by Tom Hawley
Every year in Nevada, hotels are imploded and old structures demolished to make way for new growth. But there are groups out there trying to preserve the state's past.
Some new endangered sites were identified today. It's a list of eleven locations published every two years by the group "Preserve Nevada". One of those spots is in downtown Las Vegas, where what's called the "Historic District" has been losing some of its history.
"It becomes problematic when people take down a little thousand square foot 1920s, 30s house, and replace it with a big modern building," says Andy Kirk, a UNLV History Professor and Director of Preserve Nevada.
The key seems to be finding new uses for the old houses as law offices, advertising firms, etc. The centerpiece of the area is the old Las Vegas High School...now the Las Vegas academy.
"It's not that it's a beautiful museum," notes Kirk. "It's just an older building that's been adaptively reused."
Whether it's just an old building or a piece of history seems to boil down to the attitude of whoever owns the property.
"Preservation is not a hindrance to development. It can be an asset," explains Kirk.
Everyone seems to like the idea of preservation, but sometimes it takes cash and lots of it. Take for example Kiel Ranch, home to the oldest adobe house in Southern Nevada. The city of North Las Vegas made a commitment to restore it three years ago. Since then, nothing.
But there are success stories. The iconic LaConcha shell from the Las Vegas Strip was slated for demolition. Now it will serve as the entryway to the Neon Museum downtown.
"It exceeded, I think, even the most optimistic hopes for what the Las Vegas community would do to preserve a historic place," says Kirk with a smile.
But sometimes it seems to be the smaller communities in Nevada that are more interested in the past.
"You can look at places like the Million Dollar Courthouse in Pioche as an example of a great resource that a little community really came together and have successfully preserved for a generation," says Kirk.
For the new preservation target list, there were hundreds of candidates.
"But we choose properties that we think are going to be the focal point of action within the coming year," explains Kirk.
The eleven endangered Nevada Historic Sites identified today are pictured at left. For a complete list and information on the individual locations, click the links at lower left.
Left Panel Photos of 2008 Sites:
1) Maude Frazier Hall, Las Vegas
2) The Paradise School, Las Vegas
3) The Las Vegas Historic District, Las Vegas
4) Building 100, Date Street Complex, Boulder City
5) Rhyolite, Nevada
6) The Nye County Courthouse, Tonopah
7) Nevada Northern Locomotives 93, 40, and 81, Ely
8) Stokes Castle, Austin
9) The Lagomarsino Rock Art Site, Storey County
10) Commercial Row, Wells
11) Mid-Century Roadside Motor Courts
