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By Sharon Schaaf

In their book Nevada’s Historic Buildings: A Cultural Legacy, Ronald James and Eliza-
beth Harvey tell the story of Nevada’s growth by describing its buildings. Headline
news is made when buildings are imploded to make space for new development. So, I
was surprised that in 1991 a group of Nevada legislators helped organize the Nevada
Commission for Cultural Affairs. This agency brought the public and private sectors
together to save Nevada’s growing number of historic structures and prepare them to

welcome visitors.

The book describes over ninety churches, homes, schools, museums, courthouses, theatres, mining parks and railroad
depots. They all have one thing in common: each building was created to meet the needs of the people who decided to
call Nevada their home. As we moved from mining, to ranching and farming, and eventually to tourism, a new type
and style of building served a new industry in our growing state.

One of the oldest Nevada buildings is the adobe structure on
the Kiel Ranch in North Las Vegas. With a reliable water
source nearby, Native Americans, Spanish and military ex-
plorers, Mexican adventurers and mountain men all stopped
there to rest. The Mormon missionaries who first settled the
area were followed by rancher Octavius Gass, businessman

Conrad Kiel, copper king William Clark and banker John
Park. In 1974 the North Las Vegas Bicentennial Committee

Kiel Ranch purchased the property, but it is uncertain whether the remain-
ing buildings can survive our climate.

Ely, Nevada, is home to a beautiful stake tabernacle built by the Mormon Church in 1927. Today the Colonial Revival

brick structure is home to the White Pine Community Choir Association. Since not many churches were built in Ne-
vada in the 1920s, preserving this building is historically important.

Las Vegas’ Moulin Rouge continues to be listed on the National Regis-
ter of Historic Places even though only its front façade, tower and sign
have survived two fires. Its history in breaking down racial barriers in
Las Vegas casinos makes it a truly important building.

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