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Turner Publishing Company - Donnelyn Curtis

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155 pages

English

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Reno was first known as a mid-nineteenth century mining town, owing to Nevada’s ample supply of silver and gold. Over the next hundred years, the city became an urban playground, notorious for a lax political environment that encouraged unconventional activities such as prizefighting, gambling, and uncontested divorce.

Historic Photos of Reno tells the story of Reno’s development through nearly 200 archival black-and-white photographs. Author Donneyln Curtis transports the reader through the city’s history, illustrating how a sleepy mining community grew into the "biggest Little City in the World.”

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Histoire

State

United States

West

History

Local

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Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	08 avril 2008
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781618586735
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	10 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF
RENO
T EXT AND C APTIONS BY D ONNELYN C URTIS
Virginia Street, in the heart of the business district, toward the north from the Truckee River in the early 1920s. The post office is on the right.
HISTORIC PHOTOS OF
RENO
Turner Publishing Company
200 4th Avenue North Suite 950
Nashville, Tennessee 37219
(615) 255-2665
www.turnerpublishing.com
Historic Photos of Reno
Copyright 2008 Turner Publishing Company
All rights reserved.
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007942092
ISBN: 978-1-59652-438-5
Printed in China
09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16-0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
C ONTENTS
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
P REFACE
H UB OF THE M INING B OOMS (1868-1909)
E MERGING P LAYGROUND (1910-1929)
N EW A PPROACHES TO E CONOMIC D EVELOPMENT (1930-1949)
G ROWING AND T HRIVING (1950-1979)
N OTES ON THE P HOTOGRAPHS
A view of Reno taken to the southwest from the University of Nevada (ca. 1898).
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This volume, Historic Photos of Reno , is the result of the cooperation and efforts of many individuals, organizations, and corporations. It is with great thanks that we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the following for their generous support:
Shane Anderson
Library of Congress
University of Nevada, Reno, Basque Studies Library
University of Nevada, Reno, Special Collections and University Archives
We would also like to thank the following individuals for valuable contributions and assistance in making this work possible:
Kathryn Totton, Photo Archivist in Special Collections at the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries and an expert on Nevada history
James Bantin, University Archivist in Special Collections at the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
Melissa Rivera, the student assistant in Special Collections who digitized most of the photographs
Dr. James Herz, the avid collector and generous donor of the majority of the photos in this book, whose own research efforts provided important clues to the stories of the photos
Dr. Anton Sohn of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, for sharing his History of Medicine in Nevada photos
The many photographers who documented Reno s history so beautifully, and the many donors who lovingly preserved and generously provided the photographs to Special Collections
P REFACE
Reno has always been a colorful city in an unconventional state. Conversely, the majority of the population has led conventional lives outside of the neon corridor. Several novelists and historians have observed that Reno is full of parallel universes. Photographers have documented the orderly development of a western metropolis, as well as some of the aspects that have earned Reno its sometimes scandalous reputation. Taken as a whole, the photographs in this book illustrate the multi-faceted character of The Biggest Little City in the World.
The intent of this book is to let photographs speak for themselves in presenting the history of Reno, with minimal interpretation. In selecting the images, our researchers have made every effort to portray a broad and comprehensive view of the city s past. We have painstakingly probed the corners of photo archives to uncover depictions of the lesser-known, the surprising, and the unique aspects of the history of Reno.
The photographs are presented in approximate chronological order, grouped together within eras of Reno s history. Short introductions describe the eras to provide historical context. The captions add details about the individual photos to help readers understand the times, places, and circumstances depicted. Most of the photographs in the book were selected from the rich photo archives of Special Collections at the University of Nevada, Reno Library.
With the exception of touching up imperfections caused by the passage of time and cropping where necessary, no other changes have been made. The focus and clarity of the images is limited to the tools and the abilities of the photographers at the times they were taken. On behalf of future historians, the author urges readers to label their treasured photographs! The people, locations, times, and events portrayed in your photo album might be familiar to you, but fifty years after your demise, those facts may be lost forever.
The photographs in the first section cover Reno s early history, from 1868 through 1909. The second section explores the time period 1910-1929, when Reno was developing its personality (or rather, multiple personalities). Section Three, 1930-1949, documents a period of adjusting to new economic conditions and new approaches to economic development. Section Four, 1950-1979, covers Reno s further growth and maturation. In each of these sections we have attempted to capture the many facets of Reno s personality.
Through this project, the author has developed a heightened appreciation and gratitude for the work of historians who have previously done such meticulous research on Reno s history, without the benefits of contemporary online tools.
We encourage readers to view contemporary Reno with these historic images in mind. How can we protect and preserve the fragments of the past that help us understand the present and plan for the future? Photographs preserve the past and provide pleasure, but they can serve another purpose as well: they can help us discern the remnants of earlier times that are still with us-though sometimes overshadowed-within our present environment.
Construction of the Central Pacific Railroad tracks along the Truckee River east of Reno. The railroad stop in Reno triggered the town s permanent settlement.
H UB OF THE M INING B OOMS
(1868-1909)
The location that would become Reno had no permanent residents until the middle of the nineteenth century. The Native Americans in the area were nomadic. European-American explorers mapped and described the area in the 1830s and 1840s, and California-bound immigrants first stopped in the Truckee Meadows in 1841.
Nevada owes much of its earliest development to rich lodes of gold and silver, and mining has played an important role in the economic history of Reno. The site was first a staging area for California gold seekers after their trek across the Great Basin and before they faced the rigors of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
After 1859, when gold was discovered in Nevada 25 miles to the southeast of the Truckee River wagon stop, traffic began to flow in the other direction. When the richer Comstock silver lode was discovered in 1861, the Rush to Washoe was huge. The enterprising Myron Lake purchased Charles Fuller s Truckee River toll bridge, on the route from Donner Pass to the Comstock. He then built a hotel and began acquiring land.
Lake s crossing was always a busy stop for travelers and for the lumber and ranching trades and other suppliers that built and sustained Virginia City and the mines. But it was Myron Lake s success in securing a Central Pacific Railroad stop that secured Reno s destiny as a railroad town and regional center that would outlive the mining boom.
He gave the Central Pacific 160 acres to establish a depot and a community. In 1868 the railroad auctioned 400 lots, and 100 homes and businesses were established within a month. The settlement was named for Jesse Reno, a Union general killed in the Civil War. Reno became the Washoe County seat in 1871 and was incorporated in 1876 but was without a city government until 1903. The state university was moved from Elko to Reno in 1885, and commerce continued to flourish despite the fact that Comstock mining declined and Virginia City fell into a depression by 1880. The transportation industry provided a stable economic base, and Reno served as a hub for a large area.
Its population was 4,500 at the turn of the century. That doubled in the next decade after gold and silver were discovered in 1900 in Tonopah and Goldfield. Roads to the new lodes passed through Reno, which once again supplied mines and miners with goods and services.

Freight wagons, men, and teams of the Sierra Nevada Transport Company on a road through the snow in the Donner Pass of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in early spring (ca. 1896).

A view of Six-Mile Canyon from C Street in Virginia City in 1865, when Reno was little more than a river crossing. Proximity to this larger town aided Reno s growth as a transportation hub and, after the 1880 depression, it surpassed the declining Virginia City.

Engine #11, Reno , of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad at a roundhouse in Carson City in the late 1800s. The V T, the crookedest short line in America, connected Virginia City with the Central Pacific Railroad in Reno in 1879. In the beginning, 36 trains a day carried passengers and freight. Lumber from Carson Valley mills and supplies were transported to Virginia City, and ore was hauled on the return runs to Reno.

A rather quiet day at the Reno railroad yard. In 1885, the Central Pacific line was leased to the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Myron Lake s hotel and the first iron bridge across the Truckee River. At the south end of the bridge, Virginia Street passed the Lake House, later renamed the Riverside. At the north end of the bridge, Virginia Street crossed Front (later renamed First) Street.

A photographer facing east along the Truckee River shot this early image of Reno.

A fire at the Palace Club, the largest gambling house in the state, attracted a large crowd. There were no restrictions on gambling in Reno until 1910. The railroad depot is in the background.

A blacksmith shop on Center Street, 1893. The two men in the center are identified as Baldwin and S. E. Cooper, a blacksmith. The Golden Hotel was built on this site in 1906. A fire in 1962 destroyed th