Editing Carson City, Nevada (section)

==History==
[[File:Abraham Curry.png|thumb|upright|left|Abraham Curry]]
[[File:Carson City, 1877.jpg|thumb|Illustration of Carson City in 1877]]
The [[Washoe people]] have inhabited the valley and surrounding areas for about 6,000 years.<ref name="Pritzker">{{cite book|author=Pritzker, Barry M.|title=A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples|publisher=Oxford: Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195138771|year=2000|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanen0000prit}}</ref>

The first [[European American]]s to arrive in what is now known as Eagle Valley were [[John C. Frémont]] and his exploration party in January 1843.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/nevada/carson.htm|title=National Park Service: Three Historic Cities|publisher=Travel Nevada.com|access-date=June 2, 2010}}</ref> Fremont named the river flowing through the valley [[Carson River]] in honor of [[Kit Carson]],(1809-1868), the [[mountain man]], explorer and scout he had hired for his expedition. Later, settlers named the area Washoe, in reference to the indigenous people.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bayer|first=C.W.|title=Profits, plots & lynching; the creation of Nevada Territory|year=1995|publisher=Purple Mountain Press|location=Carson City|isbn=0962889032|page=2}}</ref>

By 1851, the [[Eagle Valley (Nevada)|Eagle Station]] ranch along the Carson River was a trading post and stop-over for westbound travelers and wagons on the [[California Trail]]'s [[California Trail#Carson Trail|Carson Branch]], which ran through [[Eagle Valley (Nevada)|Eagle Valley]]. The valley and trading post received their name from a [[bald eagle]] that was hunted and killed by one of the early settlers and was featured pinned on a wall inside the post.

As the area was part of the larger [[Utah Territory]] (1850-1896), it was governed from the [[state capital|territorial (and later state) capital]] of [[Salt Lake City]] on the eastern shore of the [[Great Salt Lake]], where the territorial government was headquartered there several hundred miles further east with [[Mormon]] ([[The Church of Jesus Christ of  Latter-day Saints]]) patriarch of [[Brigham Young]] (1801-1877), as first [[Governor of Utah]]. Early settlers bristled at the control by Mormon-influenced officials and desired the creation of the provisional [[Nevada Territory]] with [[Isaac Roop]] (1822-1869, served 1859-1861), as provisional Governor. A vigilante group of influential settlers, headed by [[Abraham Curry]] (1815-1873), sought a site for a capital city for the envisioned future separate territory.<ref>{{cite book|last=Oldham|first=Willa|title=Carson City: Nevada's Capital City|year=1991|publisher=Nevada State Museum|location=Carson City, NV|asin=B0006QSL8Q|page=5}}</ref> In 1858, [[Abraham Curry]] bought Eagle Station and the settlement was thereafter renamed Carson City.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cerveri |first1=Doris |title=With Curry's Compliments: The Story of Abraham Curry |date=1990 |publisher=Nostalgia Press |location=Elko, NV |page=13}}</ref> Curry and several other partners had Eagle Valley surveyed for development. Curry decided Carson City would someday serve as the capital city and left a {{convert|10|acre|m2|adj=on}} plot in the center of town for a capitol building.

After [[gold]] and [[silver]] ore were discovered in 1859 on the nearby newly-named [[Comstock Lode]], Carson City's population began to grow. Curry built the Warm Springs Hotel a mile to the east of the town center. When new  territorial governor [[James W. Nye]] (1815-1876, served 1861-1864), traveled east to Nevada, he chose Carson City as the territorial capital instead of earlier [[Genoa, Nevada|Genoa]], which had functioned temporarily as such for the past few years. Influenced by Carson City lawyer [[William M. Stewart]] (1827-1909), who escorted him from the port of [[San Francisco, California]] where he arrived onboard a passenger steamboat liner, then journeying uphill past [[Sacramento]] to Nevada.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hauck|first=Eldon|title=American Capitols|year=1991|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|location=Jefferson, NC|page=138}}</ref> As such, Carson City bested [[Virginia City, Nevada|Virginia City]] and American Flat. Curry loaned the Warm Springs Hotel to the territorial Legislature as a temporary meeting hall. The Legislature named Carson City to be the [[county seat]] of [[Ormsby County, Nevada|Ormsby County]] and also selected the hotel as the territorial prison, with Curry serving as its first warden. Today, the property is still part of the state prison.

When Nevada became the 36th [[U.S. state|state]]  in 1864 during the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865), Carson City was confirmed as Nevada's permanent [[state capital]]. Carson City's development was no longer dependent on the mining industry and instead became a thriving commercial center. The [[Virginia and Truckee Railroad]] was built between [[Virginia City, Nevada|Virginia City]] and [[Carson City]]. A [[log flume]] was also built from the [[Sierra Nevada]] mountains range into Carson City. The current [[Nevada State Capitol]] building was constructed from 1869 to 1871. The [[United States Mint]] also operated its branch of the [[Carson City Mint]] between the years of 1870 and 1893, which struck gold and silver coins of [[United States currency]]. People came from [[China]] during that time, many to work on the  [[transcontinental railroad]] being constructed. Some of them owned businesses and taught school. By 1880, almost a thousand Chinese people, "one for every five Caucasians", lived in Carson City.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20030925/OPINION/309250201/ |title=Dedicated to Carson's Chinese history |author=Kelli Du Fresne |publisher=Nevada Appeal |access-date=September 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407002436/http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20030925/OPINION/309250201/ |archive-date=April 7, 2012}}</ref>

Carson City's population and transportation traffic decreased when the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] built a branch line through [[Donner Pass]] to connect with the [[Carson and Colorado Railroad]]. The new branch also bypassed the Virginia & Truckee line, and ran too far to the north to benefit Carson City. The city was slightly revitalized with the mining booms in nearby [[Tonopah, Nevada|Tonopah]] and [[Goldfield, Nevada|Goldfield]]. The United States federal building (now renamed the [[Paul Laxalt]] Building) was completed in 1890 as was the [[Stewart Indian School]]. Even these developments could not prevent its population from dropping to just over 1,500 people by 1930. Carson City resigned itself to small city status, advertising itself as "America's smallest capital". The city slowly grew after [[World War II]] (1939/1941-1945); by 1960, it had reached its former 1880 mining boom-town era population size of 80 years before.

===20th-century revitalization and growth===
In 1931, [[gambling]] was legalized in Nevada which increased tourism to Carson City.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carson City |url=https://www.nvexpeditions.com/carsoncity/carson.php |website=Nevada Expeditions |access-date=April 4, 2025}}</ref>

As early as the late 1940s, discussions began about merging Ormsby County and Carson City. By this time, the county was little more than Carson City and a few hamlets to the west. By the 1960 census, all but 2,900 of the county's residents lived in Carson City. However, the effort did not pay off until 1966, when a statewide referendum approved the merger. The required constitutional amendment was passed in 1968. On April 1, 1969, Ormsby County and Carson City officially merged as the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City.<ref name=consolidatedmunicipality /> With this consolidation, Carson City absorbed former town sites such as [[Empire City, Nevada|Empire City]], which had grown up in the 1860s as a milling center along the Carson River and current [[U.S. Route 50 in Nevada|U.S. Route 50]]. Carson City could now advertise itself as one of America's largest state capitals with its {{convert|146|sqmi|km2}} of city limits.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carson.org/Index.aspx?page=140|title=Carson City: History|author=Carson City Government|access-date=February 6, 2021|archive-date=July 25, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725141732/http://www.carson.org/Index.aspx?page=140|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1991, the city adopted a downtown master plan, specifying no building within {{convert|500|ft|m|abbr=off}} of the capitol would surpass it in height. This plan effectively prohibited future high-rise development in the center of downtown.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/?id=carsoncity-nv-usa |title=About Carson City |author=Staff Writer |publisher=Emporis |access-date=May 23, 2021 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023125134/http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/?id=carsoncity-nv-usa |archive-date=October 23, 2012}}</ref> The [[Ormsby House]] is the tallest building in downtown Carson City, at a height of {{convert|117|feet}}. The structure was completed in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emporis.com/city/carsoncity-nv-usa/all-buildings/highrise |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023143701/http://www.emporis.com/city/carsoncity-nv-usa/all-buildings/highrise |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |title=Carson City High Rise Buildings |publisher=Emporis.com |access-date=January 17, 2013}}</ref>