More Than Meets the Eye in Wendover

  On the surface, the town of Wendover doesn’t appear to be a place with much history. But look a little closer and you’ll find plenty of interesting stories.

  Wendover, located on the Nevada-Utah state boundary, can trace its roots to Jedediah Smith, the first non-Native American to visit Nevada. In 1827, Smith is believed to have crossed the nearby Bonneville Salt Flats while returning from an expedition to the future state of California.

  In pre-historic times, the area around Wendover was actually beneath Lake Bonneville, a large inland sea that covered western Utah and Eastern Nevada, according to historian Ronald R. Bateman, who wrote an excellent area history entitled, “Wendover: Winds of Change.”

  In 1833, fur trapper Zenas Leonard journeyed through the area and wrote that he had seen a tall mountain (10,715-feet) covered with snow (now known as Pilot Peak Mountain), which he said stood out because it appeared to be unconnected to any other mountain range.

  Later, many emigrant wagon parties camped in the area during their journey to Oregon and California. Pilot Peak, which has natural springs at its base, served as a guide for those traveling across the barren salt flats.

  The community of Wendover found its footing much later, in the early 20th century, when the Western Pacific Railroad established the town, complete with a roundhouse, depot, water tower and other services in 1907. The first train to reach Wendover arrived two years later.

  For several decades, Wendover was a sleepy hamlet that mostly catered to rail traffic and, starting in the 1920s, to automobile travelers on the Lincoln and Victory highways, which passed through the community.

  In 1914, a man named Teddy Tezlaff drove a Blitzen Benz automobile as fast as he could on the nearby Bonneville Salt Flats, becoming the first person to attempt to establish a land-speed record (his unofficial time was 141.73 miles per hour) on the flats.

  The town’s first travel-related business was established in 1926, when Bill Smith and Herman Eckstein opened the Cobblestone Service Station and put a light bulb on a pole in front that was never turned off. They called it “the light in the desert.”

  In 1932, Smith and Eckstein added a roulette table, becoming the first gaming establishment in Wendover.

  According to Ronald Bateman, the Second World War was a very significant event in the town’s history because in 1940-41, the Wendover Bombing and Gunnery range was opened and over the next few years it grew substantially larger as additional companies of troops were sent to the region for training.

  In 1944, Wendover was selected to be the training ground for the 509th Composite Group, a top-secret contingent of troops that prepared for an atomic bomb mission to Japan. On August 6, 1945, the group’s commander, Colonel Paul Tibbets Jr. piloted the Enola Gay, which dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, which effectively ended the war.

  An impressive stone and bronze monument has been erected adjacent to the Wendover Visitors Center to commemorate the men who worked on this project and as a monument to peace.

  Additionally, the hills around Wendover have been painted with graffiti, much of which was painted during World War II by airmen and soldiers. In some cases, you can still read the numerical insignias of the various troop companies.

  In recent decades, Wendover has become a destination for thrill-seekers and tourists. The Bonneville Salt Flats, located a few miles from Wendover, has hosted a number of land speed record attempts over the years.

  Additionally, several large resort-casinos were constructed in West Wendover (the Nevada side of the settlement) in the 1980s, which helped transform the town from sleepy last-stop-before-you-leave-Nevada into a popular gaming destination for travelers on Interstate 80.

  One of Wendover’s most recognizable landmarks is Wendover Will, a 64-foot-tall, neon cowboy sign erected adjacent to the Stateline Casino in 1952. In 2005, the big buckaroo was renovated and moved to a new location near the Wendover Visitors Center to serve as the community’s official goodwill ambassador.

  In addition to the hotels, Wendover still has a handful of landmarks that recall its time as an important airbase during World War II. Southeast of the main section of the town is the Wendover airbase. You can still find some of the old hangers that housed the airplanes of the 509th Composite Group during the war.

  Some of the buildings have appeared in several motion pictures including the 1996 science fiction thriller “Independence Day."

  For more information about Wendover, contact the West Wendover Tourism and Convention Bureau, https://www.westwendovercity.com/services/tourism-convention-bureau.

Take a Stroll Through the Las Vegas High School Historic District

 

   While it’s true that Las Vegas doesn’t always show an appreciation for its history, there is a cool walking tour brochure, downloadable online, that spotlights one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.

   The area, known as the Las Vegas High School Historic District, includes the community’s oldest standing high school, Las Vegas High School, as well as several dozen historic homes built between 1928 and the start of World War II in the neighborhood around the school.

   The district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1990, is roughly bounded by Sixth Street, Clark Avenue, Ninth Street and Gass Avenue.

   Of course, the heart of the district are the Las Vegas High School and Gymnasium, a pair of Art Deco gems built in 1930-31 and designed by noted Reno architects George A. Ferris & Son.

   Ferris and his son, Lehman Ferris, utilized a blend of Art Deco and southwestern motifs in the buildings’ ornamentation. This style has been described as “Aztec Moderne.”

   Interestingly, the two structures at 315 South 7th, were originally thought by many locals to be too large and too far out of town. But two years after its construction the school was filled to capacity because of the influx of children of the workers building Hoover Dam.

   While no longer used as a regular high school, the building are now part of the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies and Performing Arts, a magnet school for specialized studies.

   Following the walking tour, other noteworthy stops along the way include:

   • 408 South 7th is a marvelous example of Spanish Revival architecture. This single-family home was built by developer R. B. Griffith, who developed the Mt. Charleston area and Rancho Circle, who sold it to Charles “Pop” Squires, a pioneering newspaper publisher who is often called “the Father of Las Vegas” because of his promotional moxie.

   • 500 South 7th is a home built in the French Eclectic-style in 1938. It was owned by divorce attorney and Justice of the Peace C.D. Breeze, whose clients included Mrs. Leopold Stokowski (for her divorce action against the famous conductor) and G. Henry Stetson (whose father invented the famous cowboy hat of that name).

   • 624 South 6th is an unusual Spanish Revival-style house, with a round turret, built in 1932 by prominent Las Vegas dentist and civic leader J.D. Smith. The home boasts a basement, which is a feature that is nearly unknown in the Las Vegas area.

   •618 South 7th is a Mission Revival-style house that was built in 1930 for Harry Allen, a pioneer Las Vegas businessman. Allen was a banker and later president of Nevada Power. He lived in the house until the 1950s.

   • 850 Bonneville is a Tudor Bungalow built in 1931. The home was originally owned by a teacher, Florence Burwell, until she married in the 1940s and sold it to Lewis Rowe. The elegant home was originally located on a lot at 602 South 9th and has been extensively remodeled.

   • 704 South 9th is a Spanish Colonial Revival-style home constructed in 1930. Built at a cost of $10,000, it was owned by District Judge A.S. Henderson, who also had served as a Nevada Assemblyman, a State Senator, and as Las Vegas City Attorney.

   To download the walking tour brochure, go to: https://files.lasvegasnevada.gov/planning/LV-High-School-Historic-District.pdf.

The Strange and Unusual Death of Raymond Spilsbury, Owner of the Boulder Dam Hotel

 

  Maybe it’s fated that a place like Boulder City, which has always seemed so typically American with its manicured lawns, tidy houses and neat street grids, would be associated with one of Nevada’s most mysterious deaths.

  The death in question is that of Raymond Spilsbury, one of the original investors and owners of the Boulder Dam Hotel. Spilsbury, who was born into a wealthy Utah ranching family, had spent several decades working in Peru as general manager of a copper mine.

  In 1933, he became an investor in a new Boulder Dam Hotel being constructed in Boulder City. During the next decade, despite becoming a playground for Hollywood celebrities, the hotel experienced financial difficulties. In 1942, Spilsbury acquired full ownership of the property.

  Two years later, Spilsbury retired from the mining business and moved into the hotel with his wife and son. At the time, his brother, G.C. Spilsbury was manager of the elegant Colonial-style lodging house.

  During the 1930s and 40s, the hotel had hosted many famous people. Actress Bette Davis vacationed at the hotel after filming a movie nearby and actor Boris Karloff (“Frankenstein”) lived there while gaining residency for a quickie divorce.

  On January 19, 1945, the then-56-year-old Spilsbury drove out to Emery’s Landing, a fishing camp on the Colorado River to go fishing with its owner, Murl Emery. According to newspaper accounts of the time, Spilsbury never met up with Emery but was seen taking a walk along the river.

  The next day, Emery saw that Spilsbury’s car still parked in the lot at 3 a.m. and the next morning started to look for the owner. According to one account, Emery discovered Spilsbury’s hat and coat about a day later. The latter had been carefully folded and a rock had been placed on both to keep them from being blown away.

  Inside the coat pockets, was a check for $12,352.40, $1,100 in traveler’s checks, $53 in cash, two pairs of glasses and keys to the car and Spilsbury’s hotel room.

  For the next five weeks, searchers combed the river and surrounding area looking for any sign of Spilsbury. Finally on February 27, a group of three fishermen from Los Angeles spotted his body tangled in a clump of bushes about eight miles from Emery’s Landing, near Nelson, Nevada.

  Perhaps the most peculiar aspect, however, was that when Spilsbury’s body was pulled from the river, authorities found that his ankles had been tied together using his own belt and his pockets were filled with heavy stones.

  A few days later, authorities said they believed Spilsbury, who, according to his brother, had been in ill health for several years, was depressed about his health and committed suicide.

  But was it suicide? According to one account, Spilsbury’s wife, Vona, was suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death and never completely accepted the determination that her husband had killed himself.

  Ultimately, no other motive—certainly he wasn’t robbed—than suicide could be found and the case was closed.

  But even today some believe there is more to the story. In fact, one theory is that Spilsbury—and perhaps Emery—may have hidden caches of money in the vicinity. But who knows for sure?

  The most complete history of the Boulder Dam Hotel, including Spilsbury mysterious death, can be found in Dennis McBride’s 1993 book, “The Secret Life of the Boulder Dam Hotel.” The story is also investigated in my book, “Nevada Myths and Legends, Second Edition.” Both can be found on Amazon and other online booksellers.

  For more information about the Boulder Dam Hotel, go to: www.boulderdamhotel.com.

Everything You Might Ever Want to Know About Sparks Can Be Found at the Sparks Museum & Cultural Center

 

   Often overshadowed by its sister-city, Reno, the city of Sparks has its own rich and fascinating history. That story, in fact, is well told in the Sparks Museum & Cultural Center (formerly known as the Sparks Heritage Museum), located in the community’s downtown core.

   The museum is housed in the historic former Sparks branch of the Washoe County Library and the Sparks Justice Court. The two-story brick structure with the red-tile roof was built in 1931 and designed by noted Nevada architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

   Originally, the Washoe County Library was housed on the upper floor, while the Justice Court was in the lower part of the building. The library relocated to Oddie Boulevard in 1965 and the Justice Court, which had taken over the entire building after the library departed, moved out of the building in the mid-1990s.

   The historic structure, which reflects the Mediterranean Revival style of architecture, became the home of the Sparks Museum several years later.

   The museum, which now encompasses the entire building, offers a large collection of permanent and changing galleries that tell the community’s story.

   While the city was formally incorporated on March 15, 1905, its roots began a few years earlier when the Southern Pacific Railway Company decided to shorten and straighten its main line across Northern Nevada.

  The railroad rerouted its tracks along the eastern Truckee River corridor to eliminate several dangerous curves and grades.

  In about 1903, the railroad announced that as part of this realignment it would relocate its main division point in the region from Wadsworth to a site about four miles east of Reno. It originally looked at Reno for its new shops, but went east because of cheaper land.

  To entice its workers to move to the new site, the railroad made a generous offer—a tract of land would be set aside adjacent to a new roundhouse and the railroad would give each employee clear title to a 50-foot by 140-foot lot. Additionally, the railroad offered to transport any existing house in Wadsworth to the new community at no charge.

  Records show that in the summer of 1903, a drawing was conducted with employee names in one hat and lot number in another, and each was randomly awarded their lot. Some 67 lots changed title that day at a price of $1 per lot.

  The new town was called “East Reno” for a short time, then “Harriman,” after E.H. Harriman, owner of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Finally, in April 1904, Harriman decided to name the community in honor of Nevada’s popular Governor, “Honest” John Sparks.

  Over the past century, the railroad has become a less important part of the town’s economy but has remained an important symbol of the past. The Sparks High School athletic teams are called the “Railroaders” and the downtown’s “Victorian Square” development theme evokes the architecture and style of an earlier rail era.

  The importance of railroading to the development of Sparks can be seen in many of the displays in the museum. For example, dozens of historic photographs depict the railroad buildings and equipment used at the Sparks rail yard.

  In one room, you can find an original oak desk once used by the railroad, and still covered with the paperwork. Cabinets display uniforms, steam whistles, dining car trays, and an extensive collection of railroad lanterns.

  Other exhibits spotlight the Lincoln Highway, which passed through Sparks in the early 20th century, as well as the Nugget Casino, long a Sparks institution.

  Other displays contain handmade quilts, a vintage piano, talking and recording machines, radios, refrigerators and clothing from the late 19th and early 20th century. Against one wall, you can even find a switchboard like that used by the old Sparks Telephone Company. The facility also has an extensive research library, with helpful librarians.

  The Sparks Museum and Cultural Center is located at 820 Victorian Avenue. It’s open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (the research library is open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.).

  For more information go to: https://sparksmuseum.org/.

Getting Away From It All At Sparks' Wedekind Hills Regional Park

 

   It’s easy to find solitude in the Wedekind Hills Regional Park in north Sparks.

   The 250-acre site, located adjacent to the Pyramid Highway, off Disc Drive, encompasses a portion of a once-active silver and gold mining area known as the Wedekind Mining District.

   While little evidence remains of that mining period, beside a few dirt mounds, the story of the district and its mines is a fascinating and lesser-known part of Washoe County’s past.

   The mines were developed in about 1896 by George Wedekind, a Prussian emigrant who had come to America to make his fortune. Wedekind, who was a piano tuner by trade, apparently plied his skills in New York and San Francisco before moving in 1880 to White Pine County, Nevada to raise cattle.

   By the late 1880s, he was living in Virginia City, working as a piano tuner and prospecting on the side.

   In 1895, Wedekind and his wife, Helena (they had married in 1856), relocated to the Truckee Meadows, where he maintained his piano tuning and repair business, while also continuing his prospecting expeditions.

   “During his leisure time while living in Reno he could be seen driving an old horse through the country on his prospecting trips,” noted the Nevada Historical Society (NHS) Papers, 1925-1926.

   “One day [in June 1896] while eating his lunch he casually kicked over a small rock which appeared a bit unlike others which lay about,” the report continued. “Upon closer examination he was convinced that it contained ore.”

   He had the rock assayed and it came back as being rich in silver ore. According to the NHS Papers, he then began the process of sinking a shaft on the site, which was about two miles north of what would become the city of Sparks, and removed ore that proved to be worth about $10,000.

   Words soon spread about Wedekind’s mineral strike in the hills that now bear his name and a small mining camp soon popped up, which was called Wedekind City. Within two years of the discovery, the camp had close to 30 structures including a half-dozen wood frame buildings, clusters of tents, a boarding house, post office, miners’ hall, general store, machine shop, assay office, and a 147 by 155-foot mill.

   The Nevada Daily Journal reported on September 10, 1902 that a telephone line from Reno had been strung and the streets and principal buildings were “lighted by electricity.” Additionally, “an electric railway from Reno is not improbably within the coming year.”

   In 1901, prospects for Wedekind City and the mining district were so promising that Wedekind, who lacked the capital to properly work the mine, decided to sell out to wealthy cattleman John Sparks.

   The latter, who would be elected governor of Nevada in November 1902, had sold his cattle holdings in 1901 after a series of financial setbacks, believed the Wedekind district would be his ticket to new wealth. He paid Wedekind about $150,000 (about $5.5 million in today’s dollars) for the property.

   Sparks invested significant resources to developing the district, including timbering the mine shafts, installing a steam hoist works, and hiring about 40 workers to operate the mill. Unfortunately for him, the Wedekind mines proved to be played out.

   Despite his successful run for governor (and reelection in 1906), Sparks was nearly bankrupted by the lack of success with the Wedekind district. When he died unexpected in 1908 at the age of 64, he had accumulated an enormous amount of debt. Despite that, he was extremely popular and the town of Sparks was named in his honor during his term as governor.

   As for Wedekind, he had great success in Reno real estate development (using the money he made from his mining property). He died in 1905, following an automobile accident.

   Visiting the site of all this activity, Wedekind Park, you’ll discover an open, nearly treeless landscape (wear a hat and sun protection on hot days) that offers several hiking trails (ideal for walking dogs off-leash). Trails lead to the top of the park’s two peaks, which have observation areas providing great views of the Truckee Meadows.

   The park has two trailheads, one off Disc Drive, and one off Fourth Street. Near the latter, which is adjacent to the Orr Ditch, you will find running water (in the ditch), a shaded area with picnic tables, a pavilion, and an amphitheater for presentations.

   Wandering the trails, it’s not uncommon to see dozens of lizards scampering over the rocks, and, overhead, circling eagles and hawks. The park is also home to marmots and the occasional coyote. But not too many people.

   For more information, go to: www.cityofsparks.us/business_detail_T71_R53.php.

Common Myths About Sin City

 

Last Frontier, 1945

   Everyone thinks they know Las Vegas. But over the years, the city has been the subject of many myths—some created by the city’s own publicists. The following are just a few of the more common misconceptions or downright falsehoods that have been spread over the years about the city:

   • Las Vegas was founded by the Mob—Anyone who has watched any gangster movie or TV crime show about Las Vegas, might get the impression this is a fact. The reality, however, is that Las Vegas was founded by Mormon missionaries.

   Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established Sin City. In 1855, Mormon leader Brigham Young sent 30 men to establish a small fort and settlement in the Las Vegas Valley. Due to its isolated location and hot, dry climate, the colony struggled for two years before it was finally abandoned.

   A few years later, the fort became a ranch and trading post, which eventually grew into the city of Las Vegas. The fort, now a state park, is located just north of downtown on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and East Washington Avenue.

   • Bugsy Siegel created the Las Vegas Strip—If you watch the 1992 film Bugsy, starring Warren Beatty, you saw Las Vegas portrayed as a backwater town that owed its existence to gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.

   In the movie Siegel, in Vegas to check on mob interests, pulls off the highway, walks into a desolate patch of sagebrush and sand, and announces that he will build a hotel there. 

   The reality is that the first resort built on the Las Vegas Strip was El Rancho Vegas, which opened in 1941, followed by the Last Frontier a year later. Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel did not open until New Year’s Eve 1946. Siegel wasn’t even the father of the Flamingo—Los Angeles publisher and restaurateur Billy Wilkerson was the original owner. Wilkerson, however, ran out of money and partnered with Siegel and his mob pals to complete the hotel (although he was quickly squeezed out of the picture).

   Siegel also is not responsible for naming the Las Vegas Strip. That honor goes to Guy McAfee, a Las Vegas casino owner and former corrupt vice-squad captain with the Los Angeles police. In the 1940s, McAfee named Las Vegas Boulevard “the Strip” because it reminded him of Los Angeles’ famed Sunset Strip.

   • Elvis was always a big star in Las Vegas—It turns out that Elvis Presley was a flop in his first Las Vegas appearance, at the New Frontier showroom, in April 1956. His fans, largely teen girls, were too young to get into the casino to see the show, and the gambling crowd didn’t much care for rock-n-roll and thought he was too loud.

   However, when Elvis returned 13 years later, he began a long string of sold-out shows.

   • Big-name hotel entertainment was invented in Las Vegas—While Las Vegas resorts no doubt made popular the casino showroom and lounge, the first big-name entertainer to play a Nevada hotel was bandleader Ted Lewis, who performed with his orchestra at the Commercial Hotel in Elko on April 26, 1941.

   The first big-name entertainer to appear in Las Vegas is believed to have been singer Sophie Tucker, who performed at the Last Frontier in January 1944. The first star-studded entertainment event in Las Vegas history was the grand opening of the Flamingo in 1946, which featured George Jessel, Jimmy Durante, Baby Rose Marie, Eddie Jackson, and Xavier Cugat’s orchestra. Their appearance sparked competition between the city’s resorts, which continues to this day.

   • Las Vegas is the hottest spot in Nevada—It may seem that way sometimes, but the place with the hottest recorded temperature in the state is Laughlin, which reached a scorching 125 degrees on June 29, 1994. The hottest recorded temperature in Las Vegas was 117 degrees, which has happened several times including on July 10, 2023, July 10, 2021, and July 24, 1942.

Nevada Researcher Joyce M. Cox's Last Book Tells How Reno Put Itself on the Map

 

   Reno author Joyce M. Cox, who died in May at the age of 75, was once described as “a human version of Google decades before the internet existed.”

   Her agility in finding and recalling information was much appreciated by all who came in contact with her during her many years as a research librarian in California, Washington, and Nevada.

   That special ability is what also makes her last book, “Behind the Arch: The Story of Reno, Nevada’s Unique Chamber of Commerce and the Making of ‘The Biggest Little City in the World’” such a treat.

   Cox, who retired in 2009 after serving as the head reference librarian at the Nevada State Library and Archives, has taken a deep dive into the story of how the city of Reno has successfully marketed and publicized itself over the decades.

   The book, published by Eric Moody’s Nevada in the West Publishing of Reno earlier this year, begins with a short chapter describing how the then-fledgling community of Reno took its first steps to market itself by forming various promotional committees that eventually evolved into the first Reno Chamber of Commerce.

   Cox tells the background behind the creation of the city’s famous slogan, “Reno: The Biggest Little City in the World,” and the way the community utilized promotional booklets and magazine articles to spread the word about the community and its many attributes.

   Along the way, readers discover the various themes used in the city’s promotions, including its quality of life and recreational assets (“Reno Land of Charm”) as well as the tax advantages of living in Nevada (“One Sound State”). 

   Later chapters are devoted to the plethora of gambling-related promotional efforts, both private and public. These ranged from the iconic “Harolds Club or Bust!” signs to the Reno Chamber’s “In Reno It’s Fun Time All the Time,” promotions of the mid-1960s.

   The book is lavishly illustrated with historic photos and images of various promotional campaigns including posters, pamphlets, maps and brochures.

   Of course, part of the fun in reading the book is seeing how Reno’s promotional efforts evolved over time. In the beginning, the aim was largely focused on encouraging people from out of state to visit Reno to see that the city wasn’t some remote uncivilized community.

   Later, the efforts pass through a phase of promoting the city as a tax haven, then as the “quickie” divorce capital, and then as a skiing, special event, rodeo hub. In the 1960s, Reno’s promotors wrapped its identity around the gaming industry and then, starting in the late 1970s, pushed economic diversification.

   Cox’s book, in fact, proves to be more than just simply an account of the city’s promotional campaigns through the decades, but also is a good, solid history of the city’s evolution as a community.

   Copies of Joyce M. Cox’s book, “Behind the Arch: The Story of Reno, Nevada’s Unique Chamber of Commerce and the Making of ‘The Biggest Little City in the World,’” are available at the Nevada Historic Society gift shop at 1650 North Virginia Street, Reno.