A history of Silver Peak,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Silver Peak from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Silver Peak is one of the oldest mining communities in Nevada. It was founded near a well in 1864, two years after the founding of surrounding Esmeralda County, and one year after silver was discovered nearby and mining began. A 10 stamp mill was built in 1865, and a 20 stamp mill by 1867. The Silver Peak Railroad was built by the Pittsburgh Silver Peak Gold Mining Company after it bought a group of mining properties in 1906 and established a 100 stamp mill at Blair, Nevada, in 1907. Blair's mill closed in 1915, and Blair was a ghost town by 1920. Silver Peak maintained a population, however, even though it burned in 1948.
In 1939, boxer Max Baer defeated "Big Ed" Murphy of Silver Peak in a one round fight at Silver Peak.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Silver Peak’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewSilver Peak, Nevada, 1940: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Silver Peak
See all 11 →
Silver Peak, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Silver Peak is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Silver Peak has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Goldfield Historic District in Goldfield, 22.4 miles away.
Silver Peak and the nearest listed places
Closest to Silver Peak
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Silver Peak, Nevada (1940) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom the Library of Congress (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.