A hidden gem in the heart of the Virgin Valley
The towns located in the Virgin Valley area of southern Nevada and Northwest Arizona have a rich and storied history full of colorful characters and interesting features.
Nowhere is this history more evident and prominently displayed than the Virgin Valley Heritage Museum in Mesquite.
The museum has artifacts from the last 141 years from Virgin Valley towns such as Beaver Dam, Littlefield, Mesquite, Scenic, and Bunkerville.
Built from 1938 to 1941, the building was built as part of an initiative from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to restore and bring life to small towns across America.
The building was intended to be a library but the town decided that it needed a hospital more than a library and therefore, it was converted into a medical facility in 1943.
The town then hired a woman named Bertha Howe from Overton, Nevada. She became the nurse at the facility and worked on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 34 years until her death in 1977.
The road that runs along Mesquite's Mesa View Regional Hospital was named Bertha Howe Avenue in her honor.
When Howe passed in 1977, the hospital became a utility building for everything from storage to town meetings until 1984 when Mesquite was incorporated and became an official U.S. city.
One year later in 1985, the building was dedicated as the museum that it still remains today.
The museum has thousands of items from typewriters to early 20th century wedding dresses from local families and is also listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Inside of the building there is a grandfather clock from 1906, sewing machines from 1885, and a portable television from 1949 all within 25 feet of each other.
Though the structure itself is not robust, it is crammed with artifacts both large and small, each with their own distinct background and unique story.
Museum coordinator Elspeth Kuta says that most of the items in the building have been donated from citizens in the Virgin Valley.
"Everything in this building is donated," said Kuta. "Once they give us things, it becomes the responsibility of the museum and the city of Mesquite."
The museum is sponsored by the city and gets its revenue from local government. This allows the museum to be free and open to the public for viewing.
With such a long and interesting history for towns in the Virgin Valley, taking advantage of the museum is a must for those intrigued by what the area has to offer.
"A town without history is a town without a soul," said Kuta. "I've been in this position for three years now and I feel very strongly about the fact that there needs to be an advocate for where things came from and why they're here in the first place."
The museum is a local gem hidden deep in the heart of the Virgin Valley and is an attraction that everyone within visiting distance should come to explore.