From Peleg Brown to Damonte: One of the Truckee Meadows’ Oldest Ranches

Ask around Reno where the city was “first settled,” and you will often hear the name Damonte Ranch. It is an understandable answer: the land south of town carries one of the oldest ranching histories in the Truckee Meadows. But the full story has two threads, and they are worth pulling apart. The city of Reno began downtown, at a bridge over the Truckee River. The ranch that became Damonte Ranch began miles south, as a pioneer cattle outfit with a very different job.

That ranch started as the Peleg Brown Ranch, established in the late 1850s, and it was bought by Louis Damonte in 1940. This guide follows the land from Brown's first cattle drive to today's neighborhood, separates what the records agree on from what they do not, and shows what still stands.

Where Reno Was Really First Settled

Three different “firsts” get blended together in local lore. The earliest is Jamison's Station, a trading post reported from 1852, where a trader named Jamison bought worn-out emigrant cattle and resold rested stock. Local history sites such as Nevada Expeditions and Nevada Ghost Towns & Beyond call it the Truckee Meadows' first settlement, but both flag real doubt: the site's exact location is disputed, and emigrant diaries from the period do not mention it. Treat it as the valley's earliest reported outpost, not a documented town.

The second “first” is the crossing. In 1859, Charles W. Fuller built a toll bridge over the Truckee at today's Virginia Street, and Myron C. Lake bought it a couple of years later, giving the spot the name Lake's Crossing. When the Central Pacific Railroad arrived, the town of Reno was formally established on May 9, 1868, named for Union general Jesse Lee Reno, according to Travel Nevada. We tell the Lake side of that story in The Lake Mansion: Myron Lake, Jane Lake, and the Founding of Reno.

The third is the ranch country of the south valley, settled while the town was still a bridge and a tavern. Damonte Ranch belongs here: genuinely early, but a farm and stage stop, not the birthplace of the city.

Peleg Brown Stakes His Claim

Peleg Brown came west from Rhode Island with his brother Joshua. According to the Reno Historical entry by Mella Rothwell Harmon, the brothers bought cattle in Kentucky, started west with 211 head, and reached the north end of Steamboat Valley in September 1857 with 170 left. The following year, 1858, Peleg acquired about 620 acres. That entry puts the price at $6.56 and 12 heifers, a figure we repeat as the source gives it rather than vouch for it. This is why you will see both 1857 and 1858 in print: the first is his arrival, the second his land purchase.

The location mattered. Steamboat Creek country sits in the southern Truckee Meadows, close to the road that carried supplies, stock, and travelers toward Virginia City and the Comstock Lode. A ranch there could sell agricultural products and lodging to a booming mining market, and the Brown ranch did.

A Working Ranch in the South Valley

Brown married Elizabeth Gill in January 1863, and the ranch grew into a real operation. In 1864 and 1865 the couple spent roughly $4,000 on a Greek Revival main house, $800 on a barn, and $2,400 toward an irrigation ditch, per Reno Historical. The house did double duty. The SAH Archipedia notes it also served as a stage station on the road to Virginia City, and a 1994 Historic American Buildings Survey report describes 14 small upstairs bedrooms for guests and a barnyard that fed dozens of horses, stage teams included.

Brown is also credited as one of the first in the area to grow alfalfa and as a driving force in bringing irrigation to the southern Truckee Meadows. Hay fed the mining towns, and his work helped set the pattern for valley agriculture.

Peleg Brown died in 1878. Elizabeth ran the ranch until her death in 1918, and their daughter Laura and her husband, George Wilcox, kept it going as the Wilcox Ranch.

The Damonte Family Takes Over

In 1940, Louis Damonte bought the property from the Wilcox estate. Damonte had emigrated from Genoa, Italy, in 1909, and like many Italian immigrants in the valley he built a life in farming and ranching. He raised alfalfa and cattle, improved the irrigation, and managed the Steamboat Canal and Irrigation Company until 1965. At their peak, the family's holdings reportedly passed 7,000 acres across several ranches.

The main house was renovated in 1940 and again in 1955, so the building you see reflects both the Brown era and the Damonte years. One note on sources: most records, including Reno Historical and the National Register paperwork, give 1940 for the purchase, while at least one online reference gives 1939. We use 1940 here.

From Ranch to Neighborhood

Reno's growth eventually reached the south valley. The Damonte family worked with developers on a master plan, dated to about 2000 by SAH Archipedia, covering roughly 2,000 acres of mixed housing, commercial land, schools, and open space. The family donated a 62-acre site for Damonte Ranch High School, which opened in 2003. Today “Damonte Ranch” names a neighborhood and a parkway as much as a working ranch.

Roads shaped Reno's growth long before the subdivisions. The wagon routes that fed the Comstock gave way to automobile highways, a shift we trace in The Lincoln Highway in Reno: How Fourth Street Became Nevada's Main Street.

What Remains

The old ranch core survives at 12945 Old Virginia Road. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 23, 1994, for its role in the development of agriculture and irrigation in the Truckee Meadows. SAH Archipedia calls it one of the last remaining nineteenth-century ranch complexes in the valley. The historic buildings include the Greek Revival main house, a foreman's house, a granary, a stone cold-storage building, and a small playhouse, and the Damonte family still owns the remaining few acres around them. It is private property, so admire it from the record rather than the roadside.

At a Glance: The Peleg Brown and Damonte Ranch

• Reno the city was founded May 9, 1868, at Lake's Crossing on the Truckee River; the south-valley ranch lands were a separate, earlier settlement pattern.
• Jamison's Station (reported 1852) is often called the Truckee Meadows' first settlement, though its location and permanence are disputed.
• Peleg Brown arrived in September 1857 and bought about 620 acres in 1858, near Steamboat Creek in the south valley.
• His 1864 Greek Revival house served as a stage station on the road to Virginia City, and he is credited as an early alfalfa and irrigation pioneer.
• Louis Damonte, who emigrated from Genoa in 1909, bought the ranch in 1940 from the Wilcox estate.
• The ranch core was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994; the surrounding land became the Damonte Ranch community around 2000.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Reno first settled at Damonte Ranch?

No. The city of Reno grew from Lake's Crossing on the Truckee River downtown and was founded in 1868. The Damonte Ranch land was settled earlier, in 1857 and 1858, but as a south-valley ranch, not as the origin of the town.

Who was Peleg Brown?

A Rhode Island native who drove cattle west with his brother Joshua, reached the Truckee Meadows in September 1857, and bought about 620 acres in 1858. He is credited as an early alfalfa grower and as a promoter of irrigation in the southern valley.

When did the Damonte family buy the ranch?

Louis Damonte purchased it in 1940 from the estate of Laura Wilcox, Peleg Brown's daughter. Most sources agree on 1940, though one online reference gives 1939.

Can you visit the historic Damonte Ranch buildings?

The surviving ranch buildings on Old Virginia Road are privately owned by the Damonte family and are not a public museum. Reno Historical and the Library of Congress's Historic American Buildings Survey record the site in photographs and text.

Conclusion

So where was Reno first settled? The honest answer depends on what you mean by Reno. The city started at the river crossing in 1868. The valley's earliest ranches, among them Peleg Brown's, were already raising cattle and hay a decade before that. The Damonte family kept the land in productive use for generations, and the old house still stands as proof.

For those who love that layer of Nevada history, we collect period pieces with the same practical grit. Come see what we have at The Eclection, or find us at the next show, as described in Viridian Eclection is Heading to the Reno Antique Faire.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study of Truckee Meadows history, these Nevada institutions are reliable, non-commercial starting points:

• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — articles on Nevada's towns, people, and industries.
• Reno Historical — a local-history site with entries on Reno and Washoe County places and people.
• Nevada Historical Society — the state's museum and research library for Nevada history.