Archaeological finds place the eastern border for the prehistoric Martis people in the Reno area.[4]
As early as the 1850s a few pioneers settled in the Truckee Meadows, a relatively fertile valley through which the Truckee River made its way from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake. In addition to subsistence farming, these early residents could pick up a bit of business from travelers along the California Trail, which followed the Truckee westward, before branching off towards Donner Lake, where the formidable obstacle of the Sierras began.
Gold was discovered in the vicinity of Virginia City in 1850 and a modest mining community developed, but the discovery of silver in 1859 led to one of the greatest mining bonanzas of all time as the Comstock Lode spewed forth treasure. The Comstock’s closest connection to the outside world lay in the Truckee Meadows.
To provide the necessary connection between Virginia City and the California Trail, Charles W. Fuller built a log toll bridge across the Truckee River in 1859. A small community that would serve to service travelers soon grew up near the bridge. After two years, Fuller sold the bridge to Myron C. Lake, who continued to develop the community with the addition of a grist mill, kiln, and livery stable to the hotel and eating house. He renamed it Lake’s Crossing. In 1864, Washoe County was consolidated with Roop County; Lake’s Crossing became the largest town in the county. Lake had earned himself the title “founder of Reno.”[5]
By January 1863, the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) had begun laying tracks east from Sacramento, California, eventually connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah to form the first transcontinental railroad. Lake, realizing what a rail connection would mean for business, deeded land to the CPRR in exchange for its promise to build a depot at Lake’s Crossing. Once the railroad station was established, the town of Reno officially came into being on May 9, 1868.[6] CPRR construction superintendent Charles Crocker named the community after Major General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union officer killed in the American Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain.
In 1871 Reno became the county seat of the newly expanded Washoe County, replacing the previous county seat, located in Washoe City. However, political power in Nevada remained with the mining communities, first Virginia City and later Tonopah and Goldfield.
The extension of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad to Reno in 1872 provided another big boost to the new city’s economy. At first citizens viewed the changes as an omen, however in the following decades, Reno continued to grow and prosper as a business and agricultural center and became the principal settlement on the transcontinental railroad between Sacramento and Salt Lake City.
Downtown Reno
As the mining boom waned early in the 20th century, Nevada’s centers of political and business activity shifted to the non-mining communities, especially Reno and Las Vegas, and today the former mining metropolises stand as little more than ghost towns. Despite this, Nevada is still the third-largest gold producer in the world, after South Africa and Australia; the state yielded 6.9 percent of the world’s supply in 2005 world gold production.[7]
The famous “Reno Arch” was erected on Virginia Street in 1926 to promote the upcoming Transcontinental Highways Exposition of 1927, the arch included the words “Nevada’s Transcontinental Highways Exposition” and the dates of the exposition. After the exposition, the Reno City Council decided to keep the arch as a permanent downtown gateway, and Mayor E.E. Roberts asked the citizens of Reno to suggest a slogan for the arch. No acceptable slogan was received until a $100 prize was offered, and G.A. Burns of Sacramento was declared the winner on March 14, 1929 with “Reno, The Biggest Little City in the World”.
Nevada’s legalization of casino gambling in 1931 and the passage of liberal divorce laws created another boom for Reno. Ernie Pyle once wrote in one of his columns “All the people you saw on the streets in Reno were obviously there to get divorces.” In Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead, published in 1943, the New-York-based female protagonist tells a friend “I am going to Reno,” which is taken as a different way of saying “I am going to divorce my husband.” Among others, the Belgian-French writer Georges Simenon, at the time living in the US, came to Reno in 1949 in order to divorce his first wife.
The divorce business eventually died as the other states fell in line by passing their own laws easing the requirements for divorce, but gambling continued as a major Reno industry. Beginning in the 1950s, the need for economic diversification beyond gaming fueled a movement for more lenient business taxation.
One of the worst disasters in the history of the region occurred on the afternoon of February 5, 1957 when an explosion ripped through the heart of downtown. At 1:03 pm, two explosions, caused by natural gas leaking into the maze of pipes and ditches under the city, and an ensuing fire destroyed five buildings in the vicinity of Sierra and First streets along the Truckee River. Forty-nine people were injured in the disaster, but only two deaths occurred. The first explosion hit under the block of shops on the west side of Sierra Street (now the site of the Century Riverside), the second, across Sierra Street, now the site of the Palladio.
The presence of a main east-west rail line, the emerging interstate highway system, favorable tax climate and relatively inexpensive land created the ideal conditions for warehousing and distribution of goods to the growing population in the surrounding eleven western states.
Reno has experienced a growing economy which has resulted in new home construction around the metro area. A direct result of this growth and the “housing bubble” has been a dramatic increase in housing prices in the area, Reno-Sparks being named the 44th most overvalued housing market in the nation in 2006.[8] As of January 2007 Reno’s housing market has fallen by 7% bringing the median home price down to $315,000.[9] The Nevada economy overall, while taking the unemployment rate into consideration, ranks very low in comparison to all other states. On the other hand, the state recently ranked the nations fastest growing in population (2010), some believe this is because retired people are flocking there from California for its low cost of living etc. Major new construction projects have been completed in the Reno & Sparks areas. The Outlets at Legends in Sparks offers a very nice shopping center and Reno now has The Summit Shopping Center, located at the south end of Reno. Both offer a very nice shopping experience. A few new luxury communities were recently built in Truckee, CA, approximately 28 miles west of Reno on Interstate 80. Reno also is featured as an outdoor recreation destination, due to close proximity to the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, Lake Tahoe, and numerous ski resorts in the region. Some include Northstar-at-Tahoe, (an all season resort in Truckee, CA), which features skiing/snow boarding in winter, and mountain biking and hiking in the summer, as well as a family-oriented village square for shopping, ice/roller skating, concessions, restaurants, and entertainment. A Ritz Carlton hotel was recently completed at Northstar-at-Tahoe as well. Almost all of the ski resorts on the north end of Lake Tahoe have constructed new ski lodges and made other facility improvements to cater to visitors in all seasons. Squaw Valley offers Squaw Village, a walk through village experience. Diamond Peak in Incline Village, NV just completed a newly constructed large ski lodge. The Tahoe Donner community in Truckee, CA also has made improvements to its ski resort and other facilities. Recently, Tahoe Donner Ski Resort opened Candyland Terrain Park. Squaw Valley now offers a Half Pipe and they host national events there. These ski Resorts are only a short drive from Reno.
In more recent years, the city has gained some notoriety as the subject of the comedy series Reno 911! (which is not, however, filmed in the city).
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