Clark County Museum facts for kids
The Clark County Museum is a cool place in Henderson, Nevada. It's owned and run by Clark County. The museum has a main exhibit hall called the Anna Roberts Parks Exhibit Hall. It also has a special area called Heritage Street with eight old buildings from the county.
The museum teaches you about the history of southern Nevada. You can learn about the early Native American people, like the Paiute people. It also shows how mining, railroads, and gaming shaped the area. You can see old houses and even a recreated ghost town.
Contents
How the Museum Started
The museum's story begins with a woman named Anna Nuhfer Roberts. She came to Nevada in 1911. Anna loved collecting old things, like historical items, minerals, and clothes. She gathered these treasures while traveling around southern Nevada.
Anna's collection grew very large. At first, she kept everything at her home. But soon, it became too much for her property. So, she moved many items to an old army building. Sadly, people broke into this building and stole some valuable things.
In 1962, Anna Roberts Parks passed away. She left her amazing collection to her daughter, Edith. Edith wanted to find a way to keep her mother's collection safe and open it to the public. After another break-in, a local historian named Maryellen Vallier Sadovich helped Edith. They worked together to find a sponsor for a museum.
A Community Project
The Henderson Chamber of Commerce became interested in the collection. They wondered where to put it and how to get enough money for a museum. Maryellen Sadovich kept pushing for the idea.
A big problem was that the collection kept getting vandalized where it was stored. This made people act quickly. Glen Taylor, a school board member, helped secure the Townsite school's gymnasium on Water Street for the collection.
Soon, many people from Henderson helped move the collection. They cleaned, organized, and prepared everything for display. The new museum became a big community effort. In March 1968, the museum officially became a legal group. It was first called the Southern Nevada Museum.
Later, the museum's name changed to Clark County Museum or Clark County Heritage Museum. Today, the museum's administrator is Mark Hall-Patton. He is a historian who has appeared on the TV show Pawn Stars as an expert.
What You Can See
The Clark County Museum has many interesting exhibits. You can explore different parts of Nevada's past.
Gaming History
- An old 1898 Dewy slot machine shows how gaming started.
Historic Houses
You can walk through several old houses that were moved to the museum grounds. They show how people lived long ago.
- An original Henderson B.M.I. townsite house from the early 1940s.
- The Giles/Barcus House, built around 1905, came from Goldfield, Nevada.
- The Beckley House from 1912, originally from Las Vegas, Nevada.
- The Goumond House, built in 1935 and fixed up in the 1950s.
- The Babcock and Wilcox House from the 1930s.
The Candlelight Wedding Chapel, which used to be on the famous Las Vegas Strip, is now at the museum. It's at the end of Heritage Street. There's also an old railroad cottage from downtown Las Vegas. You can look inside from the porch to see old furniture.
Old Vehicles
The museum also has a collection of old cars and trains.
- A 1932 Boulder City train depot.
- A 1946 Plymouth Coupe car.
- A 1959 Studebaker Lark car.
See also
In Spanish: Museo del Condado de Clark para niños
