Two hotels and one old car

It's never to late to learn something. As journalists we are reminded of this every day. For a long time, I've known the Territorial Legislature met in Abe Curry's hotel.

What I didn't know was that the territorial legislators met in two of Curry's hotels.

State Archivist Guy Rocha pointed out the difference this week.

Abe Curry came to the Eagle Valley and built the Warm Springs hotel. Today, what my dad would call the cross-bar hotel -- the Nevada State Prison -- occupies the site on East Fifth Street.

Curry built his second hotel, The Great Basin Hotel, in 1861 on the southwest corner of Musser and Carson streets. Today the former Ormsby County Courthouse, now home to part of the attorney general's staff, graces the site.

Ormsby County purchased the building at 8 N. Carson St. from Curry in 1862. The legislators of the second and third territorial sessions, as well as the legislators in the first two constitutional conventions and state legislators in the 1865, 1866, 1867 and 1869 sessions, all met in the second story of what they came to call the county building.

The Capitol, finished in 1870, became home to its first session in 1871 and retail shops lined the bottom floor.

The delay between statehood Oct. 31, 1864, and completion of the Capitol came about because there was some question as to where the capital city would rest, Rocha said. Early legislators called for a three-year delay in the process until the issue settled.

Ormsby County continued to occupy the building until it was razed. Rocha said it was gone by 1920 when construction on the new county courthouse began. The building designed by state architect Frederick DeLongchamps opened in 1922. The state purchased the courthouse and fire station for $715,000 with money approved in the 1995 Legislature. The fire station at the rear of the building is set for demolition to add 16 new parking spaces for the AG's office.

In the morning hours of 1952 or '53, however there was no shortage of parking spaces at Carson High School when Elinor McNeil pulled up to the curb and parked her car on her way to cheerleading practice.

A photo of her Model A parked on Minnesota Street in front of Carson High School, taken unbeknownst to her while she was at practice, has taken on a life of its own.

While the photographer remains a mystery, we now know when the photo was taken.

It has appeared several times -- first on the cover of the 1953 Nevada Day section and then in different history books and in this year's Carson Discoveries almanac. Using our best information -- the vintage car in the photo -- we guessed the date of the photo to be in the 1930s.

Elinor, now Elinor Berger, e-mailed a note saying the photo was actually taken in the early '50s.

"It was my car," she said. "I knew when the picture was taken."

Berger and her husband, Robert, will celebrate their 50th high school reunion this year as members of the 53-student CHS class of 1953.

"We are natives. My husband and I and our parents. All of us went to Carson High School wherever it was at the time.

"My brother went to the service and gave it to me. I drove it in high school and then he took it back. Coming back from the service he didn't have any money so he sold it to one of the Glover boys who rolled it in Kings Canyon the first day."

The picture's "been kind of a classic," Elinor said. "I saw it on my Nevada Day magazine and said 'Oh! That's me,' but I was young and you go on."

Alan Glover, another native of the Capital City, said it was probably his uncle Art Glover who rolled the car in Kings Canyon.

"He had all sorts of racing cars and jalopies in the '50s," Glover said. "It wouldn't surprise me a bit. My uncle worked for the National Guard and was killed in 1963 in an auto accident in Winnemucca."

Alan, who said he's 53 almost 54, said he used to work for Bob Berger as a kid.

He said Berger had a Berger's Smokeshop where Cactus Jacks is now. He sold cigars and newspapers and such. Berger also coordinated delivery of the Nevada State Journal from the shop. Alan worked for him as a paper boy and on weekends cleaned up and swamped out the shop.

Alan's father also worked for Harold Berger swamping out the business when it was a pool hall.

"It's a family tradition," he said.

Kelli Du Fresne is the Appeal's features editor.