North Las Vegas City Council backs Kiel Ranch project, but funding still uncertain

North Las Vegas officials decided today on a $5.4 million plan to turn historic Kiel Ranch into a park and scenic overlook, but funding for the plan remains uncertain.

Council members grappled with the problem of how to pay for restoration of the long-neglected site before voting unanimously to at least support, if not fund, the plan.

“This has been sitting around for a really long time,” said Councilwoman Anita Wood. “We, as a city, have to start moving on whatever we are going to do.”

Corinne Escobar, president of the Preservation Association of Clark County, offered the group’s support and help with fundraising for the ranch, which is home to one of Nevada’s oldest buildings and the site of two infamous local murders.

But “this will only be successful if you embrace this opportunity,” she told the council. “I need to see commitment from you. You have to say to the community, ‘This is important.’”

The city renewed efforts to clean up and develop the ranch, on Carey Avenue near Commerce Street, in recent years after preservationists and other community members expressed outrage that Kiel had been allowed to deteriorate.

The ranch is believed to have been settled either in 1855 or in the 1870s by American Indians with help from a group of Mormons.

It was the site of the 1884 shooting death of neighboring landowner Archibald Stewart, husband of Nevada matriarch Helen Stewart. No one was ever prosecuted in the case.

The 1900 shooting deaths of ranchers and brothers Edwin and William Kiel also occurred there. The deaths were ruled a murder-suicide at the time. But local anthropologists later determined that the brothers were killed by another person.

Much of the ranch’s original 27 acres was sold and used for industrial development. Seven fenced-in acres remain and belong to the city.

The adopted plan for the ranch is the eighth and cheapest option the city has considered. It includes a historic park and a $2 million scenic overlook with views of the ranch’s old adobe building and natural springs.

The financially-strapped city must depend on outside funding sources to transform the ranch, officials said.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.