PRESERVATION EFFORTS

The Fourth Ward School (FWS) has been ranked the number one preservation project in Nevada consistently for six years by the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs (CCA) in cooperation with the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. More than $2.75 million has been spent directly on the building in restoration efforts, funded by grants, private business, foundations, and individual donations.

January 2008

One primary classroom on the bottom floor later used as a Home Economics storage area has been restored for adaptive reuse as an archives.

October 2006

The windows rattle with such fierceness they may break. Washoe zephyrs blow dirt and sand in a pelting storm that pits the building's surfaces and infiltrates into every nook and cranny. The breeze inside the classrooms blows the green oil-cloth shades. Through a generous grant from a private foundation, the windows are now securely preserved behind custom ordered storm windows.

May 1, 2005

The restoration of the north bottom floor has opened two primary classrooms for use. Reinstalled windows allow light to once again brighten the room that served the second and third grades. The janitor later used this room to chop wood and store coal for the 16 pot bellied stoves that heated the school. The other room is still remembered as Katie Quirk's first and second grade class. The classrooms will house museum offices, archival research, a small meeting area, and archival work area.

October 4, 2003

The reconstructed North Tower water closets were inaugurated with a first flushing. Plus, for the first time in the history of the school, hot water flowed from a faucet. The beautiful historic-styled restrooms and the modern catering kitchen were celebrated with a ceremonial speech by Ron James, State Historic Preservation Officer, and a reception followed in the E. L. Wiegand Great Room.

The reconstructed tower contains a men's (boys') restroom on the main floor (2nd floor), a women's (girls') restroom on the 3rd floor, and a catering kitchen and a staff restroom on the bottom floor. The new tower reflects the original use of the north side and the museum can more adequately attend to the comfort of its visitors and expand rental capabilities.

The original tower was described in the October 15, 1876 Territorial Enterprise "... The closets of the building are on the north side. There will be twenty-four in all, each of the most approved Philadelphia pattern, with spring seats admitting water when in use and shutting it off when closed."

The decaying tower of the abandoned school was torn down by volunteers from the Association of General Contractors and the Building Trades Unions in 1966 because it was unsafe. After the school building was opened in 1986, two single restrooms were installed on the bottom floor. The small restrooms and lack of hot water have hindered the development of museum programs and activities.

The reconstruction of the North Tower was made possible with funding from the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs, Storey County, E.L. Cord Foundation, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation, National Park Service, and members of the Historic Fourth Ward School. Reconstruction was conducted by Milford Wayne Donaldson Architect and Reyman Brothers Construction. The balcony walkways that were used by the female students to access the water closets are currently under construction.

Major Contributor to Comstock Historic District

The FWS is considered a major contributing aspect of the Comstock Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The FWS was built in 1876 when the population of Virginia City numbered 25,000 residents. The building is an excellent example of Second Empire architecture, popular during the Victorian era in the United States. The four-story, sixteen room school was built to accommodate 1,000 students at a reported cost of $100,000. The school was designed to honor the nation's Centennial and was given to the state of Nevada as a birthday present in celebration of the nation's 100th birthday.

November 2000

The FWS began an extensive $414,000 rehabilitation of the third floor assembly/performance space. With CCA awards and matching funds including a generous donation from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation, the hall was completed in time for the season opening in May 2001. This project allows activities to be scheduled on a year-round basis and increase FWS revenues.

1999

FWS was one of 62 projects in 24 states that received a grant award from the new millennium initiative "Save America's Treasures (SAT)," administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Of the 62 projects nationwide, the FWS restoration project was the first project in Nevada so honored by the National Park Service and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. With this $639,271 award and matching funds, the FWS completed the rehabilitation of the entire exterior fabric of the structure and, after paint analysis, returned the FWS to its original color scheme.

ARCHIVES

The current collections and records housed in the Fourth Ward School Museum document life on the Comstock from 1875 to the present. Included in this information are photos, correspondence, artifacts, and other documents significant to the FWS and life on the Comstock and to its relationship to the nation. Volunteers are in the process of finishing the inventory and preserving the materials on a collection management software program for future public exhibitions, interactive kiosks, research, and enjoyment.

The story of the FWS, its role as a public school in the West, its closure, the years of neglect and the public process of its preservation are records that are vital to the heritage of Nevada. This history is important to all that visit and want to learn about the West. (The FWS was featured in the Sierra Nevada Cable Access Television documentary "Preserving Nevada's Heritage".)

Through a Nevada State Historic Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) grant, the FWS Board, Virginia City Alumni Association and other volunteers from Carson City, Virginia City, Fallon and Reno have inventoried

• more than 4,000 books located in the FWS,
• 1,000 photographs from our collections, and
• 640 desks (many original to the building).
• Volunteers continue to record and store these materials for the FWS archives and resource center.

We are currently pursuing fund raising efforts for the implementation of a collections management program to facilitate access, exhibit tracking, customize reporting, recording of volunteer hours, and membership coordination. This archives and public resource center will occupy 3,600 square feet on the first floor of FWS.

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