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| McGill Club |
The small community of McGill, located about 12 miles north of Ely in eastern Nevada, was originally a ranch established in 1872, by a man named John Cowger. About 14 years later, he sold his holdings to William Neil McGill, who, along with former Nevada Governor Jewett Adams, operated one of the state’s largest livestock operations.
In 1906, with the development of large copper mines in Ruth and the building of the Nevada Northern Railway, the McGill Ranch area was chosen to be the site of a massive smelter for the mining company as well as for constructing large tailings ponds. The new railroad, which reached McGill in 1908, would connect the mines to the smelter.
Within about three years, McGill had grown into a bustling small community, with 2,200 men working at the smelter. Dozens of homes and businesses soon sprang up. To provide housing for its workers, the company built modest wooden homes for them—hence the identical, cookie-cutter appearance of many of the small, older houses found in McGill.
By the 1920s, McGill had grown to rival nearby Ely as the largest town in White Pine County. Even a disastrous fire in 1922, which destroyed much of the smelting complex, didn't slow McGill, which peaked in 1930 when the town had more than 3,000 residents.
The unusually long life of the Ruth/Ely area's copper mines contributed to McGill's longevity. For much of the next fifty years, McGill maintained a relatively steady population of about 2,000 people, most working for the smelter.
One of the somewhat unique aspects about McGill was that it was a regulated company town, so many of the types of businesses that might have cropped up near a mining town, such as saloons, gambling joints, and other industries, were established in smaller settlements beyond the town limits.
The town managed to thrive, with things remaining fairly static, until the 1950s, when the mines in Ruth ceased to be as productive. By 1983, the smelter had closed and it was demolished—including its once iconic massive brick smoke stack—in 1993.
During its more than 70-year mining boom, McGill acquired many community amenities, including churches, a newspaper, a movie theater, a large brick school and a municipal swimming pool—actually an Olympic-size, old-fashioned watering hole.
Additionally, as a result of the mining company's aggressive recruitment of new immigrants, McGill became one of Nevada's most ethnically diverse communities. Large numbers of Greeks, Irish, Slavs and other newcomers to the America found their way to McGill to work at the smelter.
Yet despite the loss of its primary industry, McGill never completely faded into ghost town status. Some residents found work in the larger community of Ely and, after construction of the Ely State Prison, it became a bedroom community for prison workers. Today about 1,000 people still call McGill home.
The town’s downtown business district remains a mix of shuttered buildings and hardy survivors, including the McGill Drug Store Museum at 11 Fourth Street (U.S. 93), which offers a snapshot into the town’s life. The drug store opened in 1915 and operated continuously until 1979.
Gerald and Elsa Culbert owned the store from 1950 until it was closed following Gerald’s death. In 1995, the Culbert children donated the drug store, which still contained its complete inventory on the shelves, to Ely’s White Pine County Museum for preservation and display.
These days, visitors can tour this fully intact, 20th century, small town drug store, which still has an operating soda fountain. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, go to: https://travelnevada.com/museums/mcgill-drugstore-museum/.
Another fun place to check out is the McGill Club, a local watering hole that has been in the town for decades. In addition to a beautiful wooden backbar, it serves as community hub. Also, check out the amazing display with photos of every McGill resident who ever served in the Armed Forces.
For more information about McGill, go to: https://www.whitepinechamber.com/p/16/mcgill-nevada.
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