Bartlett's Blacksmith Shop
Virginia City National Historic Landmark District
Virginia City boomed and land prices soared accordingly in 1863 and 1864, a trend well illustrated in the earliest ownership transactions of this choice commercial property. On May 13, 1864, George Parker paid $800 for the lot and sold it for $1,400 on June 27. By 1869, the property owner was Herschfield, Hanauer & Company, bankers who specialized in gold exchange. A photograph from the early 1870s shows the original log building that first occupied this lot. The present rubblestone building had been constructed by 1878 to house E. J. Bartlett’s blacksmith shop. Bartlett advertised as a “blacksmith and machinist” from 1879 through the early 1890s. The brick veneer on the front façade was added over the stone circa 1900, and the building was converted for use as a trading post in 1950.
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