Virginia City’s St. Mary’s Art Center—celebrating its 150th anniversary this year—can trace its beginnings to a terrible tragedy in 1873. At a minute before eleven on the evening of July 29, a loud blast rocked the mining community and killed 11 of the city’s residents.
“The explosion was doubtless the work of nitroglycerine, as we learn that six cans of this pent-up lightning were stored in the building, under the rooms of [General Jacob] Van Bokkelen and [J.P.] Smith, on Friday last,” noted the Virginia City Chronicle on June 30.
“Gen. Van Bokkelen was the local agent of several powder companies—is said to have been agent for black, giant and Hercules powder,” it continued. “The explosion seemed to come from General Van Bokkelen’s room.”
The Chronicle said one possible cause was the fact that Van Bokkelen owned a pet monkey, which lived with him in his room. According to the newspaper, the general most likely had small or large quantities of powder and nitroglycerine in his room as well.
“He entered his room only about twenty minutes before the explosion, and doubtless proceeded at once to undress,” the Chronicle noted. “While his lamp was still burning, the monkey probably got on a jamboree and upset the lamp or a can of nitroglycerine. Of course, the truth will never be known.”
In addition to Van Bokkelen and Smith, nine other people, and presumably the monkey, were killed in the explosion.
The land where the St. Mary’s Art Center is located today was the site of a beer garden owned by Van Bokkelen, who had served as Nevada Provost Marshall during the Civil War, and was a prominent local businessman. After his death, the beer garden was put up for sale and was purchased by Marie Louise Mackay, wife of Comstock silver baron John Mackay, the wealthiest man in the state and one of the richest in the country.
Mrs. Mackay donated the site to a Catholic religious order, Daughters of Charity, for use as a hospital. In 1876, the new four-story, brick facility opened as the St. Mary Louise Hospital. It offered 36 rooms, which could accommodate up to 70 patients, as well as hot and cold running water in each room.
The Daughters continued to operate the hospital for the next two decades. In 1897, Virginia City’s declining mining industry and dwindling population resulted in the order leaving the area and turning over operations of the hospital to Storey County.
Continuing population declines in the 1920s and 30s,forced the county to close the hospital in the 1940s. For many years after, the elegant brick building sat vacant and in decline.
In the early 1960s, however, Virginia City saw the development of a vibrant, local art scene. Several of these artists worked with Father Paul Meinecke, to reopen the building, now known as the St. Mary’s Art Center. The effort came at the right time as plans had been announced to demolish the historic building.
According to the Art Center’s website, one of those artists was Louise Curran, who became the first director of the new center. The first artist to teach classes in the center was a California-based painter Richard Yip and he was soon followed by many others.
In the 1990s, the center opened its doors to the public, making the facility available for a variety of uses.
Today, St. Mary’s Art Center serves as one of Virginia City’s most well-known and popular art spaces, with a year-round resident artist program and exhibits in seven rotating galleries in the once-again elegant structure.
Tours of the center are offered on Tuesdays through Saturdays by appointment (at https://www.stmarysartcenter.org/book-online) or 775-440-0992.
For more information, go to: https://www.stmarysartcenter.org/.
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