Elk Grove Educator, Published Historian to Receive Key to the City

August 25, 2016 |

This Saturday's Fifth Annual Multi-Cultural will kick-off with a presentation of the Key to the City to a well known and respected educator and historian.

The recipient of this honor will be longtime Elk Grove resident, Elizabeth Pinkerton.

A native on Northern Wisconsin, Pinkerton and her husband Tom moved to Elk Grove with their family in 1962. Serving as a teacher and administrator at elementary, middle and high schools in the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD), 

Pinkerton was director of State and Federal Programs for the district and held leadership positions with local, state and national organizations. In 2008, the EGUSD recognized Mrs. Pinkerton’s lifetime of service by naming a middle school in her honor.

Working with her students over the years, Elizabeth became known as a local historian. For more than 30 years, she has written a weekly column for the Elk Grove Citizen entitled “History Happened Here.” 

She has authored three books on Elk Grove history and co-authored with Mary Tsukamoto a Story on Internment in America. Elizabeth has donated an estimated $55,000 in proceeds from book sales for student scholarships through the Elk Grove Regional Scholarship Foundation. Visitors to Elk Grove City Council meeting will invariably see Pinkerton sitting at a table in the lobby displaying her various books. 

The Key to the City is an honorary gesture of appreciation and welcome reserved for notable Elk Grove residents who have made outstanding contributions benefiting the community. Pinkerton will be the fifth recipient of a Key to the City since the program’s inception in 2013. 

“Our diversity is one of biggest strengths, but so is our history,” Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis said. “And no one knows our history better than Mrs. Elizabeth Pinkerton. I invite and encourage all those who know, love, and respect Mrs. Pinkerton for her work in our community to join me for this special presentation.”