Carson City, founded in 1858 and named for frontiersman Kit Carson, was chosen as the capital of Nevada in 1864 because of its location about halfway between Las Vegas and Reno. The city flourished because of the large silver output from the Comstock Lode in nearby Virginia City. We'd hoped to tour the Nevada State Railroad Museum as it contained rolling stock from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Line that carried ore from the Comstock Lode to the Carson River for 69 of its 81 years. Hollywood used V&T passenger cars, etc in their films from the 1930s to the 1950s. Unfortunately, the museum was closed but I got a kick out of the mask-wearing horses out front!
Louis Prang, known as the' Father of the Christmas card,' immigrated to the United States in 1850. Trained as a lithographer, he began working in Boston as a wood engraver. He promoted the Christmas card movement in 1856 and by 1875 was selling cards for as much as a dollar apiece. By 1881, he was producing in excess of five million cards a year. I read that collectors love his painstaking craftsmanship and lithographic printing.
This was the branch of the original US Mint in Carson City that was established by an act of Congress in 1862. The sandstone block, two-story high building was made of blocks quarried at the Nevada State Prison. The output of the Comstock Lode and the high cost to transport bullion to San Francisco provided the necessity of a branch in Nevada. From its opening in 1870 to the closing of its coin operations in 1893, coinage amounted to $49,274,434.30! Each silver and gold coin bore the famous CC mark. The mint became the Nevada State Museum in 1939.
In front of the mint was a plaque honoring the Pony Express. 'Pony' Bob Haslam, considered to be the greatest of all Pony Express riders, rode for the Express from the beginning to the end. His route was through Carson City , one of the relay stations.
The newer branch of the Nevada State Museum was a 'gem' according to the AAA tour guide, i.e. something really worth seeing, but it, too, was closed!
The reproduction of the Liberty Bell was dedicated to the people of Nevada, "free citizens in a free land". It was one of 53 cast in France in 1950 and given to the US Government.
The 'L' in front of the museum stood for the Lincoln Highway, the first marked coast-to-coast federal highway.
!!
Since the two museums were closed, we headed to the Kit Carson Trail that wound through the city's extensive historic homes district. The Governor John E. Jones House was built in 1862 and was lived in during the governor's short term in office from 1895-96. Its Eastlake ornamental design made it one of Carson City's unique homes.
When the Bliss Mansion on Elizabeth St. was completed in 1879 for Duane Bliss, a lumber tycoon from Lake Tahoe, it was the largest home in Nevada. It was built on ground that had once been a Native American camping site and burial ground. When workers were removing bodies before construction began, they also learned the site had been used as an early burial site for white people. Included in the 7,057 sq. ft. 21-room home were bathrooms, a formal dining room, game room, parlor, butler's pantry, nine bedrooms and a kitchen. With its cathedral ceilings, the home was one of the first in the West to be piped for gas lighting. The mansion was built with clear sugar pine and cedar from his own lumber mill and a foundation of locally-quarried sandstone.
Across the street was the Bender House named for an agent for the V&T Railroad. Note the horse posts on the side of the property!
The neo-classical Governor's Mansion was designed by a Reno architect at a cost of $22,700 though the land only cost $10. It was the only home ever designed for the governor of Nevada. The first residents were Denver Dickerson and his wife in 1909; for the forty years since Carson City had been named as the capital, Nevada's governors and their families had to find lodging where they could! Sixteen families have occupied the home since the Dickersons.
The Rickey House on N. Mountain St. was built in 1870 but the Rickeys didn't purchase the home until 1892. Rickey was known as the cattle king of Nevada and also founded the State Bank and Trust Company. His wife waited until he was out of town before offering the property for a Governor's Mansion. The popular support from the community made it impossible for Rickey to then renege on the donation!
The Krebs-Peterson house, also on Mountain, was chosen to be the boardinghouse for John Wayne in his last days as a dying gunslinger in The Shootist. Filming began in January of 1976 and featured Lauren Bacall standing at the window watching Wayne walk down the steps to catch the trolley on the way to the shoot-out. Dr. Krebs achieved worldwide fame halting the influenza epidemic using sacred herbs from a local Native American tribe. How sad the tribe didn't receive the accolades instead of Krebs.
There was an image of John Wayne in the upstairs window!
The mural on the side of the next building only became clear once we walked to the front and learned of its history!
St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church opened in 1871 and was in operation until the early 2000s when it moved across town to occupy a larger space. The building was deconsecrated and bought by the Brewery Arts Center bought it and transformed it into a performance hall. I can only imagine the original church elders must have rolled over in their graves when that transition happened!
As non-smokers, we welcomed this sign.
The Edwards House on N. Minnesota St. was built in 1883 by Thomas Edwards, a county clerk from Michigan. Though he was falsely accused of using state prison labor on the home's construction, Edwards was forced to resign his position. He later received an appointment as a deputy federal clerk and was subsequently appointed clerk of the court, a position he held for 51 years.
One of the city's oldest homes was the Stewart-Nye Residence built prior to 1862 of native sandstone for William Stewart who was born in New York in 1827, grew up in Ohio, and briefly attended Yale before moving to California in 1852. Stewart moved to the Carson City Utah Territory in 1860 where he later became a member of the Territorial Council, introducing more bills than any other member. Not only that but all bills were adopted! The Stewarts sold the house to the Nye family when they moved to Virginia City.
The Kit Carson Trail that we'd been following was also supposed to be known as the Blue Line Trail but that was very hard to follow because residents had made every effort to obliterate the blue paint - in this case by painting it over! No doubt, they didn't want hordes of tourists like us traipsing up and down their pristine streets and taking pictures of their homes.
On the same street was the Dr. Simeon Lee House built in the Colonial Revival style with lumber from the razed Central School that had been on the lot. Lee, a prominent physician and surgeon originally from Illinois, bought the property for $42,407 at public auction in 1907. He had been a lieutenant-colonel under the command of General Grant before attending medical school and then moving to Carson City. He was a railroad surgeon (I'd never heard of that job before!) for the V&T and Carson and Colorado railroads for twenty years.
The Orion Clemens House on N. Division St. was built in 1863 for Nevada's first Territorial Secretary, Orion Clemens who was originally from Tennessee. His brother, Samuel Clemens, came to Carson City to be his personal secretary and later reporter for the Territorial Enterprise. We know him, though, as Mark Twain!
The Frank Norcross House, also on Division, was built in 1906 for its namesake who was born a few miles outside of Reno in 1869. One of just three students who graduated in the first class at the University of Nevada in 1891, he went onto study law at Georgetown before becoming district attorney and then elected to the Nevada Supreme Court.
About a block away on Division St. was St. Peter's Episcopal Church which was built by the Corbett Brothers in 1868 for $5,500. Numerous renovations were made to the graceful reminder of New England churches since then including a new upper steeple after a fire in 1977. The church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1878. The sign out front indicated that Quaker services were also held at the church.
Perhaps because of their Quaker affiliation, church officials were in tune with the times and had listed the names of many Black Americans on the path to its front door who had suffered at the hands of police brutality. Amen to that!
The Church Rectory next door was built in 1862 and was important in the state's history as Nevada's first Governor, Henry Blasdel, lived there, making it the state's oldest surviving governor's residence. The letter informing President Lincoln of Nevada's ratification of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery was signed there. The church acquired the building in 1891 and still owns it.
Construction of the United Methodist Church, also on Division, was started in 1865 under the direction of Rev. Warren Nims who tirelessly toiled for almost two years hauling sandstone blocks from the State Prison. The prisoners quarried and squared the blocks before Nims almost single-handedly then hauled and laid them. The Gothic Revival church was dedicated in 1867 and was enlarged in 1909. The Methodist congregation joined with the Presbyterians to form the Federated Church in 1929 which lasted until 1948. I wish we could have entered and seen the original sanctuary that was still in use!
One of the most welcoming messages I've seen on any church was this one. To read it more easily, just click on the photo to make it bigger.
The state's first brewery opened its doors in 1860 by John Wagner and Company during the rush to Virginia City. When Nevada achieved statehood four years later, business was booming at the corner of Division and King streets where it still stands! The Carson Brewery focused on steam beer, which was a bottom-fermenting brew made without a true lager's constant cold temperatures.
The Olcovich-Meyers House was built by Joseph Olcovich in 1874-75. He was the first of his brothers to arrive from Prussia and start the Olcovich Brothers business in 1863. The brothers were prominent members of Carson City's Jewish community and owned lots of commercial properties in the city, including a Chinese washhouse, a drug store, and a jewelry store. When there was a downturn in the economy in the 1890s, the brothers began moving away and the house was rented and eventually sold to George Meyers. I loved its bright, sunny yellow facade!
Next door was the Rinckel Mansion that is regarded as "one of the best remaining examples of high-style Victorian architecture in the American West." The Rinckel family lived in the home that was built in 1876 until 1960. After the mansion was featured in a Paramount Pictures film called The Remarkable Andrew, the family operated their home as a private museum.
What attracted us to the walking tour of the capital city's historic homes was it enabled us to learn some of the city's and even the young state's history while painlessly getting some exercise on a peaceful Sunday morning. It was amazing to me to see such a concentration of stunning properties in such a small area. There were easily twenty or more homes we could have stopped at but even our interest was flagging by the time we reached the Rinckel Mansion!
The Carson City Public Buildings was really a government complex of three buildings, all designed by Reno architect Frederic DeLongchamps who lived from 1882-1969. During his career which spanned from 1907-1965, he was responsible for the construction of more than 500 public, commercial and residential buildings, most of them in his native state of Nevada. This, the Heroes Memorial Building, was built in 1921 directly across from the capitol. The monumental, neo-classical building was designed as "fitting memorial to Nevada Soldiers who gave their lives in the service of the United States in the European War. (WW1)
A view down the city's main street, aptly called Carson St., to the mighty Sierras that we'd be driving to next as I dodged traffic walking over to the capitol!
The Nevada State Capitol Building was constructed in 1870 for an architect's fee of $250. The stone was free as it came from the State Prison quarry. Amazingly, now more than 130 years later, the building was still in use. As it was a Sunday, the building was closed so we couldn't ogle its interior.
Trees from every county in the state graced the grounds of the capitol. We didn't realize at the time how fortunate we were able to wander at will through the grounds with nary a police office in sight in this very laid back town.
I liked the Sierra Redwood from Esmeralda County although I think it should have been called the Hairy Redwood!
Another view of the capitol:
As we continued to walk through the capitol grounds we came across the moving Nevada Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.
The statue fittingly honored Kit Carson as the city was named after him.
Just across from the capitol grounds was the St. Charles-Muller Hotel that was constructed in 1862. One of the first hotels in the city, it was also one of its most elegant and therefore a main stage stop in the city. One of the oldest remaining commercial buildings, its name derived after well-regarded hotels back East. Its builders realized the potential profits from managing a hotel so close to the members of the second Territorial Session of the Nevada Legislature. That was why stage coaches were required to stop first at the hotel upon arrival in the city.
A scant half hour's drive away from Carson City was stunning Lake Tahoe with beautiful vistas at every turn. According to the Washoe Indians who named it "big water," the lake was created during the pursuit of an innocent Native American man by an Evil Spirit. The Great Spirit, in an effort to ward off his evil counterpart, bestowed on the pursued man a branch with leaves with the promise that each dropped one would magically produce a body of water which would slow his pursuer. However, the frightened man dropped the entire branch which thereby created the immense Lake Tahoe, the third deepest lake in the continent.
The 'lake in the sky' straddled the border between Nevada and California and had an average depth of 989 feet with the deepest being 1,645 feet. Though miners and immigrants came to the rugged Sierras because of tales of fortunes made during the California gold rush, the lake was a retreat for the rich and powerful by the early 20th century. That changed during the 1920s and 1930s when roads were paved and the 72-mile long lakeshore was no longer solely the domain of the wealthy.
Walking around Carson City that early summer morning had been so peaceful and quiet. It was another thing altogether driving along the south shore of Lake Tahoe on a Sunday when everybody and their uncle and us, too, seemed to want to find a place to relax by the lake! We'd almost given up hope of finding a place to relax when we discovered there were spots available at Nevada Beach operated by the US Forest Service. Our senior lifetime pass for free admission to all national parks even entitled us to just a $5 fee at Nevada Beach! After being on the go nonstop every day since leaving Denver, it was utter bliss spending 2.5 hours relaxing on the beach after enjoying a picnic and collecting huge pine cones.
The sense of serenity and beauty was only marred by people playing their boom boxes at deafening levels!
We finally got going, heading to the California side of the lake where we saw evidence of a devastating fire. As I write this about two months later, much of California is again beset by fires causing untold damage to property and public lands for decades to come.
For thousands of years, Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay had drawn people to its shores. The Washoe Indians made their summer homes here, fishing in the bay and hunting in the nearby forests. In the early 19th century trappers and explorers first saw the lake when crossing the Sierras north and south of Tahoe. Then the 1849 Gold Rush drew miners west across the mountains. Just ten years later, they returned across the Sierras after silver was found in Nevada.
In the middle of Emerald Bay was Fannette Island that rose 150 feet above the bay. Over the last 100 years, Tahoe's only island has been known by a number of names. In 1866, a group of young vacationers came up with the first name, Coquette, a French word meaning a flirtatious or seductive woman. Attracted to the island's beauty, the group found the climb to the top of the island impossible. The island also other names: Dead Man's and Hermit's Island after Captain Dick Barter, the sole caretaker of a nearby resort who died in one of the lake's winter storms. The current name, Fannette, is thought to be a misinterpretation of the original one, Coquette.
Since we began our road trip in the Northwest in mid June, we have seen versions of this in every other state we have since traveled through. How I wish people had followed some simple measures then as the numbers of Americans killed by the virus is now in excess of 177,000 people. It's a national tragedy.
Next post: Onto California's state capital, Sacramento, as part of our quest to see as many capitals and capitol buildings as possible!
Posted on August 24th, 2020, from Charleston, the capital of West Virginia, as we take a very roundabout route to the Florida panhandle. May you and your loved ones be safe.
Although you provide fantastic photos, we still need to go for ourselves again! How few people were in Carson City-makes you want to live there
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