Early Reno In Images Of America
"The Biggest Little City In The World." This is the famous slogan Reno, Nevada has long used to describe itself. This photographic history, "Early Reno" (2011) tells the story of this slogan, and of the equally famous Reno arch, as well as much else about this fascinating and unusual American community. The Nevada Historical Society Docent Council wrote this book drawing extensively on its archives of Nevada history. The book displays a love for the community and its history.
The central chapters of this book tells the history of the Reno that most people know. It explores Reno as a center for easy divorces from the early 20th Century through about 1970 and it explores Reno as a center for gambling -- well before the rise of Las Vegas. The book also discusses a famous event in Reno -- the heavyweight championship fight between Jack Johnson and James Jefferies on July 4, 1910 which became forever known as the "Fight of the Century" and has been memorialized in films, literature, and popular culture.
The remainder of the book, however, shows more of Reno. The book puts the founding of the city in the context of Western migration and Nevada statehood, granted in 1864. Reno's early history is tied closely to mining and to railroads, especially to the first Transcontinental Railroad which passed directly through Reno. The opening chapters of this book show rare photographs of the community from its earliest days emphasizing the difficulty of settlement, the danger from fires, early mining, and the building of the railroads. The "biggest little city in the world" comes alive.
Then the book describes the rise of the automobile and the airplane which, together with the demise of mining, made Reno the center it became for tourism, marriage and divorce, and gaming. With all of this notoriety, Reno was still a city where people lived their lives. The book shows how life developed in Reno through schools, religious institutions, community organizations, local businesses, sports and recreation, and more. The book, in short, offers a portrayal of a place that offered more than sin.
The images and the supporting texts and introductory materials are informative and well-done and the book includes a good bibliography for those wishing to read further. The book is part of the Images of America series of local American photographic histories. The series shows the breadth and diversity of American life and American communities. I have never been to Reno, but I enjoyed learning about its history and visiting it through this short book.
