Historic Reno Preservation Society

This past year, Rosie Cevasco and I have been immersed in research about the early history of  Nevada's state hospital (now called Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services). Our goal is simple: collect as much history as possible, in the form of photographs, historical documents, and oral histories, and make them available online for everyone to view and use. Although we have accumulated a great deal of data on the 125+-year-old institute, we're sure there are HRPS members and other local residents who might have some stories or artifacts they would like to share with us. Our initial concern was to draw attention to the wonderful historical buildings on the hospital grounds at the corner of Glendale Avenue and Galletti Way in Sparks. I wrote an article about the history of those buildings in the Summer 2009 FootPrints newsletter and Rosie recently gave several tours to NNAMHS employees of the old "Stone House" on the property.

We have started a website devoted to making all our state hospital resources available online. You can find it at:  Historic Nevada State Hospital. There isn't much there yet, but we will be adding to it as time permits.

The impetus to get moving quickly on the project was the 2005 demolition of a two-story brick building designed by Frederic DeLongchamps around 1927. Two more important DeLongchamps-designed buildings still stand, but pressures mount daily to modernize the entire facility and we feel the fates of these treasures may lie, in part, in our ability to spread the word of their historical significance.

In addition to another article about the people of the state hospital, due in the Spring 2010 FootPrints, Rosie and I will share much of the hospital's history at the HRPS April 28, 2010, meeting. We would love to hear from any of you with state hospital history or lore to share. It's as simple filling out the comment form below.