CARSON CITY — A bloody palm print, footprints of monster men, the nation's first legal lethal gas chamber — all of this and more are at the heart of the Nevada State Prison story.
Find out about these nuggets of history by attending a free lecture entitled "Nevada State Prison: A History" on Thursday, August 15, at 6 p.m. Jennifer E. Riddle, Sena M. Loyd, and Stacy L. Branham, co-authors along with Curt Thomas of the recently published book, "Nevada State Prison," will be making the presentation.
The lecture will be at the Business Resource Innovation Center, the BRIC, which is a partnership of Carson City Library, Office of Business Development, Building, Engineering, Planning, and Business Licensing and is located at 108 E. Proctor Street.
Founded in 1862, before Nevada was "battle born," the prison is the oldest continuously operated penal facility in the state. Over its 150-year history, the prison has been home to some of Nevada's most notorious criminals as well as some of the state's stranger events. Fossilized footprints of a "giant race of man" were found buried deep within the prison quarry.
The prints gave rise to the infamous Homo Nevadensis, a supposed lost branch of the human evolutionary tree. On the more macabre side, the prison hosted the nation's first state-sanctioned execution by lethal gas. While dutifully and vigilantly serving its penal function, the Nevada State Prison has periodically garnered international attention and amassed a history worthy of study.
Please join us to take a look at unpublished images, learn a bit more about those that did get published, and explore the storied history not included in the book.
This presentation is free and open to the public. It is part of a series of "third Thursday" lectures by the Carson City Historical Society and is presented in cooperation with the Carson City Library. For more information, please contact David Bugli at 775-883-4154.
Photo: Photo of authors Curt Thomas, Jennifer E. Riddle, Stacy L. Branham, and Sena M. Loyd in front of the Nevada State Prison.