Shelton C. Fogus built the house in 1856. Leland Stanford, a Central Pacific Railroad president and soon governor, bought it in June 1861 for $8,000. During his two-year governorship it served as the state’s executive office and his home, and his successors Frederick Low and Henry Haight used it as well.
After Stanford had to attend his inauguration by rowboat, the house was raised twelve feet to reduce flood risk. In 1900 the Stanford family gave it to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, which ran a children’s home there until 1978. The state then bought it, and today it is the Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park.