Tag: nevadaappeal

Nevada State Prison

Last Sunday the Nevada Appeal had two articles about Carson City history. The first is a look back at the history of the Nevada State Prison, a timely article because of all the talk lately about possibly closing the prison. And the second story is a look at Carson City's historic district, from a member of the Historic Resources Commission.

Today, August 12, is supposedly the actual 150th birthday of Carson City. The deed transferring the land Carson sits on over to Abe Curry and his partners was signed on Aug. 12, 1858. Of course at the time there was nothing here but a small trading post and a lot of empty land. The "town" took several months to come together in any form, first by being surveyed and streets laid out in September, then by getting an official Post Office in November.

It's amazing to me that anyone came to live in the new town, especially during those first few months when there was literally nothing here. But Curry was determined to create a town, even if only through sheer determination of will, and the fact that we have streets and houses still here today stands as testament that he got the job done.

Now whether August 12 should even be named the "birthday" at all is in doubt, as this article in the Appeal details. That date comes from the deed, but the deed wasn't filed until four years later. People were living in the valley before Curry & Co came; couldn't they be considered the "founders"? What about the Eagle Ranch itself, which had been established six or seven years already when Curry came in to buy it? When was the first house built in Carson? When was the second house? At what point does three houses in the desert become a "town"?

We could debate this all day, but does it really matter? History is nothing but vapor anyway, tales told around the campfire. Whether that campfire is an actual campfire, or a library, or a computer, doesn't matter. We're still talking about things that are long past, people that are long dead. So I'm happy to point to August 12 as the birthday of Carson City, and to be content to say "Happy Birthday Carson City."

And even though today is the birthday, the party won't be until Saturday. The Appeal also has a rundown on everything that will be happening that day, as does Arlington Events. The main celebration will be at the Nugget's west parking lot (former home of the Arlington Hotel) from noon to 6, with satellite events scattered around at the Capitol, the Museum, and other places downtown.

Today the Nevada Appeal has a pretty great front-page article tracking down the oldest building in Carson City. Everyone seems to agree that it is the Stewart-Nye House, at the corner of King and Minnesota streets. This house was built around 1860 for William Stewart, who later went on to become the first U.S. Senator from Nevada. He sold the house in 1862 to James Nye, who was the first governor of Nevada when it was still a territory, before it became a state. So that makes this house Nevada's first governor's mansion. Mark Twain was a close associate of Nye's (his brother Orion Clemens was Nye's secretary), and Twain would often come over to the house for cigars and brandy. The house is now home to the Taggart and Taggart law firm. It is usually a stop on the Carson City Ghost Walk, since the presence of an old woman has been seen upstairs after hours. See my 2005 Ghost Walk report for more details.

The article then goes on to chronicle some of the other old buildings in Carson, ones that aren't the oldest but are still pretty damn old. State Archivist Guy Rocha names the building at 314 S. Carson St., home to Caterpillar's Hookah Lounge, as the oldest commercial building in town. That one can be seen on the left here.

It's also in this photo from 1984, moonlighting as a pawn shop.

The other history article in the newspaper today is a look by Trent Dolan back at an 1876 issue of the Carson Daily Appeal, including a report on General Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn.

There were three Carson City history articles in the Nevada Appeal yesterday. They had Part 2 of A traveler's impressions of Carson City, written by Caroline M. Churchill in the 1870s. There is also an article about the first days of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, with a look back at how the newspapers covered the progress of the railroad as it was built. The first photo on the page is labeled wrong, though. It shows Locomotive #20, The Tahoe, and says it's #80 (the highest the V&T ever got was #27). It also says it's now on display in Virginia City, when the Tahoe is actually in Pennsylvania right now. #18 is in VC.

The last "bonus" article is one on one of the founders of Carson City, B.F. Green. Previously there were no known photos of Green, and nobody thought one would ever be found. But then an armchair historian in Carson City managed to track one down, in the care of some descendants in Wisconsin. So the Nevada Appeal printed the photo, one where Green is sitting in a portrait studio with a few of his relatives. The paper circled his face and everything so you could pick him out, but there was one problem: the paper identified the wrong guy!! Read through the comments for the corrections to the paper's captions, sent in by Joni Vella of Wisconsin.

The Nevada Appeal today has a look at the July 4th festivities from 1898, and A traveler's impressions of Carson City from the 1870s.

Guy Rocha: Is the capitol dome really silver?

Trent Dolan: How to live on nothing a year, and other information from the papers of July 1878.

So, that only took one day. Yesterday I was going on about how the Nevada Appeal's website was the only one that hadn't gotten a facelift. And then today I look, and the redesign has gone live for them, too.

They also seem to have fixed the style problems with the article text that the Record Courier was having. So that's a big plus towards making the stories readable.

The Nevada Appeal yesterday had a look back at the Morning Appeal from 1878, with stories therein about the 4th of July party and the Sutro Tunnel. They also had a look forward to August 16, when downtown Carson will be celebrating the Sesquicentennial with a variety of events. They linked to Fred Nietz' eventsnevada.com, where there is a schedule of events posted for that day. Apparently Abraham Lincoln will be making an appearance, so we should all show up for that.

Beyond the sesquicentennial articles, there were a few other things of interest in the paper this weekend.

Max Baer reflects on his fight to open Hillbillies casino

How much gambling is too much for the capital city?

Video conferencing saving the state money

There were three articles on Carson City's history this weekend, but only two directly part of the Sesquicentennial coverage. First comes part 2 of the story of Billie Lynch, an African-American who worked for President Lincoln and was in the theater when he was shot. Billie Lynch later moved to Carson City and worked at the U.S. Mint. He lived until 1936, and could have been as old as 110 when he died.

Also there is an article looking at some of the newspaper stories of 1878, printed in the Morning Appeal.

And lastly, there was an article about the Home and Gardens tour that was held yesterday, where several of the west side homes opened their doors to visitors. The article give historical sketches of a few houses on the tour, like the Smail House, the Foreman-Roberts House, the Olcovich-Meyers home, and others.