Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Question: Walter Colton, who built Monterey’s Colton Hall, where California’s first constitution was drafted, also co-founded what California first in 1846?

Answer: California’s first American newspaper, The Californian, which Colton launched in Monterey with Robert Semple on Aug. 15, 1846. Semple later chaired the 1849 constitutional convention at Colton Hall.