Idlewild Park is a large, 49 acre community park close to downtown

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

on the

Truckee River The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 20, 2012 The ...

. It includes a rose garden, duck ponds, two children's parks, a pool and a skate park. It holds the Reno

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

celebration every year and hosts the Reno Street Food food truck event through the summer months. It is also home to the historic California Building on Cowan Drive. Idlewild park is a 49-acre park that was once just a few ranches owned by Bennett, Murray, and Ferris. In 1907, the property that is now Idlewild park was purchased by James Newlands (nephew of former US Senator Francis Newlands). In 1921, the City of Reno purchased this property from Newlands for $23,500.

California Building

In 1927, Reno hosted an exposition commemorating the completion of the Transcontinental Highway passing through the City and a building was erected on the site. In 1938, the

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gave the building to the City of Reno. We call this the California Building which hosts numerous cultural and special event, weddings, meetings and group gatherings throughout the year.

Rose Garden

The Rose Garden was established in 1958 under the leadership of Fred Galloway and is now dedicated in his honor. Galloway was the City of Reno horticulturist for more than 25 years, retiring in 1983. It is the only Rose Garden located in the State of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

that is certified by the American Rose Society. The Rose Garden is one acre of Idlewild Park and hosts over 200 varieties of roses and over 1,750 total roses.

History

Idlewild Park and the California Building were gifts to Reno from the State of California. It was the dawn of the age of automobile travel and Reno was suddenly an important crossroads for two new transcontinental highways. Both the Lincoln Highway (today's U.S. 50) and the Victory Highway (old U.S. 40 through Reno, now 4th Street) were being completed and a big celebration was in order, which turned out to be the 1927 Transcontinental Highway Exposition. The original Reno Arch built for the Exposition was moved to Idlewild Park before it ended up at its present location spanning Lake Street next to the

National Automobile Museum The National Automobile Museum is a museum in Reno, Nevada. Most of the vehicles displayed are from the collection of William F. Harrah. The museum opened on November 5, 1989. History William F. Harrah collected approximately 1,450 automobiles, ...

California Building

Rose Garden

History

References

Further reading