Beatty is the gateway to Death Valley, Ghost Towns and Natural Attractions

Beatty Museum

 From its earliest days, the reason behind the founding of the southern Nevada community of Beatty was water.
  Located directly east of dry and desolate Death Valley, it is no surprise that the presence of the precious stuff would make it a desirable place to put down roots.
  While the history is murky, most records indicate Beatty was originally settled in about 1870 by a man named Landers. All that is known about Landers is that he built a small stone cabin adjacent to a bubbling spring in the area, which was eventually named Oasis Valley.
  In 1896, Montillus Murray Beatty acquired the Landers ranch and moved into the stone cabin. He planted trees around the structure and cultivated a variety of crops.
  When gold was discovered over the hill in the Bullfrog mining district (so named because of the unusual green color of the ore), Beatty's ranch was the closest source of plentiful water and fresh produce. In addition to having a natural spring, his land was atop the Amargosa River, which runs underground through the area.
  The town of Beatty was established in 1904, south of the ranch. It quickly became an important supply point for surrounding mining towns like Bullfrog and Rhyolite, and later thrived because it was located between the booming mining town of Goldfield and the railroad yards of Las Vegas.
  Beatty sold his ranch and springs in 1906 and moved into the growing town of Beatty, which, by that time, boasted 1,000 residents and a major hotel, the 23-room Montgomery Hotel. He died two years later at the age of 73, after suffering an injury while hauling wood.
  In 1906, a rail line was completed that linked Beatty to Las Vegas, and the following year a line was built connecting the town to Goldfield.
  The Bullfrog mining boom, however, ended almost as quickly as it began, with most mines shutting down by 1909. Beatty, while experiencing a decline, was able to survive because of the same things that first attracted people there—availability of water and location on the road linking central Nevada to southern Nevada.
  Today, visitors find a pleasant small community with several hotel/motel casinos, including the Exchange Club Motel and Casino, the Death Valley Inn and the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino.
  In recent years, Beatty has become popular with the RV crowd, attracted by the comfortably warm, winter weather and proximity to Death Valley National Park. The town boasts a half-dozen RV parks.
  In addition to serving as the gateway to Death Valley, which is directly west on Nevada State Route 374, Beatty is only four miles from the ghost town of Rhyolite.
  Established in 1905, Rhyolite was once one of Southern Nevada’s premier mining towns. The ruins of a number of substantial structures, including the Rhyolite Depot and the Rhyolite Bottle House (a former residence constructed using about 15,000 bottles) remain standing.
  Beatty is also only about ten miles from the Amargosa Sand Dunes, including Big Dune, a 2,731-foot high mound of sand that is popular with all-terrain vehicle drivers.
  Beatty’s rich history is presented in nice displays and historic photos at the excellent Beatty Museum and Historical Society at 417 Main Street (775-553-2303), which is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, check out its website at: www.beattymuseum.org/.
  Additionally, a good source of information about the history of Beatty is “A History of Beatty,” by Robert D. McCracken, published by Nye County Press. A condensed version of McCracken’s book, titled, “Beatty: Frontier Oasis,” is also available.

It's a Name that Just Jumps Out at You: The Mining Camp of Bullfrog

 

 Inside the Bullfrog Jail

Bullfrog boasted just about the best name ever for a Nevada mining camp.

How it came to have that name, however, isn’t as clear. Historians say there are a couple of different versions of how it gained such a colorful name.

According to one story, after gold was discovered in the region in August 1904 by two miners, Ernest L. Cross and Frank “Shorty” Harris, Harris thought that the ore, which was speckled green, resembled a bullfrog—hence the name.

Another version, apparently advanced by Cross, was that the name was derived from an old song that Cross always sang, which included the line: “The bullfrog on the bank and the bullfrog in the pool.”

Whatever the origins, within a short time after Cross and Harris made their discovery, a significant mining boom kicked off in the area. The two had taken their ore samples to the mining town of Goldfield, 75 miles north, to have them tested and word soon spread about their fabulous discovery.

Within months, tents and wooden shanties were erected throughout the area. An early photograph shows dozens of white tents spread all over the valley, with little apparent planning or design.

Eventually, a few town sites were established in the vicinity, including one camp called Amargosa City. In early 1905, the entire town of Amargosa City was moved to a flat area below the adjacent mining town of Rhyolite and renamed Bullfrog.

For a short time, Rhyolite and Bullfrog were pretty fierce competitors. By early 1906, Bullfrog had more than 1,000 people, a couple of hotels, a water system, a bank, a post office, a growing residential district and a small business district, and appeared to have the edge.

But Rhyolite would eventually surpass Bullfrog. According to historian and photographer, Nell Murbarger, a man named Pete Busch was the first to envision Rhyolite as a new metropolis in the desert, and aggressively promoted his idea to outside investors.

His efforts bore fruit as many eastern investors, who had missed the Tonopah and Goldfield mining booms, poured money into Rhyolite. At its peak in 1906-07, Rhyolite had more than 6,000 residents, an elaborate Mission-style train depot and dozens of businesses.

While its sister city thrived, Bullfrog began to fade. Many businesses, sensing greater opportunity just up the wash, relocated to Rhyolite.

In 1907, when a national financial panic suddenly stopped the flow of investment into Rhyolite, Bullfrog was also impacted. By 1909, its mines closed and the former boomtown was in a freefall. The Bullfrog post office shut down in May 1909 and most of the rest of its businesses closed or moved away.

A visit to the site of Bullfrog reveals only a couple of foundations, including of the former jail, a few stone walls and the remains of a vintage automobile. Years ago, someone placed hand-painted signs on a few of the former locations of the buildings, although it’s amusing to look at an empty patch of sagebrush and weeds marked “Bullfrog Bank.”

Other signs indicate the former site of the general store and other establishments.

An interesting side note is that the name, Bullfrog, resurfaced about 70 years after the town’s demise. In the 1980s, the Nevada Legislature created a new county, which it named “Bullfrog County.”

The purpose of Bullfrog County, located in the vicinity of the Yucca Mountain range, (not too far from the historical Bullfrog mining district), was to allow the state to tax—at a high rate—the federal government should it succeed in placing a high-level nuclear dump site at Yucca Mountain.

Alas, this Bullfrog’s existence was even more fleeting than the original, as the courts quickly tossed out the law creating the county.

Bullfrog is located about a mile west of the ghost town of Rhyolite. To reach the site, travel south on Highway 95 to Beatty, then head four miles west on State Route 374 to Rhyolite. The remains of Bullfrog are located adjacent to a large red barn-shaped building, directly west of the entrance to Rhyolite.

Once White Pine County's Largest Community: the Historic Mining Camp of Ward

Many people are familiar with the Ward Charcoal Ovens, the beehive-shaped stone historic landmarks located south of Ely. Few, however, realize the ovens were only part of a much larger mining district that included the town of Ward, once the largest community in White Pine County.

The town of Ward was established in 1872 by two wagon-drivers, William Ballinger and John Henry. Their discovery evolved into the Paymaster Mine, which soon attracted hundreds of fortune-seekers.

Within three years, Ward had more than 1,000 people. The camp was named for B.F. Ward, who along with two partners, laid out the town site. The following year, the region gained a 20-stamp mill, which was relocated to Ward from another mining camp.

Ward's most enduring structures, the six beehive-shaped Ward Charcoal Ovens, were constructed in 1876 to produce charcoal for the district's mining smelters.

The kilns, located about five miles south of the community of Ward, were built of native rock. They stand 30-feet high and 27-feet around at the base.  When filled, each could contain 35 cords of pinion pine stacked in layers.

The dome-shape allowed the wood to be stacked easily, while heat could be adjusted and controlled by opening and closing small vents at the base of the ovens. The massive ovens were abandoned by the early 1880s, when Ward's mines played out.

Over the next century, the intriguing stone buildings were used for a variety of purposes, including as stables and emergency lodging for itinerate sheepherders and cowboys.

The stone kilns were eventually acquired by the Nevada Division of State Parks and have been designated as an historical site.

As for the town of Ward, it peaked in 1877 when its population climbed to 2,000 residents and the town was large enough to support two newspapers, a Wells-Fargo office, a city hall, hotels and a large business district.

By 1880, however, the town was in a dramatic tailspin. Only about 250 residents remained and mines began shutting down. Additionally, promising discoveries at Cherry Creek, located about 70 miles north, began to draw many prospectors away.

Most of the town's wooden buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1883, including the city hall and the school. Two years later, only one business remained open in the struggling camp and the population had dwindled to 25.

In the intervening years, the district mines have been occasionally reworked including from about 1910 to 1920 and again in the 1930s and 1960s.

More recently, the area has again become an active mining district and the few remaining ruins of old Ward have been closed to the public. The historic Ward Cemetery, located one-mile east of the town, however, is open to the public and offers a handful of wooden and marble headstones.

The Ward Charcoal Ovens remain a popular place to explore. In addition to the six kilns, the area, which sits at the base of Ward Mountain, has a few undeveloped campsites and picnic tables.

An unmaintained dirt road heads west of the ovens and winds upward through picturesque pinon trees. Along the way, you pass the rock walls and foundations of a couple of long-abandoned miner's shacks, which have been almost swallowed by the sagebrush and grasses.

And if you stand inside one of the cone-shaped ovens and hold your breath, you swear you hear faint voices telling Ward's story. Or perhaps it’s just the wind.

The Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historical Monument is located 12 miles south of Ely via U.S. 50 and a marked dirt road. For more information about the area, go to http://parks.nv.gov/parks/ward-charcoal-ovens.

Native American Pre-History Found at Petroglyph Point in Lava Beds National Monument - Part 3

One of the things that makes Lava Beds National Monument so special is that it is one of the longest continuously occupied homelands in North America.

Ancestors of today’s Modoc people resided in the area for thousands of years, leaving behind proof of their existence in the prehistoric petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pictographs (cave paintings) found on the site.

Lava Beds National Monument is located 270 miles north of Carson City via U.S. 395.

The best place to view the monument’s petroglyphs is the aptly-named Petroglyph Point, which can be found at the monument’s northeastern corner. An estimated 5,000 symbols and images have been carved into cliffs there.

Archaeologists believe the carvings to be nearly 6,000 years old. While they resemble imagery found at other locations in California and Nevada, they have never been translated, although some believe they could be related to either religious, hunting, or fertility rites.

Petroglyph Point’s carvings are particularly impressive because there are so many and they stretch along the base of the cliff for about a half-mile. A fence erected in the 1930s protects the carvings, although, sadly, there has been vandalism over the years.

Walking along the cliff, peering through the chain-link fence, one can’t help but feel the spirituality of the site. The area around the point was once covered with water, so these native artists would have had to have paddled in their canoes out to the point to create their works on the stone walls.

The carvings at the point were apparently made using a variety of techniques including incising, rough pecking at the stone, simple abrasion, and drilling and then connecting small pits to create images. The work includes geometric shapes, a few animal-like images, squiggles, and lines.

According to an interpretive walk brochure prepared by Lava Beds National Monument and the Lava Beds Natural History Association, the Modoc people have a myth that explains the creation of the point.

The Modocs believed that one day the world’s creator, Kamookumpts, was resting on the east shore of Tule Lake and realized there was nothing around but the lake. He scooped a massive mound of mud from the lake’s bottom and began to create the world, including mountains, lakes, plants, rivers, and animals.

Once he had completed his work, the tired Kamookumpts dug a hole in which to sleep under Tule Lake. He left the hill, where the point is now located, to mark the spot.

Geologists, however, have a different explanation. About 250,000 years ago, the area was an extremely active volcanic region. Magma was expelled from a crack or fault at the site and over time formed a mound of volcanic muddy layers, which, when cooled, became the volcanic “tuff” that forms the hill that is Petroglyph Point.

According to the interpretative brochure, the sheer volume of images and the fact that many are superimposed over each other, seems to indicate the point was a particularly attractive and/or powerful setting.

Lava Beds’ pictographs, some more than 1,500 years old, can be found at several of the cave entrances. They are painted in black, a color produced from a charcoal base mixed with animal fat, and white, which was made using a clay base.

The best examples are found at Symbol Bridge and Big Painted Cave on boulders along the trail and on the walls around the entrance. Additionally, pictographs have been found in Fern Cave, which is only open to the public with a Park Service guide. Fern Cave, which actually has ferns growing in it, is still used by tribal members for ritual purposes and is considered a sacred site.

For more information about Petroglyph Point or pictographs, go to: www.nps.gov/labe/learn/historyculture/rockart.htm. The interpretive brochure detailing Petroglyph Point can be found at: http://npshistory.com/brochures/labe/petroglyph-point.pdf.

To reach Lava Beds National Monument travel north on U.S. 395, through Susanville to Alturas. Continue north on Highways 299 and 139 (toward Tulelake). About 45 miles north of Alturas, follow the signs to Lava Beds and Petroglyph Point. There is a fee for visiting the monument.

The Tragic History of Lava Beds National Monument - Part 2

There is far more to Northern California’s Lava Beds National Monument than its remarkable geological formations and lava tubes.

For example, it is the site of the Modoc War, the only Indian war in which a U.S. military general was killed. The monument’s visitor center has an excellent series of displays detailing the circumstances leading to the war. Lava Beds Monument is located 270 miles north of Carson City via U.S. 395.

 Archeological evidence, including petroglyphs, indicates Native Americans lived in the Lava Beds region for nearly 10,000 years. In more recent times, the Modoc people resided in domed dwellings scattered along the shores of Tule Lake and Lost River.

In the 1850s, white settlers entered the area and because they wanted to settle on land that was traditionally used by the Modocs, demanded that the Modocs be relocated to the Klamath Reservation with the Klamath and Snake Indians.

The Modocs and the other two tribes, however, were historic mortal enemies so attempts to force them to live together were doomed to fail.

One Modoc leader, Kientpoos, and a handful of his tribe refused to live at the Klamath reservation, which was in southern Oregon, and petitioned for their own reservation on the Lost River. Their presence along Lost River disturbed settlers, who pushed to have the Indians returned to the Klamath reservation.

Kientpoos agreed to return to the reservation but immediately faced harassment by the Klamaths. In April 1869, he again left the reservation, along with 371 members of his tribe, and returned to Lost River.

The situation worsened over the next few years and in late 1872, troops were sent from Fort Klamath to forcibly return the Modocs to the reservation. 

The troops fought with the tribe and burned their village, but were unsuccessful in relocating them to the reservation. In retaliation, one band of Modocs led by a man named Hooker Jim headed east of Tule Lake and killed 14 male settlers. Meanwhile, Kientpoos, who the settlers called “Captain Jack,” traveled to the lava beds area with the rest of the tribe.

Following the killings, Hooker Jim and his followers returned to the rest of the tribe. Kientpoos reluctantly allowed them to stay despite feeling that their murderous rampage might lead to retaliation against the entire tribe.

The area in which Kientpoos and the tribe settled was located in the rugged northern portion of Lava Beds Monument, just south of Tule Lake. The terrain is covered with sagebrush and encompasses deep lava trenches and small caves—which create the sense of being in a maze.

It was a perfect natural hideout for the Modocs and has become known as “Captain Jack’s Stronghold.”

In January 1873, about 300 troops marched on the Modocs, who numbered about 50 men and more than 100 women and children. The Modocs, however, were able to hold off the soldiers for the next five months.

Finally, President Ulysses S. Grant designated a Peace Commission to meet with the Modocs, who continued to insist on being granted their own reservation.

While Kientpoos favored negotiating a peaceful settlement, Hooker Jim (who had been indicted for murder and had no interest in peace) and other rival leaders jealous of Kientpoos’ authority led an effort to kill the Peace Commissioners.

Since the Modocs made decisions by consensus, a majority of the members sided with Hooker Jim and voted to execute the Peace Commissioners. On April 1873, two unarmed Peace Commissioners, which included General E.R.S. Canby, met with Kientpoos and several other Modocs. The Modocs again requested their own reservation but that proposal was rejected. In response, members of the tribe opened fire on Canby and the other commissioner, killing both.

General William T. Sherman soon called for the “utter extermination” of the Modoc people.

The U.S. government sent a much larger army to bring the Modocs to justice. They marched into the area only to find tribal members had again escaped into the Lava Beds landscape.

In May, the Modocs launched a counter-attack on the troops, who were camped at Dry Lake, but were rebuffed by the better-organized and better-equipped army. The failed attack resulted in the disintegration of the tribe into smaller groups, with Hooker Jim leaving with about a dozen other men.

The army quickly captured Hooker Jim who agreed to track down Kientpoos in return for amnesty. On June 1, 1873, Kientpoos finally surrendered and the war came to an end. Following a trial, Kientpoos and three other leaders were hanged. The remainder of the tribe was sent to a reservation in Oklahoma, where most soon died of various diseases.

Lava Beds Monument has several historic markers designating the sites of places related to the lengthy war.

In addition to Captain Jack’s Stronghold—where you can clearly see how the Modocs were able to hold off the army for months—there is Canby’s Cross, a large white cross with the inscription, “Gen. Canby U.S.A. was murdered here by the Modocs April 11, 1873.”

Visitors will find two self-guided trails leading through the rocky lava beds where Kientpoos and his people successfully avoided being captured by soldiers.

For more about the history of Captain Jack’s Stronghold, go to: www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/5views/5views1h11.htm.

To reach Lava Beds National Monument travel north on U.S. 395, through Susanville to Alturas. Continue north on Highways 299 and 139 (toward Tulelake). About 45 miles north of Alturas, follow the signs. There is a fee for visiting the monument.

More on the cultural history of Lava Beds National Monument next week.

Lava Beds National Monument's Fascinating Subterranean Passages - Part 1

The 72-square-mile Lava Beds National Monument is a geologic marvel, and also a place filled with cultural treasures and a reminder of a tragic period in American history.

Set aside as a national monument in 1925, Lava Beds not only boasts the greatest concentration of lava caves or tubes in the continental U.S. (700 of them) but also prehistoric Native American petroglyphs (at Petroglyph Point) and pictographs (in Fern Cave) as well as lava fields that served as a refuge in the 1870s for members of the Modoc tribe trying to escape cultural extermination.

The lava tubes are what attract most visitors to the national monument. Nearly two dozen caves are marked and open to the public. They vary in length from 6,903 feet long to 148 feet.

The area’s geology is a result of it having been the focal point for major volcanic activity over the years. In fact, it is still considered a semi-active volcanic zone because several cinder cones in the region are less than a century old.

The monument sits on the northern slope of the Medicine Lake volcano, which last erupted 11,000 years ago. Volcanic rock, which formed from lava that flowed during eruptions 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, covers nearly the entire area and was responsible for creating the monument’s complex network of cinder cones, craters, chimneys and lava tubes.

The lava tubes were formed when streams of hot, flowing lava began to cool. The center of the stream would stay hot and continue to flow but the outside edge cooled and hardened. Once the hot lava drained away, it left behind a pipe-like cave.

Over time, multiple eruptions created stacks of caves on top of one another, creating multilevel underground passages. In some cases, the lava branched tree-like in various directions, creating smaller tunnels that sprouted from a central one, which is often known as the master tube.

Some of the caves at Lava Beds were used by Native people as campsites and as a source of water. During the first part of this century, J.D. Howard, a miller from Klamath Falls, Oregon, began exploring and mapping the caves.

Howard spent more than 20 years wandering through the underground passages and provided most of the colorful names for caves and cave features that are still used, such as Cleopatra’s Tomb, Hercules Leg, and the Labyrinth. His interest helped spur the creation of the create the monument.

Signs lead to the many open caves scattered throughout the monument lands. The most accessible are clustered near the visitor center along a paved road known as Cave Loop.

Visitors can pick up a flashlight at the visitor center and purchase an inexpensive, plastic hardhat (recommended because some of the caves have low ceilings). Guided tours of selected caves are offered most days, although visitors can do plenty of exploring on their own.

Best place to begin a look at these underground passages is Mushpot Cave, located adjacent to the visitor center. This is the most developed cave with lighting (you use your flashlight in all the other caves), informative signage, and paved walking surfaces.

A short walk away is the entrance to the Labyrinth, which is the largest branch of the system, connecting to eight major caves spread over two miles.

A steep metal ladder draws you into the inky depths of the Labyrinth. At the bottom, there is a large chamber that leads in three directions, each of which entails some bending (to avoid low ceilings) or climbing (to get over rubble).

In almost any of the caves, you can wander for a time and begin to feel totally alone. Shut off the flashlight and listen—most of the time you won’t hear anyone else.

During one visit severalyears ago, I zigzagged through one cave for about twenty minutes before coming to a dead-end. I started back and realized that nothing looked familiar. I tried to retrace my steps but I wasn’t sure I was going the right way.

Despite the coolness below, I began to get nervous and perspire. I looked at my phone every few minutes. I took one branch but it led to another dead-end. I realized that I honestly didn’t know where I was or how to get out.

Finally, I heard voices. I followed the sound and spotted sunlight streaking through an opening in the ceiling. A couple came down the ladder. As they passed me in the tunnel, they asked if it was scary.

Embarrassed I had felt so panicky just a few moments earlier, I lied and said it was “a piece of cake.”

To reach Lava Beds National Monument travel north on U.S. 395, through Susanville to Alturas. Continue north on Highways 299 and 139 (toward Tulelake). About 45 miles north of Alturas, follow the signs to the national monument. There is a fee for visiting the monument.

For more information go to http://www.nps.gov/labe/index.htm.

More about the monument’s tragic history next week.

Discovering Reno's Art Deco Treasures

 

El Cortez Hotel, Reno

Art Deco architecture is pretty easy to identify. In the U.S., perhaps the most well-known Art Deco structure is the Chrysler Building in New York City, with its elegant spire, streamlined torso and geometric accents crafted in chrome and glass.

The Art Deco (and the closely-related Art Moderne style) era is generally considered to have reached its heights in the 1920s and 30s.

In Nevada, Art Deco buildings can still be found in a number of places. Perhaps the most famous Art Deco building in the state was the now-demolished Mapes Hotel in Reno (it was blown up in 2000).

Built in 1947, the Mapes was constructed at the tail-end of the Art Deco period and boasted the ornate spires and panels that often grace such structures.

Fortunately, a handful of other Art Deco buildings have avoided similar fates. Reno, in fact, still has several other fine examples of the architecture, including the former Reno Post Office (at 50 South Virginia) and the El Cortez Hotel (239 W. Second).

The Reno Post Office was erected between 1931 and 1934 to serve as a post office and federal office building.

Designed by noted Nevada architect Frederic DeLongchamps, the structure contains plenty of examples of Art Deco flourishes, including a pale green terra cotta exterior (which resembles quarried stone) and the dark marble walls highlighted with cast aluminum in the first-floor lobby.

A local development group acquired the building in 2012 and have carefully restored it into a successful commercial and dining complex.

The El Cortez Hotel, constructed in 1931, is a six-story, 60-room Art Deco gem that was Reno’s tallest building at the time it opened. Designed by Reno architects George A. Ferris and Son, it boasts a beautiful terra cotta base and parapet. The frontispiece entrance to the hotel is a magnificent example of the Art Deco style.

Now known as Siegel Suites El Cortez Apartments, the building remains in use as a residential complex.

Another Reno building considered to have an Art Deco look is the former Southside School (190 East Liberty), built in 1936. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), the school is considered noteworthy for “its embodiment of a regional interpretation of the Art Deco style in Nevada,” according to its NRHP nomination.

Three less well-known but noteworthy examples of the Art Deco/Moderne style are the Veterans Memorial Elementary School (1200 Locust Street), Landrum’s (1300 South Virginia Street) and an apartment building at 633 W. 2^nd Street.

Veterans Memorial Elementary School was built in 1949 and was one of the first schools constructed in Nevada following World War II. The building was expanded with two cinder block annexes in 1958.

Named to honor former Reno students killed in the conflict, the school was designed by Reno architect Russell Mills. It remains in use and is now known as Veterans Memorial STEM Academy.

Landrum’s, originally known as Landrum’s Hamburger System No. 1, is an interesting case. According to the NRHP, in 1947 the building was prefabricated in Wichita, Kansas, and shipped to Reno on a railroad flat car to be assembled at its location.

The company that made the building, Valentine Manufacturing, advertised its diners as “absolutely the most fool proof operation in the world” and noted the only things a customer had to do to get the business up and running was to lay down a foundation and hook up electricity, gas, water, and sewer.

Valentine apparently manufactured these diners in various sizes, with Landrum’s being the smallest model. Called the Little Chef, it could seat six to 10 customers with a single operator to run the grill.

The structure is elegantly stream-lined (in white and green) with a distinctly Art Deco entrance. It continues to be used as a restaurant (now called Beefy’s).

The apartment building at 633 W. Second Street is perhaps the most obscure Art Deco building in the city.

Apparently constructed in the 1930s, it was built as a housing option for divorce seekers who flocked to Reno at that time to establish their six-week residency in order to qualify for a “quickie” divorce. Not much else is known about the building, which continues to be used as apartments.

Of course, Art Deco buildings can be found in other parts of the state and I’ll talk about them in the future.