Reno Turns 145

The City of Reno turned 145 years old tomorrow. It was May 9th, 1868, when the townsite was officially established.

Charles Crocker, the railroad construction superintendent for the Central Pacific Railroad and his partners in the railroad, named the new town for Union General Jesse Reno, who died in 1862 at the battle of Fox’s Gap, South Mountain, Md.

General Reno, an infantry commander from Pennsylvania, never set foot in Nevada. A statue of him stands in the Powning Veterans Memorial Park across the street from the federal courthouse in Reno.

What would become Reno was first settled in 1859 when Charles Fuller built a log toll bridge across the Truckee River. The majority of bridge users were those coming to or from the mines of the Comstock.

In 1861, Myron Lake purchased Fuller’s bridge and used the money from tolls to purchase more land, constructing a mill, livery stable and kiln. When the Central Pacific Railroad was being built, Lake deeded a portion of the land to Charles Crocker to ensure his land would be in the railroad’s path.