History of The Parish House (1876) Virginia City, Nevada (NRHP #93000688) aka: The Old Catholic Rectory location of the Western Historic Radio Museum

Before there was a Parish House, there was an empty property lot on the south-east corner of Taylor Street and F Street. The lot was owned by W. S. Hobart, famous lumber and water owner-businessman of the Sierra. Hobart had supplied the water system for Virginia City in 1873. In 1874, he split a property lot he owned in Virginia City and gave the half-lots as Christmas presents to his two sisters. In 1876, Goodwin Jones, who was married to Hobart's sister, Martha, built his house on his wife's (half) lot. Jones was the Chief Engineer for the Caledonia Mine, smallest of the original Comstock mines. Because of his engineering training, Jones decided to incorporate several unusual ideas into the house. The 200 gallon Kerosene tank located in the attic that gravity-feeds kerosene to all of the ceiling lamp fixtures in each room (on both floors) is one example. Mining timbers mounted on brick piers support the center of the house. Jones had the house built in the then popular Italianate style with tall windows and a fairly flat roof. Other unusual features include external clapboard siding that is entirely redwood and all external trim is also redwood. All framing structure is built with rough-cut fir. The front parlor has an elaborate running plaster cornice. The hall is given a similar cornice though not as elaborate. Double doors allowed a wide access through the front entrance. The single brick flue for venting the wood-burning heating allowed for five wood stoves which included a basement stove, a back parlor stove, the kitchen stove and two upstairs stoves. There are two sets of pocket doors, one set divides the down-stairs parlor from the back dining room while the other set divides the upstairs setting room from the main bedroom.

Within a couple of years, Martha's sister (Mary) gave her half-lot to her sister and the property became a complete lot, (Lot 1.) The Jones' had two sons, Walter and George. In 1880, the boys got into some gray paint found in the basement. Walter painted his name and date on the basement stairs and "Jones Bros." over the basement door. Many other "signs" and "tic-tac-toe" paintings are throughout the basement. Around the same time, an article made it into the Territorial Enterprise which told of the famous "Pie Theft from the Jones' House."  The article related that the Jones had noticed  two pies had been stolen from their pantry. An inspection of the lock on the outside basement door revealed that it had been tampered with to gain entry into the basement and then up the stairs into the pantry. Jones had a new lock installed but the next morning noted that it too had been tampered with. He hired a guard for the next evening. The guard surprised the "pie thief" in the act of attempting another break-in and gave chase, firing a pistol near the corner of Washington and F Street, causing the "thief" to drop his pry-bar as he escaped, jumping a fence down F Street. The article concludes with the Virginia City Police stating that the "prize evidence" was to be put into their "collection" of "crook's tools."  Goodwin Jones was a longtime resident of the Comstock having arrived here in the 1860s but, like most of the mine owners and mining engineers, the ultimate goal was to make enough money to afford the move to San Francisco. The Jones' family lived in the house until 1884, then moving to San Francisco.

This is a photo of the Parish House when it was owned by Goodwin Jones. The image is from a stereo-view card by Carlton E. Watkins, (Episcopal Church, Virginia City - #4183.) Watkins photographed Virginia City sites between 1875 and 1880. Of particular interest is the board-fence down Taylor Street which is topped with elaborate finials every so often.

Goodwin Jones sold the house to twin brothers, Andrew and Robert Patterson. Andrew had supported the South during the Civil War and had lost his fortune. His brother, Robert had lived and prospered in Virginia City during the Civil War. When Andrew came to live with Robert's family in the 1880s, he bought the Jones' house. Within 11 months he had sold it to his brother, Robert and the two families lived together until Andrew's death only a few months later. Andrew could not be buried immediately because the harsh winter weather had frozen the ground. His body was stored in the Ice House, south of town, until the spring thaw. Robert Patterson owned the Club Rooms and the Saloon located at the International Hotel. He was a prominent figure in Virginia City business in the late nineteenth century. Patterson also acquired the adjacent lot (Lot 2) in the early 1890s. When Robert died in 1893, his widow lived on in the house several more years but eventually sold the house to the wife of  Dr. Thomas McDonald.

Dr. McDonald's family lived here from 1897 up to 1901, then selling the property to local merchant, John McGrath Sr., whose grocery business was located on C Street. McGrath, at one time, owned all four F Street lots which constitute the entire block between Washington Street and Taylor Street. The large McGrath family resided here for nearly 30 years before John Sr. succumbed to a liver disease, (June 1929.) His daughter, Jane (McGrath) Boyle inherited the house and eventually, in 1935, gave it (and Lot 1 & 2), to the Catholic Bishop of Reno, Thomas Gorman.

Bishop Gorman first used the house as a part-time rectory and also as a place to hold meetings for various clubs associated with the church. The Boyles continued to pay the property taxes. Later, in 1939, Rt. Rev. Harrigan had a new set of papers drawn up - perhaps trying to establish that the Catholic Church owned the house - however Bishop Gorman continued to be listed as co-owner and continued to pay the property taxes. There is evidence that the house was rented to parishioners at various times. From 1944 through 1945, famous Nevada artist, Thelma Davis Calhoon lived in the house (which she rented from the church.) In 1948, the Catholic Church acquired full ownership and property tax records cease. The house was also used as a Sunday School in the early fifties. In the late fifties, the house was called "St. Mary's Ministry" and was probably a combination of offices and rectory for use by a group of Cistercian monks headed by Father Robert Jelliffe, founder of the Damascus Foundation and controversial "modernizer" of St Mary's in the Mountains Catholic Church.

  The Catholic Church decided to sell the Parish House in 1977. It has had various owners since that time. In the early eighties, a garage and south-side sunroom were added to the property. The addition is mostly hidden from the front view by the two large cedar trees planted on the west-side of the addition. Shortly after purchase, in 1993, we did all of the research on the house's history and had it listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, late in 1993 (NRHP #93000688 - Parish House.) Fortunately, even though the Parish House is 130 years old, it is a sound structure that was built with high quality materials that have been well preserved by Nevada's usually dry climate.

Copyright © Henry Rogers,  Dec. 2000

Additional Information added: May 2003, Aug. 2003, Sept. 2003, Feb. 2006, Apr.2007 

Western Historic Radio Museum

P.O. Box 73, Virginia City, Nevada 89440

Vintage Radio Equipment and Memorabilia

From 1910 through the 1950s

Owners/ Operators:

Henry (W7HTR) & Sharon (KK7EI) Rogers

This webpage created by: Radio Boulevard © 2003/2008