Ormsby House
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ormsby House is a hotel/casino in Carson City, Nevada. Originally opened in 1971, it closed in 2000 for renovations. It was planned to reopen on July 4th, 2001, but the opening date has been pushed back several times due to construction delays. It is now set to reopen sometime in 2006.
[edit] 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. It stayed closed until 1995, when it was reopened by Barry Silverton. Two years later, 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 casino 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 Ormsby House was closed in September of 2000. Renovation was supposed to be completed on July 4th, 2001, but a combination of construction delays, plan changes, and permitting problems stretched the project out to more than five years. Current plans call for the casino and hotel to reopen sometime in 2006.
