The Twaddle-Pedroli Ranch, also known as the Jackson-Harp Ranch, Rand Property and the Wilson Commons Ranch, was purchased by John Twaddle in 1869 for $5,000. The ranch, several miles to the north of
Franktown, Nevada and adjacent to the
Bowers Mansion
The Bowers Mansion is a mansion located between Reno and Carson City, Nevada. It was built in 1863 by Lemuel "Sandy" Bowers and his wife, Eilley Orrum Bowers, and is a prime example of the homes built in Nevada by the new millionaires of the Co ...
, was then known as the Sturtevant Ranch. The property amounted to .
John Twaddle sold the ranch in 1885 to the brothers Stefano and Anselmo Pedroli for $3,000. The Pedrolis were
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
born Italian speakers who had worked as cattlemen in the
Washoe Valley
The Washoe Valley is a geographical region in the United States covering in southern Washoe County in the state of Nevada. Located between Reno and Carson City, it is named for the Washoe people, Native Americans who lived there before the arr ...
. After buying out Anselmo, Stefano developed a dairy business, shipping fresh milk and cheese to miners working the
Comstock Lode. Pedroli's son, William, took over the ranch on Stefano's death in 1924.
On July 7, 1943,
Eleanor Roosevelt visited the ranch while on a walk with her friend
Gertrude Pratt, who was passing a period of residency at the Tumbling DW Ranch in order to obtain a divorce.
The Pedroli Ranch passed in 1948 to Harp Brothers, Inc. and was managed by John Jackson. The Willson/Rand family then owned the property from 1956 to 1986. In danger of commercial development, the property was purchased by the Washoe County Parks Department in 1986, under the stipulation that it be known as the Wilson-Commons Ranch., and became a county park. The park comprises only , with comprising the historic core of the ranch.
The structures do not include the main ranch house, which did not retain significant historic integrity and was demolished in 1998. Remaining structures include a horse barn, chicken house, dairy house, bunk house, tack house, and a privy, constructed by the
Works Progress Administration in 1938-39 as part of the Nevada Fly-proof Privy Program. Several corrals also remain.
The property was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
A wildfire devastated a majority of the buildings including the barn in 2016, very little remains.
See also
*
Twaddle Mansion
The Twaddle Mansion was built for rancher Ebenezer "Eben" Twaddle in Reno, Nevada. The two-story frame house was built in 1905 by contractor Benjamin Leon in the Colonial Revival style, an unusual choice for Nevada, and executed with particu ...
, home of John Twaddle's son Ebenezer
References
External links
* at the National Park Service's NRHP database
{{Nevada State Historic Places/Washoe County
National Register of Historic Places in Washoe County, Nevada
Works Progress Administration in Nevada
Ranches on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada