Much as it is today, the Truckee River was the lifeblood of the establishment in its early days. As it was, many travelers - most in search of mining riches in California, or later, Virginia City - were challenged with how to cross it. Hence, before Reno was Reno, it was Fuller’s Crossing in 1859 and then Lake’s Crossing by 1861.
The Central Pacific Railroad reached Reno, from Sacramento, in 1868 and bought about 160 acres from Lake. On May 9, 1868, the Central Pacific Railroad auctioned off hundreds of town lots, some for as much as $1,000, which officially established Reno, Nevada.
The town was named by Central Pacific president Leland Stanford for Jesse Lee Reno, a Union soldier who died during the Civil War. The honorable Jesse Lee infamously never set foot in Nevada, let alone his namesake Reno.
|
Originally called Nevada State University, in 1885 state leadership decided to move the university to Reno. What began as 10 undeveloped acres on a hill north of the center of town grew to a viable institution with four major halls, two laboratories, and 150 students in just a decade.
Today, the University of Nevada, Reno ranks in the top tier of best national universities by and is steadily growing in enrollment.
New construction added a sense of style and sophistication to the growing town, while culturally Reno matured through the opening of the new Carnegie Free Public Library and the founding of the Nevada Historical Society in 1904.
After Reno was incorporated, President Theodore Roosevelt made a timely visit to the area. Roosevelt gave two short speeches in Reno: one on the steps of the Washoe County Courthouse and another at the University of Nevada, Reno.
|
The town burst on the national scene in 1905 with the much-publicized divorce of U.S. Steel Corporation president William Corey. Once the country discovered the potential for the migratory divorce trade in Nevada, Reno would become the divorce mecca of the world, a title it held for more than six decades.
Three Hollywood films depicted Reno’s newly invigorated divorce trade in 1931 alone, and several more followed throughout the decade. Writers and journalists were enthralled with Reno’s wild west persona, as they obsessively tracked and documented celebrity divorces in particular.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr. penned the novel “Reno,” about his experience getting a divorce. The book was later made into a movie of the same name. Vanderbilt purchased two dude ranches in the Reno area, and before long a number of similar ranches had sprouted. The ranches advertised six-week stays to wealthy members of society who wished to detach from their spouse as soon as legally possible.
Thanks in part to the booming divorce business - more than 30,000 divorces were issued at the Washoe County Courthouse in the 1930s - Reno was able to rebound rather quickly from the Great Depression. Reno rode the divorce wave for nearly four more decades. By the late 1960s, the industry finally waned, and about the same time Reno’s leaders wanted to move away from the negative stigma of divorce and instead embrace a new identity: gaming and tourist mecca.
|
If you were to ask Renoites about the origin of “The Biggest Little City in the World” slogan that has so famously adorned different iterations of the Reno arch over the years, many would probably point to the late 1920s.
In 1927, Nevada proudly co-hosted the Transcontinental Highway Exposition in Reno along with its western neighbor, California. Reno leaders constructed a commemorative steel arch on Virginia Street, which in bright letters spelled out “Reno” as well as “Nevada’s Transcontinental Highway Exposition, June 25-Aug. 1, 1927.”
Community response to the new arch was so overwhelmingly positive, the Chamber of Commerce and city officials conducted a contest for a new slogan. G.A. Burns of Sacramento ultimately won with “The Biggest Little City in the World,” and those words were famously lit up on the Reno Arch and inaugurated on June 25, 1929.
However, our “biggest little” infatuation started much earlier than that. A reporter penned Reno as the “Biggest Little City on the Pacific Coast” as early as 1901. “The phrase wasn’t about size so much as attitude. Our communities, they were saying, might be small, but they were big in vision, pride, and opportunities,” according to National Public Radio station KUNR.
The phrase was truly brought to the forefront in summer 1910, as Reno prepared for the “Fight of the Century,” a heavyweight championship boxing match between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries that brought thousands of spectators to town. Locals referred to Reno as “The Biggest Little City on the Map” in promotional materials for the fight.
|
Reno has always been a town of contrasts: cosmopolitan on the edge of the desert - the academy uphill from the gambling district - amid exquisite natural beauty.
A city of contrasts, indeed, with a diverse history. So what is Reno’s future? What does the next 100 years hold?
Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve couldn’t be more excited about where Reno is going. “I think there’s an energy about Reno right now, it gives us the opportunity to reflect and celebrate and tell our wonderful history,” she says.
“I think we have one of the best backyard playgrounds in the country, and the quality of life here is tremendous.”
| |
