Preserve Nevada has released their list of the Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places in Nevada. Carson City was on the list last time with the First Presbyterian Church, which was in danger of being demolished for a new sanctuary. But since then the church found a way to build a new building for services, while still preserving the historic part of the structure. So it’s rightly been removed from the list, although it should at least be on the Success Stories page.
Out of the rest of the list, many of them are located in Las Vegas. Which, as far as I’m concerned, the whole town of Las Vegas is in danger of being demolished. We could wake up tomorrow to find they’ve dynamited the whole place and are starting over from dirt and it wouldn’t be a big surprise. But there are also a few obscure sites scattered around the distant corners of the state, like Stokes Castle in Austin, the Nye County Courthouse in Tonopah, and ghost town of Rhyolite. But the biggest surprise on the list has to be historic downtown Wells. Which, if you’ll remember, was reduced to rubble by an earthquake back in February. Sounds like a preservation failure to me, yet still Preserve Nevada is holding out hope for repair and rehabilitation. Now that’s what I call optimism!
The only site on the list in our Western Nevada area is the Lagomarsino Rock Art Site north of Virginia City, which I had never even heard of until today.
- Maude Frazier Hall, Las Vegas
- The Paradise School, Las Vegas
- The Las Vegas Historic District, Las Vegas
- Building 100, Date Street Complex, Boulder City
- Rhyolite, Nevada
- The Nye County Courthouse, Tonopah
- Nevada Northern Locomotives 93, 40, and 81, Ely
- Stokes Castle, Austin
- The Lagomarsino Rock Art Site, Storey County
- Commercial Row, Wells
- Mid-Century Roadside Motor Courts
Hat tip to the Classic Las Vegas blog.
