6th and Oak

Currently Easterly and Armstrong Law Offices

This is the location of the first church in Elko.  In 1870, the Presbyterian church was built at this location.  I am not sure of the actual age of the present building.

The current location of the church is at 1559 Sewell Drive.

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Boucher County Administration Building

 This building was the first county public high school in the state of Nevada. The building opened in 1896, with 43 students. The cost was $7,420. The building remained in use until 1918, when the present high school was constructed. The building was then used for the American Legion and Elko Homemaker’s Club. In 1926, the second floor was used as a public library - until it burned in 1942. The second floor was removed and the first floor and basement were then used for the library. After the construction of the new library in 1974, the building was used for county offices.  The building is now called the “Boucher County Administration Building” in honor of George Boucher, Elko County Manager, who retired in 2001.

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20th Century Building

The small building on the north side of the County Administration Building is the ‘20th Century Club Building’, once used as a physics and chemistry lab for the old high school. 

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Elko County Rose Garden

Begun in 2000, this garden was created as an ever changing, staged, community garden. It is located in Elko, Nevada, behind the Elko County Courthouse at the corner of 6th and Pine streets.

The primary objective is to create a garden that contains a collection of winter hardy, easy care roses. The goal is to identify and collect those roses that like living and thrive in Elko's climate, a USDA hardiness zone 5A (average annual minimum temperature of -15 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit).  Pot-O-Gold?  The red brick building with the white trim - at the end of the rainbow - is Elko's main branch of Bank of America.

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Elko County Court House

At Sixth and Idaho Street is the Elko County Courthouse.  The present building was the second built at this site.  One built in 1869 was replaced by the current structure in 1910 at a cost of $150,000. Several years ago the addition was added behind the main courthouse.

In 1890, Josiah and Elizabeth Potts were hung behind the courthouse (behind the Elko County Courthouse Addition) for the murder of Miles Faucett. She was the first and only woman executed in Nevada and the Potts’ hangings were the last executions in the county.  Their graves have been lost (see site 29).  It has been rumored that Josiah and Elizabeth still roam the grounds of the Elko County Courthouse.

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Sheriff Harris' Home

It is written about in a recent Northeastern Nevada Museum Quarterly.  The old house had a wonderful veranda around it.  The lower story is now an antique shop.  The upper floor is an apartment. The white building with the red brick trim behind the Harris home was one of the earlier locations of the Burns Funeral Home.  It is now a wedding chapel.

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George Russell Home

Mr. Russell was an early rancher and businessman in Elko.  This house was built in 1874.  Mr. Russell and his family are buried in the stone mausoleum in the Elko Cemetery (see site 19).

4th and Pine

The Elko Hills are the low mountains in the near distance.  In the center of the photo the Ruby Mountains can be seen on the horizon.

Map House and Chilton Engineering

Chilton Engineering at 421 Court (building on the right) is housed in the old Pythian Castle, home of fraternal lodge "Knights of Pythias", built in 1927.  The first Elko County school house was built here in 1869.

The Map House at Fourth and Court is among the oldest homes in Elko, built in 1869.

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Wells Fargo Bank Building

Previously the First Interstate Bank, this was the site of Elko's first JC Penney's.  The department store occupied the site from 1928 until it burned in a spectacular fire in 1965.

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Anacabe's Elko General Merchandise Co.

Elko General Merchandise - the Anacabe Store - at 416 Idaho was established in 1937 by Joe Anacabe.  The building was once home to Warren Ford's Gaiety Theater.

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Old Dupont Drug Store

This building at 397 Fifth Street housed several businesses over the years, including the Elko Athletic Club, the Elko Daily Free Press and Dupont Pharmacy.

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Algerio Mortgage and Real estate

This is the location of the Armuth Bakery.  A photo of this building, taken in 1896, can be seen in Howard Hickson's site.

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Esquire Motel

This was the location of Elko's first Episcopal church.  It was built in 1892.  Because it is such a prominent place in Elko it can be seen in many older Elko photographs.  A wonderful photo of this church, taken in 1896, can be seen in Howard Hickson's excellent site.

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Looking north on 5th Street at Idaho Street

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Looking East On Idaho at 5th Street

B.P.O.E. Elks Hall on right

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Great Basin Bank

Great Basin Bank opened on July 29, 1993.  The building has had a long banking history.  The building was previously occupied by First Federal Savings Bank.

Commercial Casino

Nevada State Register of Historic Places

Probably one of the most historical buildings in Elko.  It's forerunner was the Humboldt Lodging House, built in 1869.  In June 1893, it was sold and renamed the Commercial Hotel.  It launched the first big name entertainment in Nevada in 1941, when Ted Lewis and his orchestra played in the lounge.  

On December 4, 1914, at 12:30am John C. Coble walked into the Commercial Hotel/Casino through the door at 4th Street. Went up to the front desk asked the Night Clerk, Mr. Owen Merrick, for some stationery.  Wrote a short note, then went to the unoccupied ladies restroom - shot himself in the head with a Smith & Wesson .32 caliber revolver.

Bing Crosby spent many hours at the Commercial Hotel while ranching in Northeastern Nevada

The Bradley Opera House once the cultural center of Elko, used to sit in the Commercial parking lot on third and Idaho (see second picture).  Before it was demolished in the 1960's the house was a favorite spot for plays, dances, graduations, movies and athletic events.

The parking lot just east (left) of the Commercial shown in the first picture was the site of the Overland Hotel built in 1908.  The three story building, owned by Dan Sabala and Eulalie Onandia was the second largest Basque hotel in Elko.  It catered to herders, ranchers and travelers, renting rooms for between 25 and 50 cents.  During Prohibition, the price went up to two dollars and drinks at the bar sold for one dollar.

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Elko Main Post Office

Built in 1933, the office is listed in the National Historic Register.

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Star Restaurant and Boarding House

This Basque hotel was built in 1910 by Pete and Matilda Jauregui and, with other Basque hotels in town, is a social center for the Basque community.

Stockmen's Casino and Hotel

This was once the site of the Elko Hotel, owned by the Puccinelli family; Masonic Hall; and the Mayer Hotel.  The Mayer was sold in 1944 and renamed Stockman's.  It burned to the ground in 1956 but was rebuilt on the same site.

Henderson Bank Building

Nevada State Register of Historic Places

The Henderson Bank Building is the tallest building in Elko.  It opened in 1929.

Club Silver Dollar

The Silver Dollar Bar, so named because it was once the Henderson Bank Building.  Local lore has it Pete Itcaina many years ago walked into the bar and was refused a drink by the bartender because he was already inebriated.  Itcaina was so irate he immediately found the owner of the bar, purchased the establishment on the spot with cash then went back and fired the bartender.

J. M. Capriola Co.

At 500 Commercial is J.M. Capriola Company.  Joe Capriola opened the shop after apprenticing under the Spanish leather and silver craftsman Guadalupe S. Garcia, who moved to Elko in 1893.

Pioneer Hotel

home of the Western Folklife Center

The Pioneer Saloon opened in 1868.  The current building was erected in 1912-13 at a cost of $50,000.  At the time, it was proclaimed to be Elko County's largest and most impressive building.  The Pioneer Saloon can still be found inside the building with its mahogany bar.  The western Folklife Center is home to the Cowboy Poetry Gathering. 

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Home Furnishings

This store was once the site of Hiram Chase's candy stand and grocery store in the late 1800's.  Local folklore has it Chase, a man with an unusual taste for rum, was once visited by the devil during one of his drinking sprees.  The devil told Chase he must cut off his hands.  But instead, he doused them with kerosene and set them afire.  They were so badly damaged a doctor amputated them both.  Upon recovery, Chase never drank again and opened a candy and peanut stand.  He later opened the Live and Let Live grocery at Sixth and Commercial Streets.

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Elko Lamoille Power Company

In 1913 the Elko-Lamoille Power Company provided direct electric current to Elko.

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Train Park

The Western Pacific Train Park was built by the local Soroptimist Club.  The roses are a red colored 'Meidiland' variety.

Links

Elko, Nevada Time-Line

Other Historic and Interesting Places in Elko

Hot Hole and Elko Hot Springs

Catlin's Oil From Shale Plant

The Big "E"

Snobowl

Wagons Ho!

Terrace by Golf Course

Dam It!  North By Northwest

Bing Crosby - The Elko Years

George Russell Mausoleum

L. R. "Broadhorns" Bradley

John C. Coble/Commercial Hotel

Elko County Cemetery