Nevada firehouses added to National Register of Historic Places

Two firehouses built in the late 1920s in the Eastern Nevada communities of Ely and Pioche have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Ely City Hall and Fire Station, about 240 miles north of Las Vegas, has housed city government offices for almost 90 years and served as headquarters for Ely’s fire department from 1929 to 1999. The Pioche Fire House, 175 miles northeast of Las Vegas, housed that community’s fire department from 1928 until 1954, when a larger, more modern station replaced it.

The National Park Service announced the listings Friday.

At the same time, the park service officially accepted a special report by the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office on historic fire stations across the state. The report provides a history of firefighting and fire station architecture in Nevada, and it establishes registration requirements for historic stations, making it easier for community members to nominate their eligible firehouses to the National Register.

The report directly led to the historic listings for the firehouses in Ely and Pioche.

The National Register is the nation’s official list of places worthy of preservation, a mostly symbolic designation that can qualifying old buildings and other sites for grants and tax incentives. The register includes more than 300 sites in Nevada.

Nevada residents who wish to nominate historic fire stations in their community to the National Register are encouraged to contact the state historic preservation office in Carson City. A copy of the report can be found on the preservation office’s website at: http://shpo.nv.gov/contexts.

Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.