Every year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation lists the country’s eleven most endangered places. Twenty years ago, a group of us formed Preserve Nevada, housed in the UNLV history department. The writer of this feature serves as director, with a graduate student (right now it’s Paige Figanbaum) as deputy director. I chair the board, and Preserve Nevada has listed Nevada’s eleven most endangered places.
In Las Vegas, the Mormon Fort includes Nevada’s oldest building, erected in 1855 when missionaries arrived from the LDS Church. They weren’t here long, but they began Euro-American settlement. Ranchers followed—Octavius Decatur Gass and then Archibald and Helen Stewart. It’s now a state park, but nearby the city tore down Reed Whipple Cultural Center, and the Grant Sawyer State Office Building has problems. We want to make sure nobody loses sight of the Mormon Fort in the process.
The Southern Pacific built its Sparks repair shop in 1904. The Union Pacific now owns the land and may demolish the historic machine shop. This site is important to railroad history and the city’s history.
Reno’s Northwest quadrant includes the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, completed in 1910. Bethel served the local Black community as a place of worship and meeting location during the civil rights movement. Jacobs Entertainment has discussed a “Neon Line District” but without many specifics. We hope they protect the history.
Rural Nevada boasts many government-built classic and classical structures that some residents have worked to save. The Mineral County and Nye County Courthouses are at risk—especially Tonopah’s Romanesque Revival building, which has suffered major damage and is a great candidate for rehabilitation projects.
Winnemucca’s two-story grammar school was built in the late 1920s in the Prairie Style, based on Frank Lloyd Wright. The grammar school still operates but suffers from water damage and crumbling molding, and ADA standards are a legitimate concern. We hope they and the Winnemucca community find a way to make it work.
Other spots in central Nevada are in danger. Downtown Austin, part of one of Nevada’s oldest towns, has suffered from neglect and vandalism.
The Elko Water Company has an eight-mile-long ditch, a canal system that Chinese laborers from the Central Pacific HAND-DUG. Parts of the ditch, from 1870, remain, but not all of it is protected, and we need to maintain it and the histories of those who built it. The Lemaire Store in Battle Mountain opened in 1876 and has been part of a major area family and the site of community events and political activity. If you or your family ever stayed in a motor court or motor hotel built in the 1930s, you know a lot of them are still around, but at risk amid downtown redevelopment.
We also don’t want to lose places connected to those we have lost. Historical cemeteries and burial sites always need attention, since some are in ghost towns and others are built over. Northern Paiutes are especially concerned about Rotten Moon, between the Double H and Montana Mountains in northern Nevada. Tribal elders say in 1865, government soldiers killed 31 people. Today, it’s called Thacker Pass and an open-pit mine being built there would aid lithium supplies. Historic preservation doesn’t mean we can’t have change or progress. It does mean we need to find a balance and respect the past. And with this list, that’s what Preserve Nevada tries to do.