Redevelopment in the Powning District: History or bunks? | Jerry Snyder
Jerry Snyder
This opinion column was submitted by Jerry Snyder, a Reno-based artist and attorney.
The Powning Conservation District, as defined in the Nov. 7, 2012 Reno Historic Plan occupies the area between Arlington and Keystone to the East and West, and between Riverside and Second Street to the North and South. It is named for Christopher Columbus Powning, a 19th-century developer with a taste for impressive muttonchops and a marketing plan that was apparently based on boasting of the area’s “perfect sewerage.” Originally, the development provided modest craftsman bungalows for blue-collar families. The area currently includes a smattering of apartment buildings, including the four-story Truckee Terrace Apartments (formerly the Truckee River Lodge,) the aspirationally named Lear Theater, the McKinley Arts Center, some office buildings and a number of the original craftsman-style homes in states of