The Governor’s Mansion

Nevada became a state in 1864 but waited more than forty years to house its governors, who lodged wherever they could in the meantime. The 1907 "Mansion Bill" finally fixed that, and Reno architect George Ferris—father of the man who invented the Ferris wheel—designed this Classical Revival residence, built in 1908 and 1909 for about twenty-three thousand dollars. Acting Governor Denver Dickerson and his wife Una were the first to move in; their daughter June, born here in September 1909, remains the only child ever born in the mansion. It is still the governor's official home.

What the plaque says

Reno architect George A. Ferris designed this neo-classical mansion, which cost $22,700. It is the only home ever built for Nevada's highest elected official. In July, 1909, acting Governor Denver Dickerson and his wife Una became the first residents of the mansion. Two months later, June Dickerson was born here. From 1909 to 1999, sixteen families have occupied the mansion. In 2000, First Lady Dema Guinn began a re-vitalization of the grounds. Private funds supported many of the improvements, including this fence extension donated by Steel Engineers, Inc., Las Vegas and Blue Mountain Steel, Inc., Carson City

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carson City — 0.4 mi
  The capital one man platted before there was a territory—where the Comstock's silver became coin at a U.S. Mint and a small sandstone city that has run Nevada ever since
• Stewart Indian School — 3.5 mi
  The federal boarding school that took Great Basin children from 1890 to 1980 to erase their cultures—its student-built stone campus now a tribally-guided museum telling the story in alumni voices
• The Flume Trail & Marlette Lake — 6.9 mi
  The other thing the Comstock took off Lake Tahoe—not its trees but its water, hauled over a mountain range through the highest-pressure pipeline on earth, on a flume grade that is now one of the country's great mountain-bike rides
• Sand Harbor — 8.7 mi
  The crown of Lake Tahoe's Nevada shore—car-sized granite boulders standing in water so clear the boats above them seem to float on air, on a beach the Washoe kept for thousands of summers

More markers nearby

• Bliss Mansion — steps away
• Orion Clemens Home — steps away
• Methodist Church of Carson City — 0.3 mi
• Stewart – Nye Residence — 0.3 mi