Deal reached to save railroad cottages

By Geoff Schumacher

For years, historic preservation advocates have worried about the few remaining railroad cottages standing in downtown Las Vegas. The small concrete block houses, built between 1909-1911 to house railroad workers, have, over the years, dwindled from their original 64 to about a dozen, many of them torn down to make way for office buildings, parking lots and other developments. A few years ago, one cottage was moved to the Clark County Museum in Henderson. It is being fixed up and will be added to that facility's collection of historic buildings.

Ideally, officials would like to preserve at least one of the cottages in its current location, maintaining its proper historical context. But development pressures, primarily associated with the construction of the Regional Justice Center, make that prospect unlikely. The properties on which the remaining cottages sit, in the shadow of the justice center, have become too valuable for use as bail bonds offices and low-cost rental housing. The lots are sought after for more law offices and parking lots.

But historic preservationists have devised a second-best plan to save at least three of the railroad cottages: They will be moved just a few miles away to the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. The preserve, under construction in the area south of U.S. 95 along Valley View Boulevard, is the birthplace of Las Vegas. Its artesian springs were a gathering place for Native Americans and a prized rest stop for thirsty travelers in the 19th century. Explorer John C. Fremont stopped there in 1844.

The springs dried up many years ago as the valley became settled and started drawing groundwater, but vast archaeological and cultural treasures are contained within its 180 acres, which have been fenced off from public access for decades by the Las Vegas Valley Water District. But late next year the preserve will open to the public as the primary historical and cultural complex in Southern Nevada, offering an array of educational exhibits, gardens, trails and wetlands habitats.

Details are still being worked out, but the tentative plan is to move three railroad cottages to the northwest corner of the preserve and set them up along a small street in much the same way they looked when they were part of the town's first subdivision nearly 100 years ago. There's even a connection between the downtown cottages and the water district: The cottages were built by the water district's predecessor, the railroad's land and water company.

The city owns one of the houses, at 604 S. Fourth St., and it will be moved first at a cost of $25,000-$30,000. The other two, on Casino Center Boulevard, are in private hands, but the owner has verbally agreed to let the city take the houses off his hands, says Bob Stoldal, chairman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission. A combination of city redevelopment dollars and private donations will pay to move the cottages, he says.