Ronni Hannaman: Land in Genoa was too expensive to be the state capitol

It’s always about the “deal”. As early as the early 1850s, property developers were looking for the best possible real estate opportunities. Carson City’s founder wanted to set up a trading post in Genoa, but the cost of the land deterred him, so he galloped north on his horse to gallop about 20 miles into the already familiar Eagle Valley.
He found what he wanted and the rest, as they say, is history.
The story begins in 1851 when Col. John Reese founded the first trading post in what was then Utah Territory at what is now the Mormon station in Genoa.
At about the same time, 20 miles north, John Hall also established a trading post and a large ranch called Eagle Station on what is now Fifth Street in Carson City. He sold the position to John Mankins a few years later.
In 1858, Abe Curry, the best-known founder of Carson, came to Eagle Valley with friends to buy most of the Mankins ranch that would become Carson City after bidding for $ 1,000 (about $ 33,500 today). Dollars) for buying property in Genoa has also been considered low.
The $ 1,000 deal was closed and Mankins received $ 500 in coins and the remainder in Mustangs, according to Angels History of Nevada 1881. Curry and his friends became the owners of a huge piece of land and began planning a new town. As with all historical stories, there really is more to history.
If Curry tried to buy a house or land in Genoa today, he would still find the property outside of his price range. In August, Redfin reported that the average Genoa home price was $ 1.57 million, more than three times Carson’s listing of about $ 464,000. So when you speak of “affordable” everything is relative.
Curry’s vision of a capital city paid off, although unlike many of today’s developers, he did not become a rich man. While today’s builders are providing the city with space for parks, Curry has given over 10 acres to build a capitol on the site it is today.
Over the many years, Genoa has grown into a very small exclusive village of 659 residents, according to the US Census Bureau, while Carson City has flourished to over 56,500 (or over 58,500 if you include prisoners).
Carson City has always been the region’s commercial hub – until Reno was officially founded in 1868 by Myron Lake, who gave way to the Central Pacific Railroad through its newly established Reno, which fueled the growth of this new city.
Even the Cartwright family rode their horses from their Bonanza ranch in Incline to do business in Carson. The Pony Express stopped here. The hotels were here. Silver coins were minted here. There was an opera house, a racetrack, a brewery, hot springs, and later a real capitol, followed by prisons and everything that comes with founding a city and a new state. The jobs are there. Even Mark Twain joined his brother here when Orion Clemens became secretary of the newly formed Nevada Territory.
Carson City became the city and seat of government where Nevada’s history was and is being written. The oldest bar in Nevada, which can only be found in Genoa, admittedly, it cannot be called the Genoa Bar.
Today developers have plans for almost every square inch of Carson’s land as apartments, residential streets, and condominiums are being built to house all of those who discovered Curry’s beautiful Eagle Valley.
This weekend, the 102nd Genoa Candy Dance will shed some light on this historic little community for a moment as Carson City continues to run the state and is once again the commercial hub for the surrounding counties outside of Reno, even though they live in South of Reno you can enjoy shopping here.
150 years ago, the Nevada Appeal published: “Hammer and saw can be heard all over Carson. Improvement is in the air. In fact, Carson and Reno are and always will be thriving little towns. “