Footprints Dedicated to Preserving and Promoting Historic Resources in the Truckee Meadows Through Education, Advocacy and Leadership
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May/Ju ne Walking Tours! See Pages 6-7 FootPrints Dedicated to Preserving and Promoting Historic Resources in the Truckee Meadows through Education, Advocacy and Leadership. vol. 15 no. 2 Spring 2012 From Missouri to Reno, and Back Again, 102 Years Later by Barrie Schuster n November 2011, I found myself flipping through a box of the wicker furniture were all perfectly captured and frozen in old photographs in a booth in the Virginia Street Antique time. The photos of the outside of the house showed the detail IMall. I gazed at the faces of people, long gone, whose stories of the carved porch rails and decorative architectural elements. had been lost and whose identities would remain a mystery to One photograph showed a Ford Model T parked beside the house. everyone who saw them. A studio portrait of a peculiar looking I wondered if the house was still standing, and I thought about woman wearing a big hat and a fox stole caught my eye. I turned how fun it would be to return the photos to the home’s current the photo over and found the name Gertrude Crowell written owner, 102 years later. on the back. As I sorted through the rest of the box, I continued to see this same woman in other snapshots taken inside a very I went home and looked beautiful home. up the address on Google Maps and found that there I turned over one of these photos and found “Gertrude Crowell was still a home at that Allen, 6 S. High Street Butler, Missouri, 1909” written on the back. address. The street view Then I found more photos of the same house, both inside and feature was unavailable, out, with the same address and date written on the back of every however, so I could not single one. Many of the photos were just images of the rooms confirm whether it was the with no people, but others contained Gertrude Crowell Allen and same house. I called the a little girl, about ten years old. county assessor in Butler, Missouri for more infor- The house was an enormous Queen Anne with a beautifully mation. The woman at the carved newell post and wood panels lining the stairway. The assessor’s office told me paintings on the walls, the rugs, the draperies, the wallpaper and there was a 3,200 square foot house built in 1910 located at that address and that the current owner was named Christopher Miller and he received his mail there. I know that asses- sor’s office data relating to the year built is often incorrect on older homes, so I was not con- cerned that my photos had the date 1909 on the back. A 100-year old, 3,200-square foot house was no doubt the same house as the one in my photos. I returned to the Antique Mall and bought the best of the group of photographs, but not all of them. I placed them in an envelope and addressed them to Christopher Miller, 6 S. High Street, Butler, Missouri. I mailed them on the Monday before Thanksgiving with Above, the library of 6 High Street in Butler, Missouri. To the right is a note containing my phone number and to let Mr. Miller know Gertrude Crowell Allen who lived in the house. there were additional photographs available. Then I waited in anticipation to see if I would receive a phone call from Missouri. Courtesy Barrie Schuster. Continued on page 2 1 historicreno.org FootPrints Vol. 15 No. 2, Spring 2012 From Missouri to Reno, and Back Again (continued) Continued from page 1 I was so excited for this stranger in received a note from Barrie Missouri who had no idea what was com- Schuster of Reno, Nevada ing his way! My friends told me not to get advising he [sic] found a too excited, he may not call or even care number of photos in an antique about the photos, but I knew he would. store in Reno that definitely have a Butler connection. Two On Black Friday at noon, my phone rang, or three of the photos were the displaying an area code I did not recog- exterior of a home (taken about nize. I answered and began speaking to 1909) where the Millers now Chris Miller. He sounded utterly shocked, reside. Other photos showed in disbelief. He had just moments before various rooms in the house opened the letter. He wanted the rest of with elaborate woodwork, the photos. He explained that before he fixtures and furniture—plus had bought the house fifteen years ago, photos of a young girl named all of the wood railings on the porch had Gertrude Crowell, one of which been replaced with iron ones, the hand- added the name ‘Allen’ who carved woodwork along the stairway had lived in that house, and other been painted white, drop ceilings had related pictures.” The intricately carved stairway and newell post in the been installed and the exterior had been Butler house. Courtesy Barrie Schuster. covered in asbestos tiles. His next project Editor’s Note: Our Barrie is was to replace the iron porch railings with definitely not a he. original -looking wood railing, but he never guessed that he would see the origi- Barrie Schuster is a HRPS nal railings for inspiration. Board member, a HRPS I sent Chris the rest of the photographs, Walking Tour guide, and an and he emailed me photos of what the organizer of the West of house looked like when he bought Wells neighborhood. it. I realized, after seeing how much work he had done to try to bring the house back to its origi- nal state, how rewarding it must have been to receive the photos I sent. Chris told me he believed that he did not really own this house, that he was just taking care of it for the next owner. He said the photographs would remain with the house and be passed along when he sold it. Editor’s Note: Recently the news-Xpress, a local newspaper in Butler, Missouri ran an article “Views from the past ...Recently Is this a young Gertrude Crowell or her Above newspaper photos of the 1909 house and the house the Christopher Miller family daughter? Can we find out? in 1912. Courtesy of Barrie Schuster. at 6 South High Street in Butler Courtesy Barrie Schuster. Save These Dates Saturday, September 29, 2012. The 3rd Reno Saturday, November 10, 2012. Neon and Other Harvest of Homes Tour. Save the date for the most Roadside Attractions Bus Tour. This tour is in exciting Tour yet, featuring six of Southwest Reno’s celebration of Will Durham’s fall neon exhibit at most distinguished homes. the Nevada Museum of Art. Stay tuned for details. 2 FootPrints Vol. 15 No. 2, Spring 2012 historicreno.org Crystal Springs Ice House — A Gem in the Heart of Midtown by Cindy Ainsworth am sure all of you are familiar with The Nevada State Journal (NSJ) reported surplus ice could be stored in the ice the cheery, bright, white with blue that the building, completed in June house. The company boasted that the Itrim Crystal Springs Water Building 1930, “is the first commercial enterprise most modern ice-making machinery was at 901 Center Street. The eclectic Mission to start operation on Center Street installed and was able to produce ice Style industrial building stands out as a south of the Truckee River since the City from pure, clean artesian-well water. landmark along this busy street. I per- Council made South Center Street into a sonally filled many a five-gallon bottle business zone.” Optimism abounded as By 1931, the company announced two with their fine artesian water. the paper reported that it would be the changes: they would deliver bottled forerunner of many other business ven- water, plus they were installing what This year a new owner is transform- tures in the new district. could be considered Reno’s first “crude” ing the building into the Brasserie St. water vending machine at the plant. James Brewery and Restaurant, bring- According to Steve ing a new addition to the popular Reno Rastelli’s son Tony, Midtown Neighborhood. Imagine a in an interview in unique building with its own artesian the 1980s, his dad well, whose water was used to make found himself unex- beer! A match “brewed” in heaven pectedly in the ice could not have been better. business. The original owners, Kornmayer The building’s story begins in 1929, when and Compton, ran local entrepreneurs George Kornmayer into financial prob- and Earl Compton hired Reno builder lems soon after they and contractor Steve Rastelli to dig a well awarded Rastelli the and build the Crystal Springs Ice plant in contract to construct the Southside Addition. Rastelli drilled the building. They through 100 feet of granite and discov- could not pay so they ered water at the 285-foot level. The cre- had to sell stock to ation of the artesian well made this the complete the building. perfect location for the ice plant. It was not long before Abandoned Virginia & Truckee Railway tracks looking north Rastelli soon found beside Holcomb Avenue at Burns. The Crystal Springs building can himself the primary be seen to the left at the end of Center Street, 1951. stock holder and even- Courtesy Special Collection Department, tually the owner of an University of Nevada, Reno Library. ice plant. The ice-making busi- The company installed a simple hose in ness in the 1930s was still a prosperous front of the building where customers industry.