Places
Pentecostalism in Nevada
IntroductionThe term “Pentecostal” comes from a Greek word describing the Jewish Feast of Weeks, an event narrated in the Acts of the Apostles (2: 2-4) where it is stated that the followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. In the United... more
Patrick Manogue
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
Father Patrick Manogue is one of the most widely celebrated figures of the Comstock. Born in Ireland in 1831, Manogue immigrated to the United States at seventeen and began his studies of priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary of Chicago. Unable to continue financing his education, he left the... more
Patrick Anthony McCarran
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Patrick Anthony McCarran was a notable United States senator who was active in Nevada's political life for over a half century. He was born in Reno on August 8, 1876, the son of Irish immigrants. When he was two, his parents moved to a sheep ranch bordering the Truckee River some fourteen miles... more
Patrick A. McCarran and National Issues
United States Senator Patrick McCarran represented the least populated state in the Union from 1933 to 1954. Despite Nevada's small size, McCarran was determined to make a significant mark for himself by expressing an opinion on major national and international issues. During his senatorial... more
Panaca
Places: Lincoln County, Southern Nevada
Founded in 1864, the town of Panaca in Meadow Valley, Lincoln County, is the oldest Anglo-American community in eastern Nevada. Latter-day Saints laid out the town in the grid pattern of a typical Mormon frontier settlement in Utah. A large artesian spring emerges at the north end of the town,... more
Pair-O-Dice Club and Early Las Vegas Strip
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
In the early 1930s, as the popularity of nightclubs grew in downtown Las Vegas, two casino-nightclubs were built several miles outside of downtown on Highway 91, a site that would later become the Las Vegas Strip. Owners of these early highway casinos, outside the city limits, sought to attract... more
Owyhee
Places: Elko County, Northern Nevada
Located in northeastern Nevada near the Idaho border, Owyhee slowly emerged after the establishment of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation in 1877. The town got its name from the Owyhee River, which flows through the reservation. Original housing was made of sagebrush and willow structures called... more
Ormsby County Courthouse
Places: Carson City, Northern Nevada
Carson City has served simultaneously as the county seat of Ormsby County, and the state capital. The county was established in 1861, and named after Major William M. Ormsby, who is known for his prominent role in the Pyramid Lake War. In 1862, commissioners purchased the Great Basin Hotel from... more
Opium Smoking on the Comstock
Places: Virginia City, Storey County, Northern Nevada
Chinese gold rush miners and railroad workers brought the practice of opium smoking to America's West Coast by the mid-nineteenth century. Among the Chinese on the Comstock, opium smoking was a common indulgence. Like many hallucinatory drugs, it provided a diversion from isolation, loneliness... more
Open Pit, or Open Cast Mining
Mining is a practical industry that seeks efficient ways to extracts mineral wealth from the ground. During the nineteenth century, precious metals deeper than about three hundred feet called for underground drift or hardrock mining.Occasionally, ore bodies sufficiently close to the surface made... more
Ocean's 11 and Ocean's Eleven
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
Both Ocean's 11 (1960) and Ocean's Eleven (2000) are star-studded, Las Vegas casino heist movies that rely more on style than substance.The first, Ocean's 11, combines two icons of 1960s glitzy imagery—Las Vegas and The Rat Pack. With Frank Sinatra leading Peter Lawford, Joey... more
Oats Park Arts Center
Places: Churchill County, Fallon, Northern Nevada
The Oats Park Arts Center is a performing and visual arts venue in Fallon that hosts exhibitions by regional artists and presents concerts featuring an eclectic range of musical acts.The arts center is housed in the 1914 Oats Park School, designed by Frederick DeLongchamps, a prominent Reno... more
Nye County Courthouse
Organized in 1864, Nye County was named in honor of Nevada Territory's governor, and first senator, James Warren Nye. Originally the seat of government was situated in Ione, but the state legislature moved it to Belmont in 1867. The county did not approve plans for a permanent courthouse until... more
North Las Vegas Air Terminal
Places: Clark County, Las Vegas, Southern Nevada
The North Las Vegas Airport opened as Sky Haven Airport on December 7, 1941. The airport, the creation of John and Florence Murphy and their partner, John Barrett, was celebrating its opening day when news of the air raid on Pearl Harbor came. The scheduled flying demonstration was immediately put... more
None of These Candidates
In 1975, Nevada launched an innovation in elections when it became the first state to offer a "none of these candidates" line on the ballot, popularly known as "none of the above." Assemblyman Don Mello of Washoe County sponsored the legislation to create the ballot option. As... more
Nineteenth-Century Nevada Drama
In Nevada's nineteenth-century towns and mining camps, the demand for entertainment was almost entirely filled by traveling theatrical troupes. Thinly settled and distant from major population centers, the state took well over a century to develop the sort of sophisticated stage culture... more
Nineteenth-Century Immigration and Ethnicity in Nevada: An Overview
Throughout the nineteenth century, immigration dominated Nevada, affecting its development and society. Nevada had more foreign-born per capita than any other state in 1870 and the percentage of Nevada's immigrants rivaled that of other states for much of its early existence. In spite of the... more
nila northSun
Places: Churchill County, Fallon, Northern Nevada
nila northSun is a poet, photographer, social worker, tribal historian, community activist, eclectic artist, and grant writer. northSun was born in 1951 in Schurz, Nevada, to a Shoshone mother and Chippewa father. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she returned to her reservation in Fallon,... more
Newton Crumley Jr.
Places: Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Newton Crumley, Jr., is known as the innovator who brought big name entertainment to Nevada long before he wielded power at the state legislature. Born in 1911, Crumley was the son of a hotelier of the same name who owned hotels in Goldfield, Jarbidge, and Elko. The younger Newton also entered the... more
Nevada's Physical Setting
Nevada lies almost entirely within the Basin and Range physiographic province. This vast area covers about 300,000 square miles and is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains on the west, the Columbia Plateau on the north, and the Colorado Plateau and Wasatch Front of the Rocky... more
Nevada's Mob Movies
"Welcome Mob Bosses" read a Reno casino marquee for an entire day in 1997 and oddly enough, no one seemed to notice this proclamation that would never occur in real life—it was a gag for the spoof Mafia! filming in town that week. Movies, television, and history have forever linked... more
Nevada's First Mining
Nevada is known as a mining state due to its history of silver and gold mining, which began in the nineteenth century. However, the first miners in Nevada were Native Americans, starting perhaps more than 2000 years ago. Metals that were important in times that are more recent were not important to... more
Nevada's Award Winning Movies
While both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes have favored many projects set in Nevada with prizes and nominations, the state fares quite well with the Golden Raspberry Awards for worst achievements.Among the thousands of films made in the state since its first project in 1897, only three have... more
Nevada Women in Movies
Movies will tell you that much of what women do in Nevada involves work and marriage, but with the state's unique twist. When it comes to jobs, entertainment is a big field for women, with more singing and dancing opportunities than found in most states. Nevada is also the only state where... more
Nevada Wilson
Places: Elko, Elko County, Reno, Washoe County, Northern Nevada
Nevada Wilson (1877-1961), a native of Elko, spent the first forty years of her life in Nevada, after which she settled in Los Angeles where she established a modest reputation as a painter of desert and mountain landscapes.Her father, Joseph Alfred Wilson, was a co-owner of the Elko-Tuscarora... more