Tag: sesquicentennial

This week we have two stories about Carson City's history, one on the town of Empire, which used to sit on the banks of the Carson River where the Empire Ranch golf course is now. Carson City eventually grew and swallowed the town whole.

There's also a story that's technically part of the paper's Business coverage, but it has a fair amount of history so it counts. Nugget has long history in Carson City is the story of the Carson Nugget in downtown Carson, and all the growth it's gone through over the decades.

Also there's the story that slipped through my fingers last week, about Kings Canyon, and the history of what used to be the best road up to Lake Tahoe, before Kingsbury and Spooner were built.

There were two Carson City history articles today. One from Trent Dolan concerns Samuel Post Davis, editor of the Appeal in the late 1800s, and the stories he would write about the fictional Wabuska Mangler newspaper in faraway Wabuska.

The other story from Guy Rocha tries to clear up some of the myths about why Nevada because a state back in 1864. Abraham Lincoln pushed Nevada's statehood through just one week before the presidential election in 1864 not because he needed silver from Nevada's mines to finance the Civil War, but basically because he wanted a few more votes to clinch the election.

Trent Dolan this week wrote about several topics that were in an 1886 edition of the Morning Appeal. The Washoe Zephyr, the anti-Chinese movement, and the Ormsby County poor farm.

Today Trent Dolan has a story about Hank Monk, the stagecoach driver from the 1870s. Hank drove stage between Carson City, Genoa, Virginia City, Lake Tahoe, and Placerville.

Also, Guy Rocha writes about the history of Nevada Day, and its many moveable dates, asking, "Is there anything traditional about Nevada Day?"

Trent Dolan has the story of the great prison escape of 1871, where 29 inmates broke out of the Nevada State Prison and fanned out into the surrounding hills. Many of them were never caught.

In the same article is the story of Frank Denver, who was lieutenant governor of Nevada at the time, and back then the lieutenant governor also served as the warden of the prison. After the escape, the state legislature in 1873 decided to take the warden's job away from the lieutenant governor and give it to someone qualified, to be appointed by the governor. Frank Denver didn't go quietly, and the National Guard had to be dispatched to remove him from his post.

Trent Dolan has a story today about Carson City's Chinatown, which used to sit along Third Street east of Stewart. The whole neighborhood was torn down around the 1950s. Today the site is a taken up by a parking lot and scattered State buildings.

The Nevada Appeal had an article in Sunday's paper, by Sue Ballew, about the Foreman-Roberts House, that yellow house along Carson Street north of Hwy 50, where the road climbs up a small hill. That house is the headquarters of the Carson City Historical Society, of which Ballew is a former president. So she should know the history of the house quite well. And the article was very in-depth and detailed, and if you're wondering why I haven't linked to it yet that's because the Nevada Appeal hasn't put it up on their website. So you can't read it in the usual way.

You can read it, though, for the next four weeks using the e-Edition of the paper. What you need to do is go to this website, select the 9/28/2008 version of the paper, and then browse to page C3. Then you can read it, even though it's a convoluted process to get there. And, those archives seem to disappear after four weeks, so hurry up and read it while you can!

Update: The article has been posted now.

There's an article today by Sue Ballew about Treadway Park, a ranch and picnic grounds that used to sit along Washington Street on the site of the old hospital. Back in the 1800s it was the popular hot spot where everyone would go on their day off. People from Reno and Virginia City would even take the train to Carson just to go to Treadway Park. Aaron Treadway, the proprietor, was a genial and well-liked host who was very popular around town. Treadway also planted many trees on his ten-acre property and a lot of them are still around on the old hospital property. There is still a small patch of grass at Minnesota and William that is called Treadway Park, a tiny remnant of the former ranch.

One of Treadway's original trees still stands at the corner of Division and Washington, where it's been designated the "Nevada Bicentennial Tree". Although, as Guy Rocha points out, the tree isn't 200 years old, but probably dates back to the days of Treadway.

There is just one history article in today's Nevada Appeal, but it's a meaty one. Sue Ballew looks at the history of the Big Four churches on the west side, in an article titled "What is the oldest church in Carson City?" (The question never gets answered, in case you were thinking of skipping to the end.)

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.