History vs. progress: Old ranch house sits on site for proposed hospital

Mathis Winkler

Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

A little shaky and battered, the old ranch house at Craig Ranch Golf Course has survived floods and fires for almost a hundred years.

Built around 1905, "it's not a really big, heavy construction house," said J.C. Stimson, who lived there with his family for about 10 years in the 1960s and 1970s.

"But the crazy thing is that it's never been destroyed," said Stimson, who built a new family home a few hundred yards north of the ranch house in the early 1970s.

Progress could do to the old ranch house -- likely one of the oldest inhabited buildings in the Las Vegas Valley -- what time and the elements could not. It could be torn down so a hospital can be built on the site, which was sold last year to a Delaware-based health company.

Universal Health Services plans to build a 180-bed facility on the land where a Station Casino development was proposed and defeated.

It would be only the second hospital for North Las Vegas' 130,000 residents, one city officials say is sorely needed. Hospital officials don't know yet if the house will have to go, but it's clearly on the site, Stimson said.

The old ranch house may have longevity, but it has little notoriety, a fact that has worked against it.

It is not listed on state of federal registers of historic places and has no protection against demolition.

And several local and statewide preservation advocates said last week they had not heard of the ranch house, though they were sad to hear it would be torn down.

"I wish I knew something about it," said Ron James, Nevada's historical preservation officer, adding he would have to see pictures of the house before determining whether it had any historic significance.

If residents have made major changes to the house over the past century, it may have lost its historic value, James said.

The house certainly retains some of its Old Vegas charm. It is heated solely by a wood stove and the floors, now covered by carpet, have the uneven feel of an old house.

"We quit making changes (to improve the house) after a while, especially because they were just going to demolish it," said Laura Smith, who has lived there for almost two years with her husband, James, and their son.

It does come with stories of troubles it's given the Stimson family since the late 1950s, when Stimson's father bought the ranch from the Craig family in anticipation of Las Vegas' population boom, Stimson said.

Stimson fell through the floor once and during summers rented an air-conditioned apartment in Las Vegas to provide his family relief from the blistering summer heat at the ranch.

His wife, Pearl, still remembers finding grass growing underneath the couple's bed after one severe flooding of the house.

"I don't think it could be moved," she said.

Smith and her family don't expect to stay in the ranch house much longer, she said.

"I'm sad, because it's part of the history of Las Vegas," Smith said.

Stimson expressed similar feelings.

"I always thought it was kind of historic," he said, adding that his Mormon church ward is named after Craig Ranch.

"It kind of would have been nice to have kept the whole thing in the family," he said. "But personally, I'm not that fond of Las Vegas anymore. There's too many people and too much crime."

Because the house lacks state protection, property owners can do with the building whatever they want, unless federal funds are used to build the hospital, James said.

Designs are still being drawn up, so it was unclear Friday whether the house stands on land that will be needed for the hospital, Universal Health Services officials said.

However, Stimson and an ownership search with the Clark County Assessor's office confirmed that Universal Health Services' property included the ranch house.

When the demolition would come, if it comes, is still uncertain.

Universal Health Services has not set a date for the hospital's construction to begin, Donald Pyskacek, the company's assistant vice president for design and construction, said. First the necessary approvals must be obtained from the state.

And city officials, who are also trying to save a 150-year-old adobe building at nearby Kiel Ranch, say they still hope a savior will appear for the house.

"I hate to see historical things destroyed, especially when they are in pretty good shape," said Councilwoman Shari Buck, who represents the district that includes the ranch. "My hope is that somebody would come forward that would help preserve it."

It's unlikely that the state would give money to preserve the building, Assemblyman Tom Collins, D-North Las Vegas, said. But he echoed Buck's hopes that a private investor would step forward.

"I'm surprised that somebody wouldn't want to save it," he said.com