The City of Reno has hired Kautz Environmental Consultants to prepare a report as the first phase of designating a National Historic District along East 4th Street. The report will include a history of the area and an architectural survey documenting the historic buildings along East 4th Street from Evans Avenue to Galletti Way. Activities to document the built environment of East 4th Street will occur during the Spring of 2024. A nomination for a historic district will not occur until 2025 or later.

Learn more about surveying historic resources. 

You are invited to an Information Session about the History of East 4th Street and the Potential to Nominate a National Historic District

There will be two opportunities to learn more about the history of East 4th Street and the effort to create a National Historic District along this corridor. Kautz Environmental Consultants will present information from the research project currently underway that documents the history of this historic route which was once a portion of the Lincoln, Victory, and US 40 Highways. The consultant will reveal information about which buildings best represent the history of East 4th Street in order to recommend the boundaries and contributing properties for a potential National Historic District nomination. They will also discuss what a national historic designation means and how it may benefit the historic East 4th Street corridor.

• This meeting has passed; view a recording of the June 26th meeting.

Do you have information to share about East 4th Street?

Share your memories or knowledge of East 4th Street with the City of Reno to help preserve the history of this special corridor by completing this questionnaire.

Why East 4th Street?

4th Street played an important role during the transition in America between the dominance of transportation by railroad and the rise in influence of the automobile industry during the 20th century. As early as the 1800s, East 4th Street was already an important transportation corridor linked to both the Central Pacific Railroad (later Southern Pacific) which runs one block south of 4th Street and the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad (later Western Pacific) that runs roughly north-south and intersects East 4th Street between Evans Avenue and Valley Road.  4th Street originally formed a county road that connected Reno and Sparks and the road continued west beyond Reno city limits toward the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The road’s proximity to the railroad, Reno’s commercial core, and routes heading out of the city made it a prime location for a variety of commercial businesses and services. In 1913, the creation of the Lincoln Highway Association led to the designation of 4th Street as the route of the transcontinental highway. Later, the Victory Highway, which also ran through Reno, converged with the 4th Street route. In 1925, the American Association of State Highway Officials recommended a national numbering system for U.S. highways and the road segment became known as U.S. Highway 40 by 1926.

The variety of buildings along East 4th Street demonstrate how the commerce and transportation industries grew in tandem in Reno. The presence of both a transcontinental railroad and later the transcontinental highway allowed Reno to benefit economically from transportation and commerce rather than mining as was the case elsewhere in the state. These major transportation routes also fed the city's lucrative migratory divorce and legalized gambling industries by bringing people from all over the country to Reno. Commerce flourished as industry and supply lines developed along railroad and highway routes turning Reno into a major distribution center for Northern Nevada and other western states. Commercial activity in the area prospered until the completion of Interstate 80 in 1974 which bypassed East 4th Street to the north. 

Designation will commemorate this significant history and ensure that documentation of the context and existing historic fabric of the area is available to the public.  

Visit Reno Historical for a walking tour of a portion of East 4th Street.

4th Street | Prater Way History Project from Online Nevada Encyclopedia

What is the National Register of Historic Places? 

Created in 1966 as a result of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Register of Historic Places (or NRHP) is the nation’s official list of properties worthy of preservation. It is kept by the National Park Service (NPS), with significant support from state historic preservation offices, local governments, non-profit organizations, and everyday citizens. The National Register recognizes those places that have significance to the past in a local, state, or national context and that possess strong physical integrity to the period during which they were important. This can include places important for the stories they tell about the past, for excellence in design, or for the evidence they retain about the way past peoples lived. A resource can be a building, structure, site, or object. It might also be a larger landscape or a concentration of any of these types of resources, known as a historic district. 

Are there benefits to being listed on the National Register of Historic Places?

Listing in the National Register of Historic Places is honorary and helps preserve the places associated with our irreplaceable heritage by recognizing them and promoting public awareness of our shared history. Heritage tourism is fueled by the remarkable sites identified through the National Register and which define a community’s unique sense of place.

Listing in the National Register is also the first step towards eligibility for National Park Service-administered federal preservation tax credits that have leveraged more than $45 billion in private investment, and National Park Service grant programs like Save America's Treasures and Preserve America. Learn more from the National Park Service.

How does being listed in the National Register of Historic Places affect property rights?

The National Register is an honorary designation. It does not change property rights, nor does it add restrictions for current or future owners who may want to make changes to a property that is individually listed or within a historic district. Property owners seeking advice on how to best care for their property are encouraged to consult the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, the national standards for historic preservation. The City of Reno currently has two historic districts on the National Register. 

University of Nevada Reno Historic District

The University of Nevada was provided for in the state constitution in 1864 but it was ten years later before the first campus in Elko accepted students. Reno city leaders argued persuasively to move the university to Reno in 1885-1886. The first university building was Morrill Hall and the early campus developed around what is now the historic quad.

The University of Nevada, Reno National Historic District is roughly bounded by College Drive at the north and East 9th Street on the South, encompassing the Quad, Manzanita Lake and 13 historic structures designed by renowned architects such as Frederic DeLongchamps and Stanford White. The district was added to the National Historic Register in 1987.

Read more about the history of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Newlands Historic District

In 2017, the National Park Service added the Newlands Historic District to the National Register of Historic Places. The Newlands Historic District is significant as a neighborhood that shaped Reno’s early suburban development as the city adopted City Beautiful ideals and its neighborhoods transitioned from streetcar and pedestrian-based neighborhoods to automobile-centered suburbs. The boundary of the district is roughly Arlington Avenue on the east, the Truckee River on the north, Monroe Street on the south, and Keystone Avenue, California Avenue and Sharon Way on the west.

Read more about the Newlands Historic District on the Around the Arch blog.

Acknowledgement of Support 

This project has been funded with assistance from the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office through a Department of the Interior grant.

The research and survey that are the subject of this webpage have been financed in whole or in part with federal funds from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior, and administered by the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. The contents and opinions, however, do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of the Interior or the State Historic Preservation Office. This program receives federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties.

Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Chief, Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1201 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Image at top of page: Segment of 1930 Thomas Bros. Map of Reno Nevada, University Libraries Digital Collections, University of Nevada, Reno