Chism House, Reno - The history of the Chism House

The Chism House History

The family history and the history of this house starts with the marriage of Gardner Chism to Alice Hitchcock in Sacramento in February of 1876. In 1880 they moved to Reno where Gardner purchased a ranch and farm of 115 acres west of the town and built the original house. It is essentially the eastern half of the house that stands at 1401 West 2nd Street today. At that time, 2nd Street did not extend this far west, and access to the Chism property was via 4th Street, and required crossing the Central Pacific Railroad tracks!

Gardner Chism lived in the house until his death in 1898 and his widow Alice continued to live there until her death in 1931. Gardner and Alice's sons, John H. and Edward W. Chism both became successful dairymen.

Gardner's oldest son, John H. Chism was the proprietor of the Chism Dairy from 1900 to 1912, and Crescent Dairy from 1912 to sometime in the 1950's. By 1904, John H. Chism had the largest number of milk cows in the state of Nevada and was considered Nevada's leading dairyman. After his mother Alice died in 1931, the house remained vacant until John H. moved into it in the early 1940's. In 1942 John H. Chism married Dorothy Wheeler. In 1946, John H. and Dorothy started a major remodel of the home with extensive landscaping, including a pond, over two acres of lawn, and a long, sweeping driveway.

John H.'s brother, Edward Warren Chism created the Chism Ice Cream Company in 1905 on this property, using a waterwheel in the Truckee River to provide power. Edward later moved the ice cream factory to 219-245 West Street. Although the West Street building became the 7-Up Bottling Company of Reno in 1960, Carnation bought the ice cream business and continued to use the Chism name locally until the 1970's.

In 1960, after John H. Chism's death, Dorothy sold the home to John E. Chism, John H.'s nephew. John E. Chism was an important historic person in his own right, as he became mayor of Reno in 1970. He also served on City Council for about 10 years. John E. Chism lived in the house until 1998 with his wife, Miriam, and their four children; Betty, Gordon, William and David. Both John E. and Mariam Chism died in 1998.

The home remains in the Chism family to this day and is on the historic register. The architectural design of this building is an eclectic blend of the Late Adam style with Gothic Revival elements. It features a high level of quality workmanship that is still evident in the exterior of the oldest portion of the building. It also represents a now rare example of residential architecture dating to Reno's early settlement period.

~ Site designed and maintained by John Muller ~