One of the oddest structures in rural Nevada is the stone tower near Austin known as Stokes Castle. Built of native rock and wood, the tower is a three-story square-shaped building overlooking the Reese River Valley that was erected by wealthy businessman Anson Phelps Stokes for his son, John Graham Phelps Stokes (often referred to as J.G. Phelps Stokes), who was managing his mining and railroad operations in the area.
The elder Stokes, part of the wealth Dodge Phelps clan, had made a fortune as an East Coast merchant and in banking, land development, mining and railroads. During that time, informally known as the Gilded Age, the Stokes family was part of the “Four Hundred,” a list of the cream of New York society.
Befitting their wealth, the family owned a compound of three mansions (lived in by different family members) on Madison Avenue and 37th Street in Manhattan. The three brownstones were later purchased by banker J.P. Morgan.
Anson Stokes first invested in Central Nevada with his acquisition of the unbuilt Nevada Central Railroad (NCRR) in 1879. Under Stokes guidance, the railroad, which ran between Battle Mountain and Austin, was completed in 1880.
During the next few years, Anson Stokes and his son, J.G. Phelps Stokes invested heavily in mining properties in Austin and other parts of the state.
Unfortunately for the NCRR, Austin’s silver production began to decline within a few years after the railroad line opened. By 1887, most the mines closed, although there were periodic revivals in later years.
Despite the declining profitability of the NCRR, J.G. Phelps Stokes assumed the role of president of the railroad in 1898.
A year earlier was when Anson Stokes decided to build the structure that would be known as Stokes Castle. In April 1897, work began on grading a 2,900-foot-long road to the site of the castle, on a flat part of the mountain overlooking the Reese River Valley.
According to records, work on the building started in late April and completed in mid-June. The structure, originally only two-stories, was built using some 800-tons of locally-quarried granite and mortar.
Construction was largely done by a local master stonemason named John C. Worley, who also worked on St. George’s Episcopal Church in Austin (completed in 1878) and the main house of the O’Toole Ranch in the Reese River Valley (in about 1904).
Upon visiting the castle for the first time in late June 1897, Anson Stokes decided to add a third story to the structure, which was completed shortly after. Each story in the castle was a single room with a fireplace and small windows.
Wooden balconies supported by iron railroad supports were constructed on the second and third floors and an awning was stretched over the roof. Entry was via a single doorway on the first floor.
Stokes, who designed the tower himself, based it on a painting of a tower in the Roman Campagna (the countryside around Rome) that hung in the library of his New York home.
By all accounts, Anson Stokes built the castle as a summer home for his son to use when visiting the area. J.G. Phelps Stokes and a handful of his friends apparently only stayed at the castle on a handful of occasions in late 1897 and 1898.
Unfortunately for the Stokes family, in 1898, they discovered that one of their Nevada business associates had embezzled $300,000 from them, which caused them to sell off their Austin mining properties including the castle.
From the turn of the century until the 1950s, the castle was largely neglected. In the late 1950s, apparently a Las Vegas promoter attempted to purchase the structure to move it to Las Vegas but those plans were foiled when a prominent local rancher/political figure, Molly Flagg Knudtsen (she was the first female member of the University of Nevada Board of Regents) purchased it so it would remain in place and be preserved.
In 2003, Stokes Castle was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is currently owned and maintained by an Austin-area resident. While the tower itself is fenced-off, visitors today can still visit to admire the workmanship and enjoy the fantastic views.
For more information about Stokes Castle, go to: https://travelnevada.com/historical-interests/stokes-castle/.
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