Carson City
Carson City is an independent city and the capital of the state. It was named for mountain man Kit Carson. It originated as a stopover for California bound emigrants, but developed into a city with the Comstock Lode, a silver strike in the mountains to the northeast. The city has served as the capital of Nevada since statehood in 1864 and for much of its history was the hub for Virginia and Truckee Railroad. Prior to 1969, Carson City was also the county seat of Ormsby County. In 1969, the county was abolished and its territory was merged with Carson City to form the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City. With the consolidation, the city limits extends west across the Sierra Nevada to the California state line in the middle of lake Tahoe.1
From 1870 to 1893 the United States Mint at Carson City coined gold and silver.2
Ormsby County
Ormsby County existed from 1861 to 1969, It contained Carson City, the county seat, and later, the state capital, founded two years earlier. It was named after Major William M. Ormsby, one of the original settlers of Carson City, killed along with seventy-five other white men in 1860, in an unsuccessful attempt to subdue a perceived uprising of Paiute Indians near Pyramid Lake, Nevada, which was at the time part of Utah Territory. By the late 1940s, the county was little more than Carson City and a few hamlets to the west. Discussions began about merging the city and county. However, the effort never got beyond the planning stages until 1966, when a statewide referendum formally approved the merger. The required constitutional amendment was passed in 1968. On April 1, 1969; Ormsby County and Carson City officially merged as the Consolidated Municipality of Carson City.3
Sources
1Wikipedia, retrieved December 2, 2014
2
Carson City website
3Ormsby County, Wikipedia, retrieved December 4, 2014
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