Preserve Nevada: Indigenous Languages, Cultural Landmarks Among State’s ‘Most Endangered’ | News Center
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The COVID-19 pandemic has not only impacted health and the economy. Its tentacles have touched some of the Silver State’s most popular cultural attractions.
Preserve Nevada, the first statewide conservation organization, is searching for its annual list: The 11 Most Vulnerable Locations in Nevada.
“While the items on our list are all in some form at risk, the ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to budget cuts and the very real threat from forest fires could pose a threat to many historic sites,” said Michael Green. an Associate Professor of History at UNLV and Executive Director of Preserve Nevada.
From the famous Huntridge Theater in Las Vegas and the Reno-based Lear Theater to long-forgotten burial grounds and rural assembly rooms to the indigenous languages of Nevada, the roster calls for action by a diverse consortium of community members, government agencies, nonprofits, and other employees.
“I have traveled through Nevada in my life and career and so many Nevada residents are committed to ensuring the survival of our history,” said Preserve Nevada Chairman and Former Governor and Senator Richard Bryan. “We are making this list to remind people of certain things that we can preserve when we all come together.”
List of Most Vulnerable Nevada Preserve in 2021
Lear Theater
The Lear has one of the last original historical interiors in Reno and is a striking example of the city’s architectural heritage. Designed in the late 1930s by renowned African American architect Paul Revere Williams – known as the “Architect of the Stars” – this neoclassical building was originally the home of the First Church of Christ, Scientist. When the parishioners moved out in 1998, Moya Lear, widow of aviation pioneer Bill Lear, bought it and donated it to the Reno-Sparks Theater Coalition. Renamed the Lear Theater in her honor, it closed in 2002 and has been vacant for nearly two decades. Local arts organization Artown now owns the property and has explored options, including sales and redevelopment offers. The future of the Lear Theater hangs in the balance until there is a concrete plan for adaptive reuse of the building while preserving the preservation order.
Huntridge Theater
The Huntridge – the first non-racial theater in southern Nevada – served as a movie theater and also hosted stage productions and concerts. The theater opened in the new quarter in 1944
built around the time World War II began. It became a community and entertainment hub for the area and for all of Las Vegas at that time. The roof of the theater collapsed in 1995, but it was repaired and the venue stayed in operation until 2004. Developer J. Dapper bought it, and while we have high hopes for The Huntridge’s future and its plans, its future remains uncertain.
Nevada’s indigenous languages
The Endangered Languages Project and the First Peoples’ Cultural Council warn that around 40% of the 7,000 languages in the world are critically endangered. These include the Northern Paiute, the Southern Paiute, Shoshone, and Washo. The more we can do to promote the teaching of these languages to present and future generations, the better our chances are of preserving these important pieces of the cultural heritage of these people and of Nevada.
Owyhee Stone Building, Owyhee Reservation, Elko County
The town of Owyhee and the Duck Valley Reservation date from the late 1870s. The original office and stone buildings on the property date from the 1890s or early 1900s, and the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 helped spur construction on more stone buildings, including a hospital and an electricity house made from locally-mined volcanic rock. These buildings represent Nevada’s long history and legacy of indigenous labor, but they have deteriorated over time and would benefit from attention.
Business hotel, Elko
Today the casino in Elkos Commercial Hotel only opens a few days a year to maintain its gaming license. But its long history dates back to the beginnings of Elko as a railroad town in the Central Pacific in 1869. Owned by Newt Crumley, also a Nevada political figure, it pioneered entertainment with big names in the state in 1941, starting with legendary vaudeville Ted Lewis and numerous others who also performed in Las Vegas and Reno. Today the building needs work, and most of the attention is paid to it by ghost hunters interested in exploring its supposedly haunted history.
Goldfield High School
It was built in late 1907, at the height of Goldfield’s five-year boom, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It is one of the few significant buildings that survived the great fires of 1923-1924. As mining and population decline subsided, several schools were merged into the Gymnasium, a three-story Romanesque masonry in which classes continued until 1953. In that year a new school was built and the grammar school was abandoned. A 2009 National Park Service Reconnaissance Survey revealed a high level of historical integrity, although lack of maintenance had resulted in roof degradation and an unstable outer wall. Since the handover to a state non-profit company, the outer walls have been rebuilt to eliminate the risk of collapse. A recent grant from the State Commission for Cultural Centers and Monument Preservation will enable roof restoration to begin, preserving this important example of goldfield life from its time home to the last great gold mining boom in the west.
Austin building
St. Augustine’s is Nevada’s oldest Catholic church building. It’s a combination of Neo-Gothic and Italian architecture built in 1866 using native bricks and stones fired in the Austin Brickyard. Today it is a cultural center and houses the only surviving Henry Kigen church organ that is still functional. The Methodist Church, also built in 1866, is now the Emma Nevada Town Hall, named after the opera singer who grew up in Austin. St. George’s Episcopal Church, built in 1878, still serves the denomination that built it. Austin is a small town and the buildings require constant attention.
Tonopah Army Air Field
Tonopah Army Air Field was a B-24 Liberator training facility during World War II, operating from 1942 to 1946. More than 6,000 military personnel have been assigned to this base, including pilot Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, and longtime Las Vegas casino owner Jackie Gaughan. Today only two hangars in different stages of decay, many hectares of concrete foundations and the original runways remain of the airfield. A third hangar collapsed in early 2019. The property is owned by Nye County.
Stewart Indian School
Opened in 1890, it was one of the many boarding schools designed to impose and educate a different culture on Native Americans. The school closed in 1980 and is now a museum and historical site with a cultural center. Significant progress has been made and the government has helped with funding. However, more money will be needed to renovate and maintain some of its historic buildings, including the bakery building / post office, gymnasium, and auditorium.
Courthouses in Hawthorne, Tonopah and Austin
Although some offices of the Nye County Courthouse are in use, the rest of the building has been abandoned. A Brownfields grant enabled the county to conduct a Phase I environmental assessment, which is required before stabilization and restoration can take place. Prominent Nevada figures such as Key Pittman and Pat McCarran once practiced law there. The endangered Mineral County Courthouse in Hawthorne, the only one in Nevada to serve two counties when it was originally part of Esmeralda County, is a two-story Italian-style building with a five-sided circular entrance porch and balustrade. The Austin Courthouse, a Greek revival from 1871, is still in use and needs careful maintenance.
Historic cemeteries and burial sites
Rural cemeteries are important sources of historical information, both what they contain, such as information about tombstones, and what is lacking – such as marginalized groups whose members are buried in their own locations, as is the case with the Jewish cemetery in Eureka . Many have worked to preserve Virginia City’s historic cemeteries, and the Reno community has made great strides with Hillside Cemetery. But some cemeteries are on state (like Round Mountain and Belmont) and others are in disrepair. The concerns of the indigenous people of Nevada about their burial sites need to be addressed as well as the burials of Chinese workers in the Tonopah area, which is now a mining dump.
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