By Robin Hebrock Pahrump Valley Times
January 3, 2025

Tonopah may be a small, rural community in the middle of Nevada’s high desert but it’s well worth the trip for history buffs or anyone interested in the long-gone days of 1900s mining and the Old West.

This historical value is something that Tonopah Main Street is working to leverage. In mid-2023, the organization was allotted $52,400 from Nye County’s American Rescue Plan Act grants program to launch its Historical Storytelling project, aimed at shining the spotlight on many intriguing points of interest throughout the town.

In December, Tonopah Main Street Executive Director Kat Galli provided the Nye County Commission with an update on the progress of that project, which she said is bearing wonderful results.

“I really appreciate what we can do for our community through this funding,” Galli enthused to commissioners. “This is a huge deal for historic preservation.”

Utilizing sources such as the Nye County Clerk’s Office, the Nye County Recorder’s Office, Central Nevada Museum and more, Tonopah Main Street has been piecing together the various bits of fact that have been unearthed about those whose final resting place is the Old Tonopah Cemetery, along with the many historical buildings, murals and monuments that can be found in the area.

As of the Dec. 3 meeting, the project had incorporated 19 different building, murals and monuments, as well 26 people in the old Tonopah Cemetery, information about which has now been added to the two websites dedicated to the project. A further list of 600 people buried in the cemetery has been identified by Tonopah Main Street board member Joni Eastley, who is working closely on the project.

“We were asked by members of the public, ‘How do you find all this information?’ And it’s not like you just go to one place and pull it all and then put it on the website,” Galli remarked. “Sometimes, in order to put one sentence together on a person or a building, it takes weeks of digging through historic records.”

Putting a personal spin on the project, Galli explained that Eastley’s research had revealed that one of the county’s own employees had family members at the Old Tonopah Cemetery, something they had been unaware of.

“Timaree Koscik at the Senior Nutrition Office, Joni found that her great-grandmother and great-uncle are buried in the old cemetery together. They passed within a month of each other,” Galli detailed. “The family visited the grave over Thanksgiving and they were very moved, they didn’t even know they were buried there.”

Galli also took a minute to talk about the voluntary aspect of the Historical Storytelling project.

“One thing that I found very inspiring was, we had two teenage girls reach out to us who wanted to… volunteer and they felt the cemetery could use some clean-up,” Galli remarked.

Included with the presentation were before-and-after photos showing the results of the work those young ladies had done on the graves.

“It’s just inspiring to see youth stepping up just out of a desire to do something for the community and wanting to honor that history,” Galli noted. “We’re very excited to have volunteers stepping up. As a reminder for those who don’t know, Tonopah Main Street is a volunteer organization and our board members, which include Joni, are all nonpaid and are doing this to make a difference in their community.”

As her presentation drew to a close, Galli had one more piece of exciting news to share with the board. Currently, Tonopah Main Street is at the affiliate level with the Main Street Nation, but with the Historical Storytelling project under its belt, she is confident that the organization will be able to reach accreditation in the spring.

“When we achieve that accreditation next year, you are all part of it,” Galli concluded.

Readers can learn more about the people and places captured in the Historical Storytelling project by visiting OldTonopahCemetery.com and HistoricTonopah.com

 

By John M. Glionna | Special to the Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 27, 2018 – 7:40 am

Updated October 30, 2018 – 1:45 pm

The Belvada – Photo by Deborah Perchetti

TONOPAH — Ramsey Cline is poking around inside the guts of the old State Bank and Trust Building. Better known as the Belvada, the five-story edifice is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was once among the state’s tallest buildings. ■ For decades, however, the grand old dame of Nevada’s pioneer heyday sat in disrepair — like this former mining town itself, nearly forgotten. ■ Cline plans to change that.

He’s the point-man on a family project to reopen the Belvada in the spring of 2019 as a high-end 40-room hotel with retail shops and a basement speakeasy, a way to draw tourists to Tonopah.

The building’s name was changed in the 1960s to disassociate it from the old bank, which failed after just a few months, but the Belvada remains a critical piece of the town’s history.

“It’s one of the centerpieces of downtown Tonopah,” Cline said. “Just a few years ago, there was talk of tearing it down. It had water leaks, birds lived there, and the windows were all covered with plywood.” It deserves a second life, he said.  Read the entire article…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Christine Lilienthal
Phone: 707.940.4014
Email: clilienthal@clinecellars.com

Historic Mizpah Hotel Selected as the #1 Haunted Hotel in America by USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards

The Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah Nevada was selected as the #1 Haunted Hotel by USA Today 10Best Reader’s Choice Awards, with results released on Friday, October 12th at noon Eastern Time.

The iconic Mizpah Hotel is one of the most historic hotels in the state of Nevada offering guests with a taste for adventure and a curious nature the chance to experience a living history. When it was built in 1907, at five stories, it was the tallest building in the entire state of Nevada, and remained so for 25 years. Since the beginning, it has seen prospectors, politicians, pugilists, pilots, philanderers and preservationists. It has stood firm through shifting economic tides and the dramatic seasons of the high desert of Nevada.

Although historians say the last frontier was settled by the 1900’s, this wasn’t true for Central Nevada. In 1900 when Jim Butler found silver, in what is now the town of Tonopah, the area was largely undiscovered. The early settlers overcame amazing hardships to build the town, starting out by living under the open skies or huddling in rough tents. Days were long and work was hard but they persevered. Between 1900-1910 the population of the town soared with the growth of the mines. A small group of businessmen worked together to build The Mizpah Hotel as a place to entertain and conduct business with powerful politicians and business investors from around the world.

Over the last 111 years the Mizpah Hotel served as a beacon for the town of Tonopah, hosting famed celebrities, providing entertainment for U.S. Army and Air Force personnel and providing luxury and comfort to those traveling and exploring the roads less traveled. The hotel followed the boom and bust of the eras shuttering its doors in 2000. For over a decade the hotel sat empty until Fred & Nancy Cline purchased the property and began a detailed restoration. The Cline undertaking wasn’t a business venture, it was an opportunity to preserve a valuable piece of history, honor their past and reinvigorate a proud and independent community. In 2011, the doors re-opened offering guests the opportunity to immerse themselves in luxury and authentic history. The friendly ghosts at the hotel have been present throughout the years and delight in interacting with our guests!

 

The 10Best Readers’ Choice Award contest featured historic hotels from across the USA to include the Mizpah Hotel.  Owners, Fred and Nancy Cline were honored to be nominated in the company of so many prestigious hotels.  On finding out that they were chosen by the public as the number one haunted hotel, Nancy said, “This acknowledgement means so much to me. The Mizpah Hotel was a work of passion and serves to honor so many who came before and sacrificed so much. It is my hope that this acclaim will raise awareness and entice those seeking adventure, history and natural beauty to venture forward to Central Nevada and stop for a stay in Tonopah.”

The Cline Connection

Fred and Nancy Cline are well-regarded owners of Cline Cellars Winery and Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma. They share a passion for Tonopah, preservation and history. Nancy also has deep historical family-ties to the town and wants to honor the sacrifices made by so many in braving a new frontier to build a better life for those that followed. In 2011, Nancy and Fred restored the Mizpah Hotel. They have since opened the now thriving Tonopah Brewing Company and are also restoring the historic Nevada State Bank and Trust Building, also in Tonopah, which will open its doors in 2019 as the Belvada Hotel.

 

For more information about the Mizpah Hotel, please visit: www.themizpahhotel.com

 

For more information on USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards, please visit: www.10best.com/awards/about

 

To see review, please visit: https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-haunted-hotel-2018/