The Elling, Knight & Buford hardware store, located in the Masonic Temple, built this warehouse in July 1901. Although seemingly mundane, such storage buildings were essential to keeping Virginia City residents supplied with consumer goods. Even after the arrival of a branch rail line to Alder in 1901 (ten miles from Virginia City), merchants hauled in vast quantities of merchandise only a few times a year. They displayed as much stock in their shops as possible and stored the rest elsewhere. When inventory ran low at the Elling, Knight & Buford store, clerks walked up Van Buren Street to the warehouse to bring back new stock. The hardware store closed in the early 1930s, and the Virginia City School District bought this building in 1935. Harvey Romey rallied town residents to remodel it into a gym without a bond issue. In 1970, the Virginia City School closed, and the school board gifted the gym to the Vigilance Club for community use. The town of Virginia City took ownership in 1988, and the building continues to serve the community for recreation and events.
Images