Watch first day of school at UNR’s $155M business building
Here’s a first look, including student reactions, of new University of Nevada, Reno, John Tulloch Business Building from UNR’s first day of school.
The cornerstone of Morrill Hall, the first building on the University of Nevada, Reno campus, was laid on Sept. 12, 1885.
The original plans called for a two-story building at the cost of no more than $20,000 (about $700,000 in today’s dollars). When the three-story Morrill Hall was completed in 1886, it came in under budget at $13,500 (about $480,000 today).
At the time, it housed the entire university — classrooms, offices, library and all. It’s still standing, serving as the home of UNR’s development and alumni relations department.
But if one vote had flipped in the Nevada Legislature in 1885, the university instead would have moved to Carson City.
And it was a Carson City senator that cast the deciding vote not to move the campus to the state capital.
By all accounts, the state university at Elko was a disaster.
The school, known then as Nevada State University, began instruction Oct. 12, 1874, with a class of seven students inside a brand-new brick building in Elko.
There were only 40,000 people in all of Nevada in 1874, mainly clustered in mining towns with questionable futures. There were only about 50 schoolhouses in the state; 15 were rented and eight were classed by the superintendent of public instruction as unfit for use. Carson City and Virginia City had the only high schools.
Elko was chosen as the site for the new school because it made the most attractive offer to the state Legislature in 1873, agreeing to provide and furnish the building.
For four years, Nevada had a one-man university. D.R. Sessions, a native of South Carolina and a scholar in Greek, Latin and modern literatures, was the faculty and staff of the institution. This talented educator, who was later to be superintendent of public instruction for the state, taught a wide variety of preparatory courses to a handful of students.
The remote location proved to be too great a challenge, and the Elko campus closed on July 15, 1885, with a class of 15 students.
By 1883, Nevada politicians already were pushing to move the university to the more populated western side of the state, and funding to the Elko campus was reduced during the Legislature’s 1883 session.
It was during the next session that legislators pushed to resolve the issue. On Feb. 19, 1885, a pair of dueling bills were introduced — one to move the campus to Reno, and another to move it to Carson City.
The other political football that session: the location of the state prison, which meant funding and jobs.
Carson City Senator Hub Parker voted against the university-to-Carson bill, allowing the university-to-Reno bill to pass a few days later. In doing so, Parker picked up some key votes to keep the state prison in Carson City, its home since 1862.
“Senator Parker made a gallant fight yesterday for the State Prison and kept Reno from pouncing on it,” the Carson Appeal editorialized on March 1. “By voting against the removal of the University from Elko to Carson, he gained five votes to keep the State Prison here, and it was a good trade.”
The enrollment at the Elko campus may have been light, but the academics were rigorous. The Nevada State Journal’s Oct. 10, 1874 edition published the admission requirements. Among them: knowledge of English language syntax, and thorough familiarity of intermediate geography. (There were only 37 states. How hard could it be?)
Admission also required expertise in Swinton’s Condensed History of the United States and Eaton’s arithmetic texts from the 1870s. Would you be able to gain admission to Nevada State University in 1874, using these actual study questions from the texts?
Brett McGinness is the engagement editor for the Reno Gazette Journal. He’s also the writer of The Reno Memo — a free newsletter about news in the Biggest Little City. Subscribe to the newsletter right here. Consider supporting the Reno Gazette Journal, too.
A Nevada man is believed to have suffered a deadly fall while climbing in Oregon.
He’s been identified as 77-year-old Robert Pickering.
Search and rescue crews say they found his body along Mount Washington, northwest of Bend, according to a social media post from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
A climbing guide reported hearing a rockslide near the summit after Pickering passed his group.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office was one of several groups that assisted in the search.
RENO, Nev. – A homicide suspect from Montana took their own life on Thursday night after police surrounded their car in northwest Reno, reports KTVN 2 News Nevada.
The incident happened in the area of Sharlands Avenue around 9 p.m., according to a spokesperson for the Reno Police Department.
Officers located the suspect and surrounded their car, blocking them in. They then heard a single gunshot and backed away.
Reinforcements were called, and a drone was brought in by UNRPD. It was then confirmed the suspect was in their car, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the news agency reports.
The suspect has not been identified pending the notification of next of kin, and no additional information has been released at this time.
In addition to the Reno Police Department, the Regional Narcotics Unit and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
The investigation is ongoing.
MESQUITE (KTNV) — A deadly crash on Interstate 15 near Mesquite prompted a group of bystanders to spring into action before first responders could arrive, pulling a man from a burning motor home after a collision with a semi-truck.
Steven Grossman, a retired Army National Guard veteran, said he was driving northbound on I-15 after a Fourth of July camping trip with his family when he saw a motor home cross the center median from the southbound lanes.
“It was like a pile of dust, it was going across the center medium and down that big hill,” Grossman said.
WATCH | Nevada bystanders pull crash victim from burning motorhome on I-15 near Mesquite
Nevada bystanders pull crash victim from burning motorhome on I-15 near Mesquite
Nevada State Police Highway Patrol said the motor home had a blown tire. When it crossed the median, it crashed into a semi-truck and burst into flames.
Grossman said he immediately pulled over and ran toward the fire.
“I seen it on fire and, you know, we just, I just got out of the truck and just ran over there,” Grossman said.
NSP
Several other drivers also pulled over. Together, they worked to pull the motor home’s driver to safety.
“Let’s grab him and get him out of here. So we just grabbed him and just tugged him into the gutter right there, into the center medium,” Grossman said.
A propane tank exploded shortly after.
Grossman used his military medical training to keep the man still, while another bystander helped stabilize the victim’s neck until paramedics arrived.
NSP
The driver of the motor home, 62-year-old Gregory Louis Painter, later died at the hospital. Fire officials said 3 other people were taken to the hospital for injuries sustained in the crash.
Grossman said he does not consider himself a hero and that stopping to help was simply the right thing to do.
KTNV
“We were just the first ones there that if the next people that were the first ones there would have done the same thing,” Grossman said. “Same thing with behind them if it was 10 cars behind me, the cars behind them would have taken care of it. It’s just I think it’s just our human nature. People just want to help.”
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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