Reno:  Then and Now

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AUTHOR: Therese Rice-Dietrich

 

HISTORICAL TOPIC/ERA:  Reno of the 1840’s and 1850’s

 

GRADE LEVEL(S): Third Grade

 

TIME REQUIRED: One thirty-minute period in the computer lab.

 

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: Students are familiar with the Reno of today:  the tall buildings in the downtown area, the Truckee River’s whitewater park, movie theatre, ARTOWN activities, and so on.  They’ve seen the system of streets and highways that connect everything in town.  Chances are, however, that they are not familiar with the vast, native grass-covered meadows of the mid-1800’s.

 

In the late 1840’s and 1850’s, those in search of gold in California would travel through the Truckee Meadows.  This migration prompted the need for the first bridge over the Truckee River that was then followed by Myron Lake’s hotel. In May 1868 the Central Pacific Railroad reached Lake’s Crossing creating the demand for a depot and town.  Thus, a 160 acre town called Reno emerged.

 

Transportation was a central theme for Reno for many years.  The train ran through town 6 days a week carrying livestock, construction materials, and agricultural products.  As Reno felt its growing importance, it took control of the county seat and built a courthouse.  Next, a land-grant university based in Elko moved to Reno thus cementing the value of this town.  Reno was to become the state’s largest town by the late-1800’s.

 

In 1903 Reno incorporated and the town became more refined.   The image of Reno as the wild, wild west started fading.  Mining boomed, politics and gambling entered the scene, and the divorce trade began.

 

When the Nevada legislature passed the Wide Open Gambling law in 1931, casino gaming became a major industry that has lasted to the present.

 

Reno remained the most important city in Nevada until the 1960’s when Las Vegas surpassed it in population and size.  That has not deterred people from moving here, and the population of Reno has boomed.

 

NEVADA STANDARDS:

Nevada History Standard 2.3.1 Ask history-related questions.

Nevada Geography Standard 1.3.3  Use maps, globes, photographs, and graphs to collect geographic information.

Nevada Geography Standard 2.3.3  Discuss how people view their own communities.

Nevada Geography Standard 2.3.7 Identify neighborhoods and communities as places where people live, work, and play.

 

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS/OBJECTIVES:

Examples: Using the online nevada encyclopedia, students will look at primary source photographs of 19th century Reno. The students will write an “I-Spy” clue for each of 6 photographs.  Then, the students will give a partner the 6 clues, and the partner will search the photos to find the objects of the search.  The author of the clues will confirm if the clue was answered correctly.

 

MATERIALS/SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS:

Computers with internet access to http://www.onlinenevada.org/reno;

pencils and paper

 

ACTIVITIES/STRATEGIES:

 

 

1.  Students will work individually at the computer. 

 

2.  The student will click on Lake’s Crossing, and then click on the photo of the Virginia Street Bridge.  The child will write an original “I spy with my little eye _______” clue.

 

3.  The child should click on Close window.

 

4.  Next, the student should click on Courthouse.  Then s/he should click on the photo of the courthouse and write another I Spy clue.  Then, Close window should be clicked.

 

5.  Now the child will click on Media Gallery and choose the Nevada History in 3-D Stereo Feature.  S/he  should click the forward button until finding the last four pictures:

 

            Freight Depots at Reno; Virginia Street, from the Bridge;

            Main Business Street from the Bank of the Truckee River;

            Piute Squaw and Child at Reno.

 

6.  The student will write an I Spy clue for each of the remaining pictures.

 

7.  The student will now pair up with another child, directing the new partner to the appropriate photos.  The guessing partner must now try to answer the I Spy clues.  The author of the clues will tell the partner if the correct places on the photo were located.

 

8.  One partner must put a check mark on the paper by each clue after it’s answered.

 

9.  The teacher will monitor the interactions within each student group.

 

EVALUATION OF STUDENT LEARNING:

 

At the end of the lab session, the teacher will collect the I Spy clues papers to see if the clues were checked off.