Augustus Sutter, born of Swiss parents in Germany, arrived in New York in July 1834 and in California in July 1839. He founded the fort in 1839 to protect 'New Helvetia,' his 76-square-mile Mexican land grant. Of the original fort, the two-story central building, made of adobe and oak, remains, the fort's outer walls and rooms, which had disappeared by the 1860s, were reconstructed after the State acquired the property in 1890.

Citation from California Office of Historic Preservation