The Terrie Anne James Photograph Collection (1980) consists of a single photographic print depicting the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad depot in Tonopah, Nevada being destroyed by fire on August 13, 1980.
The Terrie Anne James Photograph Collection (1980) consists of a single photographic print depicting the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad depot in Tonopah, Nevada being destroyed by fire on August 13, 1980. A similar photograph of the depot from the same event is attributed to Philip Metscher of the Central Nevada Historical Society, but it is unknown if Metscher is the creator of the photograph in this collection.
Collection is open for research.
This material is made available to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. The donor, David Kelly James, acknowledged that they held no copyrights in the donated material when they transferred ownership of the Terrie Anne James Photograph Collection (PH-00276) to UNLV. However, some material may be protected by copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity rights, or other interests not owned by UNLV. Users are responsible for determining whether permissions are necessary from rights owners for any intended use and for obtaining all required permissions. Acknowledgement of the UNLV University Libraries is requested. For more information, please see the UNLV Special Collections policies on reproductions and use or contact us at special.collections@unlv.edu.
Materials remain as they were received.
The Tonopah Railroad depot was built in Tonopah, Nevada in 1904 as a terminal of the Tonopah Railroad. On November 1, 1905, the Tonopah Railroad merged with the Goldfield Railroad to form the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad, which operated tracks between Mina, Nevada and Goldfield, Nevada. The original Tonopah depot structure was expanded in 1910. The Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad ceased operations in October 1947, after which the Tonopah depot sat disused. The depot was vacant at the time it was destroyed by fire on August 13, 1980.
Sources:
Goldfield Historical Society. “Goldfield’s Five Railroads.” Accessed February 5, 2025. http://www.goldfieldhistoricalsociety.com/the-railroads/
Parks, Richard. “Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad.” Archived January 15, 2013, at https://web.archive.org/web/20130115021110/http://r2parks.net/T&G.html
Terrie Anne James Photograph Collection, 1980. PH-00276. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Materials were donated in 2025 by David Kelly James; accession number 2025-010.
In 2025, Landon Paljusaj de-framed and re-housed the photographic print and wrote the finding aid in ArchivesSpace.
Administrative Information
Acquired by Visual Materials Curator, Aaron Mayes, as part of UNLV Special Collections and Archives holdings on Southern and Central Nevada history. The original acquisition included a reproduction of the original photographic print that has been discarded.