Historic Riverfront Walking Tour

Reno Downtown Post Office

The glorious Art Deco/Art Moderne Federal Building and Post Office opened in 1934.

By the late 1920s, Reno had outgrown its first federal post office, located on the north side of the Truckee River. After much discussion, a site south of the river was chosen, requiring the demolition of the Carnegie Free Public Library that had been constructed in 1904. The new post office…
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Carnegie Free Public Library (site)

Financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, Reno's first public library opened in 1902.

Attempts to establish public libraries in Reno began in the 1880s, but funding them proved to be problematic. In 1901, after numerous attempts to secure taxes for libraries, State Assemblyman Frank Norcross of Reno wrote to the millionaire steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, requesting that Carnegie’s…
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Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts

Originally called the Pioneer Theater-Auditorium in 1967, the performing arts center is topped by a spectacular geodesic dome.

When the Pioneer Theater-Auditorium was completed in December 1967, it was going to be named the Apollo Theater. Instead, the golden-domed building came to be called the Pioneer Theater-Auditorium after the statue of a pioneer family that stands in the front plaza. The statue, entitled HUMANITY,…
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Washoe County Courthouse

The center of Washoe County government since 1873

This courthouse was the third for Washoe County, which was established in 1861 as one of Nevada territory’s original nine counties. In 1871, Myron C. Lake donated an acre of his land for Reno’s first courthouse, as the ambitious young town wrested the county seat from Washoe City, some 20 miles to…
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Riverside Hotel

The grand 1927 hotel took center stage during Reno's reign as the Divorce Capital of the World.

Widely considered Reno’s birthplace, the site now occupied by the Riverside Hotel has offered some form of lodging for more than 150 years. It was vacant land fronting an obscure ford of the Truckee River until late 1859, when a bankrupt California storekeeper and muleskinner named Charles William…
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Virginia Street Bridge (site)

The bridge constructed across the Truckee River in 1905 became a nationally known landmark in Reno's divorce era.

A bridge has graced this site since 1860, when Charles William Fuller constructed the first recorded span of the Truckee River at what was then known as “Fuller’s Crossing.” In 1861, he sold the whole operation to Myron C. Lake, who had to replace the bridge after a damaging flood that winter. Lake…
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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

Multiple architects designed portions of the church, which was built over a period of 25 years.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral was built over the course of 25 years bracketing the Great Depression and World War II. The congregation’s history in Reno dates to 1870. The first services were held in a schoolhouse at Sierra and Second streets, but by 1873, the growing congregation had raised enough…
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Lake Mansion

Built in 1877, the residence was home to Jane Lake and was famously moved across town twice.

As you look at this impressive Italianate-style home, imagine the complication of moving its bulk--not once, but two separate times. The Lake Mansion, now sitting proudly at the corner of Court Street and Arlington Avenue, was built in 1877 by Washington J. Marsh and purchased by Myron Lake in 1879…
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Regina Apartments

An eight-unit apartment building built on Island Avenue in 1941.

The Regina Apartments at 260 Island Avenue is a collection of units encased in a lovely brick building designed by Joseph Tognoni. The building's owner, Jean Sigg, was a successful Swiss-born chef who ran the kitchen at a number of downtown restaurants and casinos including the Palm Room at…
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Wingfield Park

The lovely park that began as Belle Isle was donated to the City of Reno by George Wingfield in 1920.

Surrounded by the waters of the Truckee River, the small natural island now known as Wingfield Park has long been considered a leisurely oasis, offering visitors an escape from fast-paced city life in the heart of downtown Reno. The island was purchased sometime before 1909 by attorney Lewis…
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Twentieth Century Club

The beautiful building for Reno's first women's club was constructed on First Street in 1926.

The Twentieth Century Club building at 335 West First Street was erected in 1925 by Roush and Belz to serve Reno's first women's club. Part of a national movement, the 20th Century Club was organized in Reno in 1894, and was open to all women of good repute, and of course the most…
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First United Methodist Church

Gothic Revival design elements grace this 1926 church.

Completed in 1926, the First United Methodist Church is one of the oldest remaining churches in Reno. The Methodist Church congregation was established early in Reno's history in 1868, organized by Reverend Thomas McGrath. The third Methodist Church to be built in Reno, First United Methodist…
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Colonial Apartments

The Colonial Revival-style charmer offered 48 furnished units on West Street in 1907.

The Colonial Apartments, located at the corner of W. First and West Streets, was built in 1907 by partners Charles E. Clough and George Crosby. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the temporary housing needs of Reno's divorce colony prompted the construction of several modern…
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Masonic Temple

The modern 1967 Masonic Lodge stands on the same site as the earlier 1906 Temple lost to fire.

By 1905, the old Masonic Hall on Commercial Row was no longer adequate for the growing membership and responsibilities of Reno Masonic Lodge No. 13. The new building commanded a prominent position at the northwest corner of the new Virginia Street Bridge, formerly the site of a livery stable. It…
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Mapes Hotel (site)

The luxury hotel-casino revolutionized Reno's gambling landscape upon its 1947 opening.

The 12-story Mapes Hotel became the tallest building in Nevada when it burst onto the Reno scene in 1947. Its prime location on the northeast corner of the Truckee River and Virginia Street had become available in 1934, when the old post office was replaced by the Art Deco-style building directly…
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Original Reno City Hall (site)

Headquarters for Reno government from 1907-1965

Reno underwent a rapid transformation in the first decade of the 20th century, as mineral discoveries in Tonopah and Goldfield brought more residents and more secure economic footing to the state. The city’s business district expanded, as did its civic infrastructure. The blocks on both sides of…
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Delucchi Building

Builder Leo Delucchi helped downtown push eastward in 1948.

Standing in front of the Delucchi Building, built in 1948, it’s hard to imagine that Lake Street was once the center of Reno’s rich cultural heritage. You are steps away from the city’s long-gone Chinatown and at the portal to a neighborhood once known for its Italian hotels, Spanish hotels, Basque…
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Chinatown (site)

Reno's Chinese community experienced decades of racism, displacement, and violence.

Following the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Reno—like other towns in the West—became a home for displaced Chinese laborers. The Sacramento-to-Reno section of the Central Pacific Railroad was completed in the spring of 1868; Chinese laborers who had risked life and limb laying track…
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Historic Reno Arch

Now located on Lake Street, Reno's first arch was originally installed over Virginia Street in 1926.

The historic arch now located on Lake Street at the Truckee River is Reno’s most recognizable symbol. Fashioned after California city gateway structures, the steel arch was erected in 1926 at the intersection of Commercial Row and Virginia Street to promote the 1927 Nevada Transcontinental Highways…
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Holiday Hotel

Millionaire Norman Biltz opened the new hotel on the south bank of the Truckee River in 1956.

Reno’s tourism industry shifted into high gear in the years following World War II, as Americans jumped into their cars and hit the highways in search of fun and adventure. Motels popped up along all the major entrances to town, and the downtown casinos were booming. In 1953, millionaire…
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