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History · Silver Peak

Silver Peak dates to 1864

Most of Silver Peak was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1963 on, and the census since 2000.

1864founded
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Silver Peak’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Silver Peak began

When was Silver Peak founded?

1864

Silver Peak dates its founding to 1864 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 2000.

First census: 182 in 20002020 census: 121162 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1866.The full story ↓
The story

How Silver Peak came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Silver Peak.

Read it all →

Silver Peak is one of the oldest mining communities in Nevada. It was founded near a well in 1864, two years after the founding of surrounding Esmeralda County, and one year after silver was discovered nearby and mining began. A 10 stamp mill was built in 1865, and a 20 stamp mill by 1867. The Silver Peak Railroad was built by the Pittsburgh Silver Peak Gold Mining Company after it bought a group of mining properties in 1906 and established a 100 stamp mill at Blair, Nevada, in 1907. Blair's mill closed in 1915, and Blair was a ghost town by 1920. Silver Peak maintained a population, however, even though it burned in 1948.

In 1939, boxer Max Baer defeated "Big Ed" Murphy of Silver Peak in a one round fight at Silver Peak.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Silver Peak, 1864 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1864
    FoundingSilver Peak is established
  3. 1866Post officeThe Silver Peak post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1940In the archiveSilver Peak, Nevada
  6. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Silver Peak, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1940s7 items
Silver Peak, Nevada1940Silver Peak, NevadaSilver Peak, Nevada1940Silver Peak, NevadaSaloon. Silver Peak, Nevada1940Saloon. Silver Peak, NevadaStreet1940StreetMiner's homes1940Miner's homesActive mining town. Silver Peak, Nevada1940Active mining town. Silver Peak, NevadaRuins of stamp mill. Silver Peak, Nevada1940Ruins of stamp mill. Silver Peak, Nevada
1950s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Silver Peak on the map, 1963 to 1987

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Silver Peak. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Silver Peak on the 1963 USGS mapSilver Peak on the 1987 USGS map1963Silverpeak sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Silver Peak.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Silver Peak, Nevada
Retake this viewSilver Peak, Nevada, 1940

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Silver Peak’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Silver Peak, census by census

010020020002020Peak: 182

Between 107 and 182 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Silver Peak’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Silver Peak

Nobody well known was born in Silver Peak itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Brad DexterAmerican actor · b. 1917
Ben AlexanderAmerican actor · b. 1911
Doris DawsonAmerican actress · b. 1909
H
Hugh BradnerAmerican physicist · b. 1915
T
Thomas Joseph ConnollyCatholic bishop · b. 1922
Walter S. Baring, Jr.American politician · b. 1911
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Silver Peak’s post office has been open since 1866.

Gone or out of use
Black Mammoth MilllocaleCalvada MilllocaleFanchini Hughes MilllocaleFanchini Hughes Tailing PlantlocaleFoote Mineral Company MilllocaleMartin MilllocaleMohawk Alpine MilllocaleRock and Keeler MilllocaleSilver Peak Quartz MilllocaleU S Mining and Milling Company MilllocaleVanderbilt MilllocaleVollmar Milllocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Silver Peak’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSilver Peak, Nevada: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Silver Peak’s history

What year was Silver Peak founded?

In 1864, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Silver Peak’s post office opened in 1866, and the census of 2000 counted 182 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (7), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.