|
|
Boulder City Magazine® October 2006 Issue
|
Short Stories
Clark County Museum
by Sharon Gwyn Mills, Clark County Museum Guild
One of the best-kept secrets in the area is the Clark County Museum in Henderson. Just off Boulder Highway at Equestrian, 1830 S. Boulder Highway, the Museum gives visitors an opportunity to walk back in time through interactive displays on our state’s pre-historic, farming, mining, gambling history, and more.
Founded in 1968, the Clark County Museum was the first Museum in the Las Vegas valley. Originally called the Southern Nevada Museum, the Museum’s name was eventually changed to the Clark County Heritage Museum and then to its current name, the Clark County Museum.
The Museum’s beginnings came through the donation of a large collection of material by Las Vegas Pioneer Anna Roberts Parks, after her death in 1962. Parks was the town’s first female funeral parlor owner. She arrived in Las Vegas in 1911 at the age of 22, and left in the 1920s to go to mortuary school in Los Angeles. She returned later to Las Vegas to open Palm Mortuary, and during her lifetime was an avid collector, especially of Native American Art.
Today, besides its indoor permanent exhibits, the Museum has an extensive outdoor area including “Heritage Street”, which showcases renovated houses and buildings from the early-mid 1900s. Two Boulder City buildings are also featured in this area. Railroad buffs will love walking through the actual Boulder City Depot from 1932. Also, a Boulder City house, owned originally by Babcock and Wilcox Company, and built in the 1933 for employees during the construction of Boulder Dam, is a wonderful see.
“Heritage House”, which has a total of twelve renovated buildings from Nevada, is also home to a replicated 1900s newspaper print shop, a 1948 Spartan trailer, a cottage from an early Las Vegas motor cottage, and a 1908 home from the “boom town” of Goldfield, Nevada.
Outside of the renovated buildings on the Museum grounds, one can also see a real 1918 Union Pacific steam engine and walk through an old-time caboose, plus wander through a resurrected ghost town, including everything from an old-time general store to a jail cell. The ghost town also has a half-mile nature trail.
|
|
The current special exhibit on display inside the Museum is called “Bringing Up Baby” and runs through November 5. It examines the products children used and provides a cross-cultural exploration of family life and children’s roles in the American family. Highlighting artifacts associated with parenting and children’s lives, the Museum hopes that Nevadans and tourists who view the exhibit will gain a better understanding of child-rearing practices and their effect on individuals and society.
On October 21, the Museum sponsors “Old-Timers from Hoover Dam” and will have speakers on hand that worked on the construction of Hoover Dam. This is a must event for anyone who wants to hear first hand experiences about living in the 1930s, and what Boulder City was like then.
Finally, families won’t want to miss “Ghosts and Goblins” on Saturday and Sunday, October 28 and 29, 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. The Clark County Museum Guild, which helps raise funds for the Museum to support its efforts in bringing history back to life, sponsors and produces this event. Only $2 per person for entrance, the event will feature trick or treating through “Heritage Street” homes at the Museum, as well as “Ghost Town Tours”, “Spook Alley”, fun carnival games and a costume contest. Attractions and games are an additional minimum charge. It’s an old-fashioned family Halloween event that provides a fun environment for parents to come with their children.
The Museum is open to the public Monday through Sunday from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. General admission is $1.50 for adults and $1 for seniors and children.
For more information, please call the Clark County Museum at (702) 455-7955, or visit their web site at www.clark.co.nv.us/Museum/.
|
Boulder City Magazine®
688 Wells Rd #A
Boulder City, Nevada 89005
Phone (702) 294-1392 Fax (702) 294-1392
E-mail: BoulderCityMagazine@gmail.com
Web Site Design by Appleby Arts
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006 - Boulder City Magazine - All Rights Reserved
E-mail Web Master at: webmaster@bouldercitymagazine.com
Disclaimer
|
