Tom Davis Photo

This is another one of Carson City’s old houses that was saved by moving it. The Nelson House was at 211 West 8th Street, on the southeast corner of Eighth and Nevada streets in Carson City. Built by Louis Nelson in the 1920s, by the 1970s it was owned by Cedric Nelson. But in the 1980s, the Mother Lode Casino (later the Carson Station and the Max Casino) had bought the block the house stood on for a parking lot. Normally this would mean the demolition of everything on the block. But around the same time the Nevada State Railroad Museum was establishing its grounds, and they were looking for a companion for the Wabuska Depot that they had moved to the museum. This house was from an appropriate time period, having been built while there was still a railroad in Carson City, so it was moved to the grounds of the museum. Today it still stands next to the Wabuska Depot, not an important structure in its own right, but still a historic representative relic of old time Carson City. The former site of the house is still a parking lot for the Max Casino.

Alan Marriage Photo

Historic info from the Summer 2012 issue of Sagebrush Headlight, the museum’s newsletter.