Ormsby House - History

History

The original Ormsby House was built in 1860 by Major William Ormsby, at the corner of 2nd and Carson Streets. Major Ormsby was killed later that same year in the Pyramid Lake War. The hotel lasted until the early 1900s, when it was purchased by Dominique Laxalt and later demolished.

In 1972, a brand new Ormsby House was built by Dominique's son, former Nevada governor Paul Laxalt, at the corner of 5th and Carson Streets. In 1975 the Laxalts sold it to Woody Loftin, and on his death in 1985 it passed to Truett Loftin. The hotel was forced into bankruptcy protection in 1990, and in 1993 the property was foreclosed and shut down. The Ormsby House stayed closed until 1995, when it was reopened by Barry Silverton. In 1997, it went through bankruptcy and foreclosure again. This time the new owners appointed former lieutenant governor and future Reno mayor Bob Cashell as general manager. Cashell managed to turn the property around, and in 1999 it was sold to Carson City businessmen Al Fiegehen and Don Lehr, owners of Cubix Computer Corporation. They toyed with the idea of keeping the casino open during renovation, but finally decided to lay off all the employees and perform a complete inside-out renovation. The re opening has taken over 11 years, which is an unofficial Nevada state record for a renovation project.

The Ormsby House Hotel was closed in September 2000. Renovation was supposed to be completed on July 4, 2001, but a combination of construction delays, numerous plan changes, permit problems, and ongoing perceived problems with the city have stretched the project out to more than ten years. At one point the owners became so frustrated with dealing with the city and the imposition of rules that do not apply to a remodel that they threatened to demolish the building. Currently there is no announced opening date, as of 9/11/2011.

Once (finally) opened the Ormsby house will feature a hotel, casino, 4 bars, wedding chapel, coffeehouse, fine dining, buffet, nightclub, and entertainment center. Currently, there is a small slots and video poker casino and bar open daily in the hotel's auto parking structure, in order to keep the gaming license current.