The National Park Service awarded a $500,000 grant to a landmark church in the historic mining town of Virginia City to help fund the church’s costly restoration and preservation projects.
St. Mary’s in the Mountains Catholic Church was once a meeting place for the more than 33,000 residents of Virginia City in the late 1800s and was one of the most ornate and celebrated churches in North America. But time has taken its toll on the church, which is still open to visitors and parishioners, and total restoration of the church is estimated to cost $1.9 million. The National Parks Service selected this northern Nevada gem for a “Save America’s Treasures” grant, which will be used to make the church architecturally sound and safe.
According to the National Parks Service Web site, too many of America’s treasures – “sites, monuments, artifacts and documents that tell America’s story” – are deteriorating. The grant program was created in 1998 to help preserve these culturally vital pieces of American history. The last Nevada landmarks to receive a Save America’s Treasures grant were the Comstock Cemeteries and Piper’s Opera House, both in Virginia City, in 2001. The cemeteries received $350,000 to clear overgrown vegetation and protect them from further erosion. Piper’s Opera House, built in 1862, received $400,000 to retrofit the masonry façade and stabilize the ground floor.
Virginia City, a National Historic Landmark District, is a living testament to the boom-and-bust mining era that shaped the American West. It is a thriving visitor destination just 45 minutes from downtown Reno. Check out www.visitvirginiacitynv.com for more information.
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