Friday, Nov. 15, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Nevada’s landscapes are etched with tales, from sprawling mountains to stretches of arid desert, all bearing traces of a previous too typically forgotten in right now’s rush to the longer term.
Scattered alongside Nevada’s highways and byways, historic markers quietly protect glimpses of the state’s historical past, but many of those markers are actually liable to vanishing. Protect Nevada, a company devoted to historic preservation, has made it a mission to carry consciousness to this crucial challenge, and included Nevada’s historic markers on its annual listing of the state’s “Most Endangered Historic Locations,” which was launched earlier this week.
Whereas extra seen and well-known websites just like the Outdated Mormon Fort and the Huntridge Theater had been additionally included on the listing, we’re calling consideration to Nevada’s historic markers particularly as a result of they have an inclination to mark lesser recognized however no much less vital places of distinctive cultural and historic worth.
These websites inform the tales of Nevada’s journey to the place we’re right now — from its days of mining booms and pioneering cities to the legacy of Indigenous peoples, Mormon settlers and numerous immigrant communities. The indicators that inform these tales are deserving of consideration and assist from each lawmakers and the group at massive.
Nevada’s community of historic markers, which had been approved by the state Legislature in 1967, are free for anybody to go to. With round 270 markers throughout the state, the historic marker program permits locals and vacationers alike to uncover Nevada’s historical past on their very own time and at their very own tempo. Nevertheless, attributable to important price range cuts in 2009, many markers are actually in disrepair or outdated, leaving their tales half-told or illegibly printed on indicators endlessly baked by the Mojave solar.
Protect Nevada’s itemizing of the state’s historic marker program on its endangered listing sends a crucial message to lawmakers: These markers are greater than roadside curiosities. They symbolize an accessible, inclusive and cost-effective technique of preserving Nevada’s wealthy historical past for future generations.
Not like grand monuments or well-funded museums, these markers require no full-time staffing and minimal upkeep, but they bring about historical past to the locations the place it occurred, giving vacationers, households and college students alike a way of place and context. They honor the resilience of Indigenous tribes, the ambitions of miners and settlers, and the contributions of immigrant communities, together with the Basque, Italian and Japanese populations which have all performed integral roles in Nevada’s previous.
But with out constant funding, Nevada’s historic markers face an unsure future.
Duty for these markers falls to the Nevada Division of State Parks, however within the absence of a devoted price range for his or her upkeep or growth, markers all through the state are uncared for. With no funds allotted for restoration or for including markers to mirror Nevada’s constantly evolving historical past, every passing 12 months erases a bit extra of what stays. The 2025 legislative session has a possibility to reverse this development by approving funding for the historic marker program within the upcoming session.
Whereas prices differ based mostly on the precise design and site of the marker, information from the State Historic Preservation Workplace in addition to a assessment of the prices of comparable applications in different states means that putting in a brand new historic marker signal can price as a lot as $3,500 and have an estimated lifespan of 10 years. As such, a $100,000 annual allocation ought to be ample to make sure that the 274 markers at the moment within the system may be changed inside their customary lifespan.
Nevertheless, this estimate doesn’t embrace employees time to manage or broaden the system, assessment and replace the content material of the indicators or interact in nonreplacement upkeep corresponding to eradicating graffiti or repairing injury attributable to automobile collisions, excessive climate or vandalism. As such, Michael Inexperienced, the manager director of Protect Nevada, hopes that the Legislature invests considerably greater than the naked minimal in preserving Nevada’s historical past. Nevertheless, Inexperienced famous that any allocation is an enchancment on the established order.
We agree.
Investing in historic markers isn’t solely an funding in Nevada’s previous but in addition in its financial and cultural future. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a renewed curiosity in nice American street journeys and heritage tourism is a burgeoning trade nationwide.
Nevada’s historical past — layered with tales of the Wild West, Indigenous cultures, mining booms and early statehood — provides a singular draw for vacationers keen on immersive, academic journey experiences. Guests from close to and much are sometimes extra inclined to discover a spot once they can uncover its hidden tales, and well-maintained historic markers are one of the vital economical methods to foster these connections. These markers also can encourage passersby to cease within the rural communities that may profit most from the financial exercise. And so they encourage residents, particularly younger individuals, to take delight within the position their group performed in constructing the Silver State.
Supporting the historic marker program can be a robust assertion by Nevada’s legislators that the state’s historical past issues and that it ought to be preserved and celebrated for generations to come back.
