A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing , transportation , sanitation , utilities , land use , production of goods , and communication . Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organizations , and businesses , sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution.
140-694: Reno ( / ˈ r iː n oʊ / REE -noh ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada , along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County . Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, in the Truckee River valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, it is about 23 miles (37 km) northeast of Lake Tahoe . Known as "The Biggest Little City in
280-544: A hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa ) to the west. It experiences moderately cold winters and hot summers; it is influenced by the Sierra Nevada mountains to the west and the more arid Great Basin to the east. It is situated across a varied geographic landscape, which extends from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada into the Truckee River valley. While Reno experiences a rain shadow effect from
420-751: A metropolitan area that covers Storey and Washoe counties. The MSA had a combined population of 425,417 at the 2010 census . There is an Italian-American community in Reno. Until the 1960s, Reno was the gambling capital of the United States, but Las Vegas' rapid growth, American Airlines ' 2000 buyout of Reno Air , and the growth of Native American gaming in California have reduced its gambling economy. Older casinos were torn down ( Mapes Hotel , Fitzgerald's Nevada Club , Primadonna, Horseshoe Club, Harold's Club , Palace Club), or smaller casinos like
560-499: A " Washoe Zephyr ", can develop in the Sierra Nevada, causing air to be pulled down in the Sierra Nevada and Reno, destroying or preventing thunderstorms, but the same wind can push air upward against the Virginia Range and other mountain ranges east of Reno, creating powerful thunderstorms. Winter snowfall is usually light to moderate, but can be heavy some days, averaging 20.9 inches (53 cm) annually. Snowfall varies with
700-419: A business and agricultural center and became the principal settlement on the transcontinental railroad between Sacramento and Salt Lake City . As the mining boom waned early in the 20th century, Nevada's centers of political and business activity shifted to the nonmining communities, especially Reno and Las Vegas . Nevada is still the third-largest gold producer in the world, after South Africa and Australia ;
840-577: A central area containing buildings with special economic, political, and religious significance. Archaeologists refer to this area by the Greek term temenos or if fortified as a citadel . These spaces historically reflect and amplify the city's centrality and importance to its wider sphere of influence . Today cities have a city center or downtown , sometimes coincident with a central business district . Cities typically have public spaces where anyone can go. These include privately owned spaces open to
980-665: A central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there and can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory . National censuses use a variety of definitions – invoking factors such as population , population density , number of dwellings , economic function, and infrastructure – to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people, with most U.S. states using
1120-461: A central point. This form could evolve from successive growth over a long time, with concentric traces of town walls and citadels marking older city boundaries. In more recent history, such forms were supplemented by ring roads moving traffic around the outskirts of a town. Dutch cities such as Amsterdam and Haarlem are structured as a central square surrounded by concentric canals marking every expansion. In cities such as Moscow , this pattern
1260-552: A combination of these. Societies that live in cities are often called civilizations . The degree of urbanization is a modern metric to help define what comprises a city: "a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants in contiguous dense grid cells (>1,500 inhabitants per square kilometer)". This metric was "devised over years by the European Commission , OECD , World Bank and others, and endorsed in March [2021] by
1400-620: A continuous urban landscape called urban agglomeration , conurbation , or megalopolis (exemplified by the BosWash corridor of the Northeastern United States .) The emergence of cities from proto-urban settlements , such as Çatalhöyük , is a non-linear development that demonstrates the varied experiences of early urbanization . The cities of Jericho , Aleppo , Byblos , Faiyum , Yerevan , Athens , Matera , Damascus , and Argos are among those laying claim to
1540-430: A distinctive elite social class, but it should indeed be considered a city based on a functional redefinition of urban development. In particular, Jenné-Jeno featured settlement mounds arranged according to a horizontal, rather than vertical, power hierarchy, and served as a center of specialized production and exhibited functional interdependence with the surrounding hinterland. More recently, scholars have concluded that
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#17327730757671680-503: A few years, the Bank Club, owned by George Wingfield , Bill Graham, and Jim McKay, was the state's largest employer and the largest casino in the world. Wingfield owned most of the buildings in town that housed gaming and took a percentage of the profits, along with his rent. As the divorce industry declined, gambling became the major Reno industry. While gaming pioneers such as "Pappy" and Harold Smith of Harold's Club and Bill Harrah of
1820-477: A grid plan with specialized districts used across the Hellenistic Mediterranean . The urban-type settlement extends far beyond the traditional boundaries of the city proper in a form of development sometimes described critically as urban sprawl . Decentralization and dispersal of city functions (commercial, industrial, residential, cultural, political) has transformed the very meaning of
1960-611: A jewelry store that offered ring resetting services to the recently divorced and the luxurious El Cortez Hotel , which was built in part to accommodate the more affluent among Reno's six week guests. The majority of those who came to Reno for divorce were women as Nevada did not require both parties in a divorce case to be present in court, and men often could not take that much time off from work. Although new "residents" seeking divorce were required to swear under oath that they intended to make Nevada their permanent home, most left soon after obtaining their divorce decree, which often occurred on
2100-511: A key role in both the economy and government. Late antique cities in the East were also undergoing intense transformations, with increased political participation of the crowds and demographical fluctuations. Christian communities and their doctrinal differences increasingly shaped the urban fabric. The locus of power shifted to Constantinople and to the ascendant Islamic civilization with its major cities Baghdad , Cairo , and Córdoba . From
2240-636: A labor dispute on the Union Pacific side. Over 400 laid-off unpaid graders and tie cutters chained U.P.R.R. Vice-President Thomas Durant's dignitary railcar to a siding in Piedmont, Wyoming, until he wired for money to pay them. After almost a two-day delay, when Durant's train arrived at the Devil's Gate Bridge in Wyoming, floodwaters turned a mild creek into a raging torrent, which threatened to collapse
2380-531: A minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some jurisdictions set no such minima. In the United Kingdom , city status is awarded by the Crown and then remains permanent. (Historically, the qualifying factor was the presence of a cathedral , resulting in some very small cities such as Wells , with a population of 12,000 as of 2018 , and St Davids , with a population of 1,841 as of 2011 .) According to
2520-545: A new major technology center in the United States. Reno is just east of the Sierra Nevada , on the western edge of the Great Basin at an elevation of about 4,400 feet (1,300 m) above sea level . Numerous faults exist throughout the region. Most of these are normal (vertical motion) faults associated with the uplift of the various mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada. In February 2008, an earthquake swarm began to occur, lasting for several months, with
2660-703: A privileged elite among towns having won self-governance from their local lord or having been granted self-governance by the emperor and being placed under his immediate protection. By 1480, these cities, as far as still part of the empire, became part of the Imperial Estates governing the empire with the emperor through the Imperial Diet . By the 13th and 14th centuries, some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy, medieval communes developed into city-states including
2800-495: A rule cannot produce their own food and therefore must develop some relationship with a hinterland that sustains them. Only in special cases such as mining towns which play a vital role in long-distance trade, are cities disconnected from the countryside which feeds them. Thus, centrality within a productive region influences siting, as economic forces would, in theory, favor the creation of marketplaces in optimal mutually reachable locations. The vast majority of cities have
2940-515: A state of emergency was declared. The fires came at the end of Reno's longest recorded dry spell. Wetlands are an important part of the Reno/Tahoe area. They act as a natural filter for the solids that come out of the water treatment plant. Plant roots absorb nutrients from the water and naturally filter it. Wetlands are home to over 75% of the species in the Great Basin . The area's wetlands are at risk of being destroyed due to development around
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#17327730757673080-549: A super-wealthy elite living in gated communities and large masses of people living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure and otherwise poor conditions. Cities around the world have expanded physically as they grow in population, with increases in their surface extent, with the creation of high-rise buildings for residential and commercial use, and with development underground. Urbanization can create rapid demand for water resources management , as formerly good sources of freshwater become overused and polluted, and
3220-423: A temple. A minority viewpoint considers that cities may have arisen without agriculture, due to alternative means of subsistence (fishing), to use as communal seasonal shelters, to their value as bases for defensive and offensive military organization, or to their inherent economic function. Cities played a crucial role in the establishment of political power over an area, and ancient leaders such as Alexander
3360-567: A workers' town associated with the pyramid of Senusret II , and the religious city Amarna built by Akhenaten and abandoned. These sites appear planned in a highly regimented and stratified fashion, with a minimalistic grid of rooms for the workers and increasingly more elaborate housing available for higher classes. In Mesopotamia, the civilization of Sumer , followed by Assyria and Babylon , gave rise to numerous cities, governed by kings and fostered multiple languages written in cuneiform . The Phoenician trading empire, flourishing around
3500-471: A world of intensifying globalization , all cities are to varying degrees also connected globally beyond these regions. This increased influence means that cities also have significant influences on global issues , such as sustainable development , climate change , and global health . Because of these major influences on global issues, the international community has prioritized investment in sustainable cities through Sustainable Development Goal 11 . Due to
3640-411: Is 108 °F (42 °C), which occurred on July 10 and 11, 2002, again on July 5, 2007, and again on July 16, 2023. The all-time record low temperature is −17 °F (−27 °C), which occurred on January 21, 1916; the lowest temperature recorded at the airport is −16 °F (−27 °C), which occurred on four occasions, most recently on February 7, 1989. In addition, the region is windy throughout
3780-440: Is an outdoor recreation destination, due to its proximity to the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe , and numerous ski resorts in the region. In 2018, the city officially changed its flag after a local contest was held. In recent years, the Reno metro area − spurred by large-scale investments from Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Area companies such as Amazon , Tesla , Panasonic , Microsoft , Apple , and Google − has become
3920-652: Is further diversifying a region that was best known for distribution and logistics outside gaming and tourism. Switch 's new SUPERNAP campus at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is shaping up to be the largest data center in the world once completed. Apple is expanding its data center at the adjacent Reno Technology Park and recently built a warehouse on land in downtown Reno. The greater Reno area also hosts distribution facilities for Amazon , Walmart , PetSmart and Zulily . According to Reno's 2023 Fiscal Year Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,
4060-651: Is often subject to wildfires that cause property damage and sometimes loss of life. In August 1960, the Donner Ridge fire resulted in a loss of electricity to the city for four days. In November 2011, arcing from powerlines caused a fire in Caughlin in southwest Reno that destroyed 26 homes and killed one man. Just two months later, a fire in Washoe Drive sparked by fireplace ashes destroyed 29 homes and killed one woman. Around 10,000 residents were evacuated, and
4200-592: Is part of the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area , the second-most populous metropolitan area in Nevada after the Las Vegas Valley . Known as Greater Reno, it includes Washoe, Storey , and Lyon Counties; the independent city and state capital Carson City ; and parts of Placer and Nevada Counties in California. The Reno metro area (along with the neighboring city Sparks ) occupies a valley colloquially known as
4340-517: Is still clearly visible. A system of rectilinear city streets and land plots, known as the grid plan , has been used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Indus Valley Civilization built Mohenjo-Daro , Harappa , and other cities on a grid pattern, using ancient principles described by Kautilya , and aligned with the compass points . The ancient Greek city of Priene exemplifies
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4480-472: Is the location of the corporate headquarters for several companies, including Braeburn Capital , Hamilton, Server Technology , EE Technologies , Caesars Entertainment , and Port of Subs . Companies based in the Reno metropolitan area include Sierra Nevada Corporation and U.S. Ordnance . International Game Technology , Bally Technologies and GameTech have a development and manufacturing presence. Since
4620-420: Is the most urban continent, with four-fifths of its population living in cities, including one-fifth of the population said to live in shantytowns ( favelas , poblaciones callampas , etc.). Batam , Indonesia , Mogadishu , Somalia , Xiamen , China , and Niamey , Niger , are considered among the world's fastest-growing cities, with annual growth rates of 5–8%. In general, the more developed countries of
4760-533: The Comstock , Sundowner , Golden Phoenix , Kings Inn , Money Tree, Virginian, and Riverboat were either closed or were converted into residential units. Because of its location, Reno has traditionally drawn the majority of its California tourists and gamblers from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento while Las Vegas has historically served more tourists from Southern California and
4900-595: The Great Depression led to a dramatic fall in revenues from railroad traffic, the Southern Pacific decided to abandon the line when it failed to meet its operating costs. On September 8, 1942, an "unspiking" ceremony was held to commemorate the lifting of the last rail over Promontory Summit; the old steel rails were used for the war effort in World War II . In the 1950s, the wooden trestle
5040-625: The Great Salt Lake . It is notable as the location of Promontory Summit , where the first transcontinental railroad in the United States, from Sacramento to Omaha , was officially completed on May 10, 1869. The location is sometimes confused with Promontory Point , a location further south along the southern tip of the Promontory Mountains. Both locations are significant to the Overland Route : Promontory Summit
5180-782: The Phoenix area. Several local large hotel casinos have shown significant growth and have moved gaming further away from the downtown core. These larger hotel casinos are the Atlantis , the Peppermill and the Grand Sierra Resort . The Peppermill was chosen as the most outstanding Reno gaming/hotel property by Casino Player and Nevada magazines. In 2005, the Peppermill Reno began a $ 300 million Tuscan -themed expansion. Reno holds several events throughout
5320-603: The Republic of Venice and the Republic of Genoa . In Northern Europe, cities including Lübeck and Bruges formed the Hanseatic League for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later challenged and eclipsed by the Dutch commercial cities of Ghent , Ypres , and Amsterdam . Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of Sakai , which enjoyed considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan. In
5460-614: The Southern Pacific , which had acquired Central Pacific operations in 1885, built a wooden railroad trestle across the Great Salt Lake between Ogden and Lucin , between February 1902 and March 1904. The 102.9 mi (165.6 km) Lucin Cutoff completely bypassed Promontory Summit. The last regularly scheduled transcontinental passenger train to pass through Promontory station was on Sunday, September 18, 1904. When
5600-564: The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center is one of the largest buildings in the country, purportedly covering 5.8 million square feet. Although it was originally Tesla's largest factory, it's since been superseded by Gigafactory Texas , which has 10 million square feet. It employs roughly 11,000 people, making Tesla larger than any employer in the city of Reno, though the Industrial Center is located just outside of
5740-551: The Truckee Meadows . For much of the twentieth century Reno saw a significant number of migrants seeking to take advantage of Nevada's relatively lax divorce laws and the city gained a national reputation as a divorce mill . Today Reno is a tourist destination known for its casino gambling and proximity to Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountains . Archaeological finds place the eastern border for
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5880-531: The Union Pacific (UP) line. More than 4,000 workers, of whom two thirds were Chinese , had laid more than 100 mi (160 km) of track at altitudes above 7,000 ft (2,100 m). In May 1869, the railheads of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads finally met at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory . A specially-chosen Chinese and Irish crew had taken only 12 hours to lay
6020-687: The Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge was built in March 1872. In the meantime, the first uninterrupted coast-to-coast railroad was established in August 1870 at Strasburg, Colorado , with the completion of the Denver extension of the Kansas Pacific Railway . Promontory was the site of Promontory City during and shortly after the construction of the transcontinental railroad. However, by December 1869,
6160-947: The United Nations ... largely for the purpose of international statistical comparison". The word city and the related civilization come from the Latin root civitas , originally meaning 'citizenship' or 'community member' and eventually coming to correspond with urbs , meaning 'city' in a more physical sense. The Roman civitas was closely linked with the Greek polis —another common root appearing in English words such as metropolis . In toponymic terminology, names of individual cities and towns are called astionyms (from Ancient Greek ἄστυ 'city or town' and ὄνομα 'name'). Urban geography deals both with cities in their larger context and with their internal structure. Cities are estimated to cover about 3% of
6300-505: The Uruk period . In the fourth and third millennium BC , complex civilizations flourished in the river valleys of Mesopotamia , India , China , and Egypt . Excavations in these areas have found the ruins of cities geared variously towards trade, politics, or religion. Some had large, dense populations , but others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Among
6440-730: The civilization of Djenne-Djenno was likely established by the Mande progenitors of the Bozo people . Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE. Archaeological evidence from Jenné-Jeno, specifically the presence of non-West African glass beads dated from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE, indicates that pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa. Additionally, other early urban centers in West Africa, dated to around 500 CE, include Awdaghust , Kumbi Saleh ,
6580-655: The commune ( in France and Chile ; or comune in Italy). Promontory, Utah Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah , United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City . Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above sea level , it lies to the north of the Promontory Mountains and
6720-518: The diurnal temperature variation occasionally reaching 40 °F (22 °C) in summer, still lower than much of the high desert to the east. There are 6.0 days of 100 °F (38 °C)+ highs, 65 days of 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs, 1.6 days with 70 °F (21 °C)+ lows, and 1.9 days with sub-10 °F (−12 °C) lows annually; the temperature reaches or dips below the freezing point on 122 days, and does not rise above freezing on only 4.1 of those days. The all-time record high temperature
6860-427: The government workers . (This arrangement contrasts with the more typically horizontal relationships in a tribe or village accomplishing common goals through informal agreements between neighbors, or the leadership of a chief.) The governments may be based on heredity, religion, military power, work systems such as canal-building, food distribution, land-ownership, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, finance, or
7000-538: The knowledge economy . A new smart city paradigm, supported by institutions such as the RAND Corporation and IBM , is bringing computerized surveillance , data analysis, and governance to bear on cities and city dwellers. Some companies are building brand-new master-planned cities from scratch on greenfield sites. Urbanization is the process of migration from rural to urban areas, driven by various political, economic, and cultural factors. Until
7140-564: The service economy and public-private partnerships , with concomitant gentrification , uneven revitalization efforts , and selective cultural development. Under the Great Leap Forward and subsequent five-year plans continuing today, China has undergone concomitant urbanization and industrialization and become the world's leading manufacturer . Amidst these economic changes, high technology and instantaneous telecommunication enable select cities to become centers of
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#17327730757677280-473: The stockyards in San Francisco and Chicago . At the turn of the 20th century, wheat farmers had begun to change the landscape around Promontory with farms and families. Promontory had a one-room school, as well as a commercial store/post office; it had become the main crossroads stop for small farms. However, during the droughts of the 1930s , individual farmers moved away from Promontory, leading to
7420-535: The " Global North " remain more urbanized than the less developed countries of the " Global South "—but the difference continues to shrink because urbanization is happening faster in the latter group. Asia is home to by far the greatest absolute number of city-dwellers: over two billion and counting. The UN predicts an additional 2.5 billion city dwellers (and 300 million fewer country dwellers) worldwide by 2050, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa. Megacities , cities with populations in
7560-539: The "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding areas. The presence of a literate elite is often associated with cities because of the cultural diversities present in a city. A typical city has professional administrators , regulations, and some form of taxation (food and other necessities or means to trade for them) to support
7700-532: The 18th century), Ile-Ifẹ̀ (70,000 to 105,000 inhabitants in the 14th and 15th centuries), Niani (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD) and Timbuktu (100,000 inhabitants in 1450 AD). In the West, nation-states became the dominant unit of political organization following the Peace of Westphalia in the seventeenth century. Western Europe's larger capitals (London and Paris) benefited from the growth of commerce following
7840-420: The 18th century, an equilibrium existed between the rural agricultural population and towns featuring markets and small-scale manufacturing. With the agricultural and industrial revolutions urban population began its unprecedented growth, both through migration and demographic expansion . In England , the proportion of the population living in cities jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. In 1900, 15% of
7980-542: The 1960s Reno became synonymous with speedy divorce, often referred to colloquially as "the six week cure". During these decades the city's reputation drew thousands of divorcees annually, and they in turn became an important part of the local economy. These temporary residents flocked to hotels, boardinghouses , and hospitality ranches , many of which catered primarily to those waiting out the six week residency requirement before their court date. Numerous local businesses openly courted these visitors, such as R. Herz & Bro ,
8120-718: The 30th and 18th centuries BC. Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, beginning with the Olmec and spreading to the Preclassic Maya , the Zapotec of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacan in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the Aztec , Andean civilizations , Mayan , Mississippians , and Pueblo peoples drew on these earlier urban traditions. Many of their ancient cities continue to be inhabited, including major metropolitan cities such as Mexico City , in
8260-750: The 9th through the end of the 12th century, Constantinople , the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire , was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million. The Ottoman Empire gradually gained control over many cities in the Mediterranean area, including Constantinople in 1453 . In the Holy Roman Empire , beginning in the 12th century, free imperial cities such as Nuremberg , Strasbourg , Frankfurt , Basel , Zürich , and Nijmegen became
8400-566: The Andes, the first urban centers developed in the Norte Chico civilization , Chavin and Moche cultures, followed by major cities in the Huari , Chimu , and Inca cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru . It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between
8540-483: The California Trail, Charles W. Fuller built a log toll bridge across the Truckee River in 1859. A small community that served travelers soon grew near the bridge. After two years, Fuller sold the bridge to Myron C. Lake, who continued to develop the community by adding a grist mill, kiln, and livery stable to the hotel and eating house. He renamed it "Lake's Crossing". Most of what is present-day western Nevada
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#17327730757678680-539: The Chinese railroad workers had not been kept and it is believed thousands of people died laying those tracks due to the treacherous territory, including having to cut through the cold of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the heat of the desert. Many descendants of the Chinese workers were at Promontory Summit for the occasion. A traditional Chinese lion dance opened the ceremony. The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao (the first person of Chinese descent to hold
8820-475: The Chinese workers photographed earlier participating in the joining of the rails ceremony, because at the moment the famous photo was being taken it was after the conclusion of the ceremony and the Chinese workers were away from the two locomotives to dine at J.H. Strobridge's boarding car, being honored and cheered by the CPRR ( Central Pacific Railroad ) management. Three of the eight Chinese workers who brought up
8960-529: The Great founded and created them with zeal. Jericho and Çatalhöyük , dated to the eighth millennium BC , are among the earliest proto-cities known to archaeologists. However, the Mesopotamian city of Uruk from the mid-fourth millennium BC (ancient Iraq) is considered by most archaeologists to be the first true city, innovating many characteristics for cities to follow, with its name attributed to
9100-784: The Missouri river to the Pacific" as called for by the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 . Western Pacific completed the final leg from Sacramento to San Francisco Bay on September 6, 1869, with the last spike at the Mossdale Bridge spanning the San Joaquin River near Lathrop, California . Passengers had to cross the Missouri River by boat between Council Bluffs, Iowa , and Omaha, Nebraska , until
9240-418: The New York-based female protagonist tells a friend, "I am going to Reno," which was understood as declaring their intention to get a divorce. The divorce business eventually died out during the 1970s, as other states began relaxing their laws, and especially with the widespread introduction of no fault divorce . Reno took a leap forward when the state of Nevada legalized open gambling on March 19, 1931, at
9380-480: The UP’s steep grades and tight curves; in addition it got a roundhouse and turntable , a freight depot and locomotive yard . It also gained extensive support facilities for railroad workers, including an eating car, engine helper station, and quarters for the Chinese section crew. In the final decades of the 19th century, Promontory Station was used by large ranching firms, such as those of John W. Kerr, John L. Edwards, and Charles Crocker , to ship their cattle to
9520-420: The World", it is the 80th most populous city in the United States , the 3rd most populous city in Nevada , and the most populous in Nevada outside the Las Vegas Valley . The city had a population of 264,165 at the 2020 census . The city is named after Civil War Union Major General Jesse L. Reno , who was killed in action during the American Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain , on Fox's Gap. Reno
9660-475: The ancient capital of Ghana, and Maranda , a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao. The dissolution of the Roman Empire in the West was connected with profound changes in urban fabric of western Europe. In places where Roman administration quickly weakened urbanism went through a profound crisis, even if it continued to remain an important symbolic factor. In regions like Italy or Spain cities diminished in size but nevertheless continued to play
9800-413: The athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political life of the polis. Rome was the first city that surpassed one million inhabitants. Under the authority of its empire , Rome transformed and founded many cities ( Colonia ), and with them brought its principles of urban architecture, design, and society. In the ancient Americas , early urban traditions developed in the Andes and Mesoamerica . In
9940-407: The benefit of mitigating the urban heat island effect, especially in cities that are in warmer climates. These spaces prevent carbon imbalances, extreme habitat losses, electricity and water consumption, and human health risks. The urban structure generally follows one or more basic patterns: geomorphic, radial, concentric, rectilinear, and curvilinear. The physical environment generally constrains
10080-474: The ceremony. The Central Pacific had originally chosen their no. 29 Antelope to attend the ceremony, while the Union Pacific had also chosen another, unidentified engine for their train, but both engines encountered mishaps en route to the ceremony. On May 10, the Jupiter and 119 were drawn up face-to-face on Promontory Summit, separated only by the width of a single tie. It is unknown how many people attended
10220-567: The citizens of Reno to suggest a slogan for the arch. No acceptable slogan was received until a $ 100 prize was offered, and G.A. Burns of Sacramento was declared the winner on March 14, 1929, with "Reno, the Biggest Little City in the World". In the early twentieth century Nevada became a popular destination for migratory divorce in an era when most states had highly restrictive laws on the subject. Legislation passed in 1931 completed
10360-464: The city's estimated median household income was $ 44,846, and the median family income was $ 53,896. Males had a median income of $ 42,120 versus $ 31,362 for females. The city's per capita income was $ 25,041. About 9.6% of families and 14.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.1% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over. The population was 180,480 at the 2000 census ; in 2010, its population had risen to 225,221, making it
10500-529: The city, and an ensuing fire, destroyed five buildings in the vicinity of Sierra and First Streets along the Truckee River. The disaster killed two people and injured 49. The first explosion hit under the block of shops on the west side of Sierra Street (now the site of the Century Riverside), the second, across Sierra Street, now the site of the Palladio. The presence of a main east–west rail line,
10640-399: The city. In 2023 Tesla announced a $ 3.6 billion expansion of the facility that would incorporate an additional four million square feet, including an all-new plant for Semis and a much larger one for battery development. The new facilities are expected to add up to 3,000 new Tesla employees to the region upon completion. The arrival of several data centers at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center
10780-422: The city. The population density was 2,186.6 inhabitants per square mile (844.3/km). There were 102,582 housing units at an average density of 995.9 per square mile (384.5/km). The city's racial makeup was 74.2% White , 2.9% African American , 1.3% Native American , 6.3% Asian , 0.7% Pacific Islander , 10.5% some other race , and 4.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 24.3% of
10920-429: The city. While developers build on top of the wetlands they fill them with soil, destroying the habitat they create for the plants and animals. Washoe County has devised a plan that will help protect these ecosystems: mitigation. In the future, when developers try to build over a wetland, they will be responsible for creating another wetland near Washoe Lake. Reno has a cold semi-arid climate ( Köppen : BSk ), bordering
11060-493: The consolidation of their lands into large holdings. Although Union Pacific engineers had initially considered a direct route across the Great Salt Lake , cost and schedule constraints forced them to opt for the surveyed line through Promontory. As trains became longer and heavier, additional engines were often required to pull them along the winding curves and up steep grades to the Promontory summit. This changed when
11200-519: The county seat of the newly expanded Washoe County, replacing the county seat in Washoe City . However, political power in Nevada remained with the mining communities, first Virginia City and later Tonopah and Goldfield . The extension of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad to Reno in 1872 provided a boost to the new city's economy. In the following decades, Reno continued to grow and prosper as
11340-575: The difference. Then the operator sent the message D-O-N-E! With the railroad's completion, a trip across the Nation went from up to six months on foot, on an animal, or in an animal-pulled wagon to as little as eight days from city of New York, via railroads and ferries, to San Francisco. Promontory Summit marks the site where the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed May 10, 1869, from Omaha to Sacramento, but not "from
11480-525: The dignitaries arrived at Promontory Summit on the morning of May 10, where the Golden Spike Ceremony was finally planned and took place, with the last iron spike driven at 12:47 PM. The trains carrying the railroads' officials were drawn by Union Pacific's No. 119 and Central Pacific's No. 60 (officially named the Jupiter ) locomotives, neither of which had been originally chosen for
11620-407: The early 1950s, a number of re-enactments of the driving of the last spike had been held at Promontory Summit. The renewed interest led to a concerted effort to save the historic site. In 1957, local campaigners succeeded in getting the area recognized by the federal government, but without federal land ownership. The Southern Pacific, which still owned the right of way , agreed to give its holdings to
11760-542: The early Old World cities, Mohenjo-daro of the Indus Valley civilization in present-day Pakistan , existing from about 2600 BC, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a sophisticated sanitation system . China's planned cities were constructed according to sacred principles to act as celestial microcosms . The Ancient Egyptian cities known physically by archaeologists are not extensive. They include (known by their Arab names) El Lahun ,
11900-475: The east, meanwhile, can receive more summer thunderstorms and precipitation, and around twice as much annual snowfall above 5,500 feet (1,700 m). However, snowfall increases in the Virginia Range are less dramatic as elevation climbs than in the Carson Range to the west, because the Virginia Range is well within the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada and Carson Range. The most snowfall in Reno in one winter
12040-671: The efficiency of transportation and the smaller land consumption , dense cities hold the potential to have a smaller ecological footprint per inhabitant than more sparsely populated areas. Therefore, compact cities are often referred to as a crucial element in fighting climate change. However, this concentration can also have some significant negative consequences, such as forming urban heat islands , concentrating pollution , and stressing water supplies and other resources. A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status , which may be conferred by
12180-484: The emergence of an Atlantic trade. However, most towns remained small. During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories and were bound to several laws regarding administration, finances, and urbanism. The growth of the modern industry from the late 18th century onward led to massive urbanization and
12320-581: The emerging interstate highway system, favorable state tax climate, and relatively inexpensive land created good conditions for warehousing and distribution of goods. In the 1980s, Indian gaming rules were relaxed, and starting in 2000, Californian Native casinos began to cut into Reno casino revenues. Major new construction projects have been completed in the Reno and Sparks areas. A few new luxury communities were built in Truckee, California , about 28 miles (45 km) west of Reno on Interstate 80 . Reno also
12460-466: The event; estimates run from as low as 500 to as many as 3,000 government and railroad officials and track workers. Historians opine that the lack of Chinese workers seen in the official portrait was due to racism, since anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States prevailed over many decades including the late 1860s. Their absence may have been the result of the timing of the famous photograph: The more famous A.J. Russell photograph could not include
12600-749: The federal management. On July 30, 1965 the Act for the Golden Spike National Historic Site was signed into law. The area is administered by the National Park Service . On the 110th anniversary of the "Golden Spike" on May 10, 1979, two purpose-built replicas of the UP #119 and the Jupiter #60 were brought together on a specially relaid 1.5-mile section of track. As the original Jupiter had been scrapped for iron in 1901 and No. 119 had been broken up two years later,
12740-622: The final 10 mi (16 km) of track in time for the ceremony. Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, had been agreed upon as the point where the two railheads would officially meet, following meetings in Washington, D.C., in April 1869, where it was also agreed that a ceremony would be held to drive in the Last Spike to commemorate the occasion. However, the original date of May 8 had to be postponed for two days because of bad weather and
12880-812: The first millennium AD, the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia grew into the most extensive preindustrial settlement in the world by area, covering over 1,000 km and possibly supporting up to one million people. West Africa already had cities before the Common Era , but the consolidation of Trans-Saharan trade in the Middle Ages multiplied the number of cities in the region, as well as making some of them very populous, notably Gao (72,000 inhabitants in 800 AD), Oyo-Ile (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD, and may have reached up to 140,000 inhabitants in
13020-440: The form in which a city is built. If located on a mountainside, urban structures may rely on terraces and winding roads. It may be adapted to its means of subsistence (e.g. agriculture or fishing). And it may be set up for optimal defense given the surrounding landscape. Beyond these "geomorphic" features, cities can develop internal patterns, due to natural growth or to city planning . In a radial structure, main roads converge on
13160-462: The formidable obstacle of the Sierra Nevada began. Gold was discovered in the vicinity of Virginia City in 1850, and a modest mining community developed, but the discovery of silver in 1859 at the Comstock Lode led to a mining rush , and thousands of emigrants left their homes, bound for the West, hoping to find a fortune. To provide the necessary connection between Virginia City and
13300-731: The golden 'Hewes' spike was donated to the Leland Stanford Junior University Museum . In one account, the second Golden Spike and the Laurelwood Tie were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire , which also destroyed the San Francisco Newsletter Newspaper Offices where these artifacts were on display. In Union Pacific's account, the location of the "second, lower-quality golden spike ...faded into obscurity". Stanford University loaned
13440-405: The gradual reduction of residency requirement from six months to six weeks, and Reno openly advertised itself as the "Divorce Capital of the World". Nevada's laws, which were fairly progressive for the time, allowed numerous grounds for divorce and Reno's courts quickly gained a reputation for handling cases with both celerity and sympathy for those seeking to "untie the knot". From the 1930s through
13580-472: The land surface of the Earth. Town siting has varied through history according to natural, technological, economic, and military contexts. Access to water has long been a major factor in city placement and growth, and despite exceptions enabled by the advent of rail transport in the nineteenth century, through the present most of the world's urban population lives near the coast or on a river. Urban areas as
13720-813: The largest quake registering at 4.9 on the Richter magnitude scale , although some geologic estimates put it at 5.0. The earthquakes were centered on the Somersett community in western Reno near Mogul and Verdi . Many homes in these areas were damaged. The unique high desert geological features cause many to "describe Nevada as a rockhound's paradise .... access to millions of acres of government land" allows geologists, miners, and amateur rockhounds in Nevada "to hunt to your heart's content .... being able to find agate, opal, jasper, fossils, fluorescent minerals, obsidian, chalcedony, wonderstone, malachite, petrified wood, limb casts, and much more means paradise." The Reno area
13860-516: The last iron spike with a regular iron spike hammer, also wired to the Telegraph Line, to send a signal from coast-to-coast as the job was done. Stanford missed the Spike, hitting the wooden tie instead; however, the telegraph operator hit his key as though Stanford had hit the spike. Durant missed the spike and the tie entirely; but likewise, the operator hit his key so the Nation would not know
14000-714: The last rail were guests of honor at the Promontory Summit's golden anniversary celebrations in Ogden, Utah in May 1919. The event at Promontory Summit was billed as the "wedding of the rails" and was officiated by the Reverend John Todd. Four precious metal spikes were ceremoniously driven (gently tapped with a special spike maul sporting a solid silver head into pre-drilled holes in the Laurelwood tie); one
14140-475: The longest continual inhabitation . Cities, characterized by population density , symbolic function, and urban planning , have existed for thousands of years. In the conventional view, civilization and the city were both followed by the development of agriculture , which enabled the production of surplus food and thus a social division of labor (with concomitant social stratification ) and trade . Early cities often featured granaries , sometimes within
14280-523: The lowest amounts (roughly 19–23 inches annually) at the lowest part of the valley at and east of the airport at 4,404 feet (1,342 m), while the foothills of the Carson Range to the west ranging from 4,700 to 5,600 feet (1,400 to 1,700 m) in elevation just a few miles west of downtown can receive two to three times as much annual snowfall. The mountains of the Virginia Range to
14420-516: The most precipitation in one month was 5.57 inches (141.5 mm) in January 2017 and the most precipitation in 24 hours was 2.29 inches (58.2 mm) on January 21, 1943. Most rainfall occurs in winter and spring. Summer thunderstorms can occur between April and October. The eastern side of town and the mountains east of Reno tend to be prone to thunderstorms more often, and these storms may be severe because an afternoon downslope west wind, called
14560-497: The multi-millions, have proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Economic globalization fuels the growth of these cities, as new torrents of foreign capital arrange for rapid industrialization, as well as the relocation of major businesses from Europe and North America, attracting immigrants from near and far. A deep gulf divides the rich and poor in these cities, which usually contain
14700-443: The original 1869 gold spike to Cecil B. DeMille for the film Union Pacific (1939). It was held aloft in the scene commemorating the actual event, although a brass prop was used for the hammering sequence. The only marks on The Golden Spike were caused by a Union Army Officer who struck the Spike with the pommel of his sword four times on the ride back to California. Nobody tried to fully drive 17.6 Carat Solid Gold Spikes or any of
14840-416: The permanent way, highlighting the effort needed to construct the railroad over Promontory Summit. On every Saturday and holiday between May 1 and Labor Day , the two replica locomotives are lined up to re-enact the "Golden Spike" ceremony. On the 150th anniversary of the completion of the railroad on May 10, 2019, the contributions of the 15,000 Chinese railroad workers were finally acknowledged. Records of
14980-508: The population at Promontory Summit had been reduced to about 120 people. Most were employees of the CP railroad. The only exceptions were a hotel/eatery owner, his family, and 80 miners of copper sulfate. Almost immediately CP began an extensive redevelopment of the rail infrastructure on and through Promontory Summit. The CP realigned about 10 miles of the original UP line east of Promontory Summit (on grade CP had surveyed) in 1870, replacing some of
15120-449: The population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 62.5% of the population in 2010, down from 88.5% in 1980. At the 2010 census, there were 90,924 households, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.4% were headed by married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.8% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% were someone living alone who
15260-547: The precious metal spikes into a wooden tie. Four holes had been drilled into the Laurelwood tie to "hold" the spikes while Stanford and UPRR's Thomas Durant gently tapped them before the Spikes and the Laurelwood Tie were removed to make way for a regular pine wood tie and four regular iron spikes, the last one was wired to the Transcontinental Telegraph Line. Stanford and Durant were supposed to strike
15400-573: The prehistoric Martis people in the Reno area. As early as the mid-1850s, a few pioneers settled in the Truckee Meadows , a relatively fertile valley through which the Truckee River made its way from Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake . In addition to subsistence farming , these early residents could pick up business from travelers along the California Trail , which followed the Truckee westward, before branching off towards Donner Lake , where
15540-500: The public as well as forms of public land such as public domain and the commons . Western philosophy since the time of the Greek agora has considered physical public space as the substrate of the symbolic public sphere . Public art adorns (or disfigures) public spaces. Parks and other natural sites within cities provide residents with relief from the hardness and regularity of typical built environments . Urban green spaces are another component of public space that provides
15680-402: The railroad bridge. The engineer would not take his locomotive, whose number is lost to history, across the rickety structure, but he gave each of the passenger cars a hefty heave. The cars coasted across, but Durant no longer had a way to get to Promontory. A hasty telegraph to Ogden, Utah Territory, sent Union Pacific's engine "119" to the rescue. After a hearty party in Ogden the night of May 9,
15820-810: The rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. England led the way as London became the capital of a world empire and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for manufacturing . In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the introduction of railroads reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas. Some industrialized cities were confronted with health challenges associated with overcrowding , occupational hazards of industry, contaminated water and air, poor sanitation , and communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera . Factories and slums emerged as regular features of
15960-552: The same day as the initial court hearing. In addition to tens of thousands of ordinary people, Reno also became a major destination for celebrities, and the very wealthy looking to end their marriages as quickly as possible. Some of the many famous personages who got divorced in Reno include Mary Pickford , Jack Dempsey , General Douglas MacArthur , Carol Lombard , Tallulah Bankhead , Adlai Stevenson II , Lana Turner , Nelson Rockefeller , Georges Simenon , Rita Hayworth , Gloria Vanderbilt and Cornelius Vanderbilt IV . The latter
16100-698: The same location as Tenochtitlan ; while ancient continuously inhabited Pueblos are near modern urban areas in New Mexico , such as Acoma Pueblo near the Albuquerque metropolitan area and Taos Pueblo near Taos ; while others like Lima are located nearby ancient Peruvian sites such as Pachacamac . From 1600 BC, Dhar Tichitt , in the south of present-day Mauritania , presented characteristics suggestive of an incipient form of urbanism. The second place to show urban characteristics in West Africa
16240-514: The same time as it liberalized its divorce laws. The statewide push for legal Nevada gaming was led by Reno entrepreneur Bill Graham, who owned the Bank Club Casino in Reno, which was on Center Street. No other state offered legalized casino gaming like Nevada had in the 1930s, and casinos such as the Bank Club and Palace were popular. A few states had legal parimutuel horse racing , but no other state had legal casino gambling. Within
16380-412: The shops, tents, and store fronts were being dismantled as the traders and merchants moved to other towns. In January 1870, the train crews from the CP and UP had been relocated to Ogden, Utah, where Union Station had effectively become the meeting point of the two railroads. Promontory Station had a CP station agent and telegraph operator , a Chinese section gang, and gravel train crew. By June 1870,
16520-400: The soon-to-dominate Harrah's Casino set up shop in the 1930s, the war years of the 1940s cemented Reno as the place to play for two decades. Beginning in the 1950s, the need for economic diversification beyond gaming fueled a movement for more lenient business taxation. At 1:03 pm, on February 5, 1957, two explosions, caused by natural gas leaking into the maze of pipes and ditches under
16660-510: The state yielded 6.9% of the world's supply in 2005 world gold production. The Reno Arch was erected on Virginia Street in 1926 to promote the upcoming Transcontinental Highways Exposition of 1927. The arch included the words "Nevada's Transcontinental Highways Exposition" and the dates of the exposition. After the exposition, the Reno City Council decided to keep the arch as a permanent downtown gateway, and Mayor E.E. Roberts asked
16800-850: The surrounding mountains, its western portions can receive three to four times as much precipitation as those extending eastward. Annual rainfall patterns in Reno adhere to a Mediterranean climate, with most precipitation occurring in fall, winter, and spring, followed by long, hot, dry summers. However, Reno's average annual rainfall is slightly lower than that of Californian cities more typically associated with Mediterranean climates. The area's low evapotranspiration stemming from its moderate annual average temperature also bears similarity to semi-arid climates found in Nevada's Great Basin. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 36.2 °F (2.3 °C) in December to 77.2 °F (25.1 °C) in July, with
16940-489: The term and has challenged geographers seeking to classify territories according to an urban-rural binary. Metropolitan areas include suburbs and exurbs organized around the needs of commuters , and sometimes edge cities characterized by a degree of economic and political independence. (In the US these are grouped into metropolitan statistical areas for purposes of demography and marketing .) Some cities are now part of
17080-440: The third-largest city in the state after Las Vegas and Henderson , and the largest outside Clark County . Reno lies 26 miles (42 km) north of the Nevada state capital, Carson City , and 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Lake Tahoe in a shrub-steppe environment. Reno shares its eastern border with the city of Sparks and is the larger of the principal cities of the Reno–Sparks, Nevada Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA),
17220-554: The top employers in the city are: Employees City Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization , more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for global sustainability . Present-day cities usually form the core of larger metropolitan areas and urban areas —creating numerous commuters traveling toward city centres for employment, entertainment, and education. However, in
17360-412: The turn of the first millennium BC , encompassed numerous cities extending from Tyre , Cydon , and Byblos to Carthage and Cádiz . In the following centuries, independent city-states of Greece , especially Athens , developed the polis , an association of male landowning citizens who collectively constituted the city. The agora , meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of
17500-576: The turn of the 21st century, greater Reno saw an influx of technology companies entering the area, following major initiatives and investments by investors from Seattle & the Bay Area . The first one in 1999 was Amazon.com in Fernley . After the Great Recession , the state placed an increased focus on economic development. Thousands of new jobs were created. The Tesla Gigafactory at
17640-416: The two replica locomotives were built in California with $ 1.5 million of federal funds. They were reconstructed using scaled-up measurements taken from photographs of the original engines and reference to similar engines of the time. The park, which has a visitor center and an engine house, is open throughout the year. Several walking trails and audio driving tours allow visitors to see the old cuts along
17780-446: The urban landscape. In the second half of the 20th century, deindustrialization (or " economic restructuring ") in the West led to poverty , homelessness , and urban decay in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a " Rust Belt " and cities such as Detroit , Michigan, and Gary, Indiana began to shrink , contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion. Such cities have shifted with varying success into
17920-589: The volume of sewage begins to exceed manageable levels. The local government of cities takes different forms including prominently the municipality (especially in England , in the United States , India , and other British colonies ; legally, the municipal corporation ; municipio in Spain and Portugal , and, along with municipalidad , in most former parts of the Spanish and Portuguese empires) and
18060-523: The world's population lived in cities. The cultural appeal of cities also plays a role in attracting residents. Urbanization rapidly spread across Europe and the Americas and since the 1950s has taken hold in Asia and Africa as well. The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs reported in 2014 that for the first time, more than half of the world population lives in cities. Latin America
18200-608: The year to draw tourists to the area. They include Hot August Nights (a classic car convention), Street Vibrations (a motorcycle fan gathering and rally), The Great Reno Balloon Race , a Cinco de Mayo celebration, bowling tournaments (held in the National Bowling Stadium ), and the Reno Air Races . Several large commercial developments were constructed during the mid-2000s boom, such as The Summit in 2007 and Legends at Sparks Marina in 2008. Reno
18340-482: The year; observers such as Mark Twain have commented about the "Washoe Zephyr", northwestern Nevada's distinctive wind. Annual precipitation has ranged from 1.55 inches (39.4 mm) in 1947 to 13.73 inches (348.7 mm) in 2017. The most precipitation in one month was 6.76 inches (171.7 mm) in January 1916 and the most precipitation in 24 hours was 2.71 inches (68.8 mm) on January 28, 1903. At Reno–Tahoe International Airport , where records go back to 1937,
18480-543: Was Dia , in present-day Mali , from 800 BC. Both Dhar Tichitt and Dia were founded by the same people: the Soninke , who would later also found the Ghana Empire . Another ancient site, Jenné-Jeno , in what is today Mali , has been dated to the third century BCE. According to Roderick and Susan McIntosh, Jenné-Jeno did not fit into traditional Western conceptions of urbanity as it lacked monumental architecture and
18620-446: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43, and the average family size was 3.10. In the city, the 2010 population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 12.5% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.7 males. In 2011
18760-428: Was 72.3 inches (184 cm) in 1915–1916, with an astonishing 65.7 inches (167 cm) in January, the most in a calendar month, as well as 22.5 inches (57 cm) on January 17, the most in a calendar day; the most snowfall in a calendar year was 82.3 inches (209 cm) in 1916. See or edit raw graph data . As of the census of 2010, there were 225,221 people, 90,924 households, and 51,112 families residing in
18900-562: Was consolidated with Roop County , and Lake's Crossing became the county's largest town. Lake had earned himself the title "founder of Reno". Once the railroad station was established, the town of Reno officially came into being on May 9, 1868. CPRR construction superintendent Charles Crocker named the community after Major General Jesse Lee Reno , a Union officer killed in the Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain . In 1871, Reno became
19040-702: Was formed as the Nevada Territory from part of Utah Territory in 1861. By January 1863, the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) had begun laying tracks east from Sacramento, California , eventually connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah , to form the First transcontinental railroad . Lake deeded land to the CPRR in exchange for its promise to build a depot at Lake's Crossing. In 1864, Washoe County
19180-497: Was married seven times and had five of his six divorces in Nevada. Mr. Vanderbilt was so taken with Reno that, unlike most migrant divorcees, he eventually settled there permanently. In the 1939 film The Women , Reno and its divorce culture serve as a backdrop to a significant part of the plot. Ernie Pyle once wrote in one of his columns, "All the people you saw on the streets in Reno were obviously there to get divorces." In Ayn Rand 's novel The Fountainhead , published in 1943,
19320-491: Was replaced with a parallel concrete-stone causeway built by the Morrison–Knudsen construction company. Southern Pacific continued to maintain the wooden trestle as a backup for several decades, although its last significant rail traffic was in the early 1960s. By the 1980s, the trestle's condition had begun to seriously deteriorate. Beginning in March 1993, the timber from the trestle has been salvaged and removed. By
19460-637: Was the golden spike issued by Californian David Hewes, one was a second solid gold spike issued by the San Francisco Newsletter Newspaper, one was a solid silver spike issued by the State of Nevada, and one was an iron spike plated with silver on the shaft and gold on the top issued by Arizona Territory and presented by Arizona Territorial Governor Anson P.K. Safford from the Territorial Capitol of Prescott. In 1898,
19600-603: Was where the original, now abandoned, alignment crossed just north of the Promontory Mountains; while Promontory Point is where the modern alignment, called the Lucin Cutoff , crosses the southern tip of the Promontory Mountains. By the summer of 1868, the Central Pacific (CP) had completed the first rail route through the Sierra Nevada mountains, and was now moving down towards the Interior Plains and
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