Belmont is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Nye County Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, beh ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

along former State Route 82. The town is a historic district listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. It is Nevada Historical Marker number 138.

History

Belmont was established following a silver strike in 1865. Other minerals, such as copper, lead and

antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

, were also mined in addition to the silver. The boom brought settlers in and the town of Belmont grew. In 1867, Belmont became the county seat of Nye County. The town boasted four stores, two saloons, five restaurants, livery stable, post office, assay office, bank, school, telegraph office, two newspapers, and a blacksmith shop. As the price of metals fluctuated, so did the fortunes of the town. By 1887, several of the mines closed. In 1905, the county seat of Nye County was relocated from Belmont to Tonopah. The mine dumps were reworked in the early part of the 20th century The post office was in operation from April 1867 until May 1911 and then again from September 1915 until 1922. During the 1870s it was known as a major mining boomtown producing silver, and was rumored to have a population of 15,000. However, the total population for the whole county did not top 9,000 people until 1980 so the rumored population total is highly unlikely. Another source puts the peak population of Belmont at 2,000 in the 1870s. Like many towns which are now ghost towns, this one lasted for only a short time. The population was 28 in 1940. File:Belmont Nevada.gif, Belmont in 1871. Photo by

Timothy H. O'Sullivan Timothy H. O'Sullivan ( – January 14, 1882) was an American photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States. Biography O'Sullivan was born , either in Ireland, moving to New York City tw ...

. File:Belmont, NV-ruined building.jpg, Ruined building

Present-day Belmont

Some of the buildings still standing include the original Nye County Courthouse, the Cosmopolitan Saloon, the Monitor-Belmont Mill, and the combination mill. Currently, the old Combination Mine and Mill office and Belmont Courier Newspaper office and associated buildings are under restoration and preservation, known as the Philadelphia House, a reference to the name of the lodging house in the 1880s, and the Philadelphia mining district. This building complex was a business for about 15 years known as the Belmont Inn and Saloon, and also the Monitor Inn. Restoration volunteers are being solicited. To the south of the site there is the Belmont Courthouse now belonging to Nye County and cared for by the "Friends of the Belmont Courthouse". The transfer from the Belmont Courthouse State Historical Park to Nye County took place in 2012.

References

{{authority control Ghost towns in Nye County, Nevada Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada Populated places established in 1865 Nevada State Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Nye County, Nevada Ghost towns in Nevada Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places in Nevada 1865 establishments in Nevada

History

Present-day Belmont

See also

References