The Patrick Ranch: An Old Truckee Meadows Homestead and Its Lore

The Patrick Ranch is one of those Reno names that can send people looking in the wrong direction. Say “Patrick” and the mind may drift to the little locality on the Truckee River east of Sparks. But the documented Patrick Ranch, and the old ranch house that survives from it, stand in Reno’s Old Southwest neighborhood, at 1225 Gordon Avenue, on land that was once a dairy and stock farm south of the river.

This is a short local-history guide to what the record actually says: who the Patricks were, how the land passed to them, what the house is, what became of the ranch, and why a handsome century-old farmhouse can still strike a passerby as a little eerie. We keep the documented history and the neighborhood lore carefully apart, and we name our sources as we go.

Two Patricks: The Place and the Ranch

Patrick, Nevada is a real place. According to Wikipedia’s entry for Patrick, Nevada, which cites the U.S. Geological Survey’s Geographic Names Information System, it lies about ten miles east of Sparks along Interstate 80, where the Truckee River runs between the Pah Rah and Virginia Ranges. That same Wikipedia entry connects the community’s name to Patrick McCarran and the McCarran Ranch rather than to any family named Patrick. We have not independently confirmed the name’s origin, and we found nothing linking that locality to the Patricks of Gordon Avenue.

For the river country farther east, the corridor of Lockwood, Lousetown, and the old grade toward the Comstock, see our article on the old road to Virginia City. The ranch in this story belongs to a different part of the Truckee Meadows entirely: the south side of Reno, in what Historic Reno Preservation Society calls the heart of Old Southwest.

The Patricks and Their Dairy Ranch

The land’s story begins before the Patricks. Per the National Register of Historic Places nomination (prepared by Cindy Southerland in 2002), Jane Lake, wife of the Reno businessman Myron C. Lake, acquired a 160-acre parcel in December 1890 through a deed settlement with Thomas Leddy. In 1898 she transferred it to her daughter, Florence M. Thompson. Early deeds describe the property as including “the Arlington Nurseries,” along with horses, a buggy, a lumber wagon, and two cows. In 1907 Thompson sold the Patricks about 90 acres, with shares of water from the South Side Irrigation Canal, which dates to 1876. The property is also called the Arlington Ranch or Arlington Place.

Frank Goodwill Patrick (1854–1922) and Fannie Brown Patrick (1864–1939) had married in Jalapa, Nebraska, in 1888, and came to Reno from Nebraska with their son, Lloyd Brown Patrick (1892–1967). Sources differ on the year: Fannie Brown Patrick gives 1902, while the Reno Historical entry by Mella Rothwell Harmon says around 1904. Per the National Register nomination and Historic Reno’s FootPrints newsletter, the family ran a dairy and stock farm and delivered milk to the clubs and businesses of Reno’s Commercial Row. The 1910 census, as quoted in the nomination, lists Frank as a dairy farmer with one farm laborer on the property.

Fannie was no background figure. Wikipedia’s biography, citing her 1939 obituaries, describes her as a music teacher, an organizer of the Nevada Musical Club, a past president of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs, a charter member of the Twentieth Century Club, and an active supporter of women’s suffrage. Lloyd graduated from the University of Nevada in 1913, served as an Army captain in World War I, and, according to Reno Historical, later managed Nevada’s exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition.

The Ranch House at 1225 Gordon Avenue

The house was built around 1901, while Florence Thompson still owned the land, so it predates the Patricks’ purchase. The National Register nomination calls it Folk Victorian with Queen Anne attributes, and describes a two-story frame house on a cut-stone foundation, clad in horizontal V-groove wood siding about eight inches wide, with a central brick chimney, a composition-shingle roof with overhanging eaves, and one-over-one double-hung windows. A wraparound porch on the northeast side sits on a decorative stone foundation, and a second-story balcony rests on six-inch square wooden columns with chamfered edges. A full frieze board runs below the soffit all the way around.

Like many working farmhouses, it was altered as the family and the times required. Family records cited in the nomination list oil heaters and a downstairs bathroom in 1940, kitchen and dining-room work in the early 1940s, a rebuilt back porch, and a wood shed converted to a garage. During World War II housing shortages the upper floor was made into apartments for Air Corps personnel stationed at Stead Air Base, and the nomination notes apartments were still there in 1951. In 1992 and 1993 the house was returned to single-family use, with the outside staircase sealed and the interior staircase rebuilt.

The recognition followed: a City of Reno historic preservation award in 2002, listing on the National Register of Historic Places on May 16, 2003 (reference 03000417), and listing on the Reno Register of Historic Places in 2004. The house is a private home, so it is best admired from the public street.

What Became of the Ranch

The farm did not last as a farm. The nomination records that in 1923 the original 90 acres were divided into three sections: Manor Heath, Manor Gardens, and the Arlington Heights Suburban Home Tract, the last of which surrounds the house. Fannie kept the four-acre portion that included the ranch house. Frank had died in 1922, and Fannie died in 1939; Reno Historical says Lloyd, after inheriting, subdivided the land extensively. (Wikipedia’s biography of Fannie places the subdividing in the 1930s, so the exact sequence between the 1923 tracts and later splits is something we would want to verify in county records.)

Deed restrictions on the new lots specified the kinds of houses allowed, their minimum size, and their price. The parcel shrank from 90 acres to 80, then to three, and finally to today’s lot of roughly 0.14 acre, per the nomination and Reno Historical. Reno was growing into its old ranchland, much as it was growing along the highways of the same era, a theme we touch on in our piece on the Lincoln Highway and Fourth Street. What remains of the Patrick Ranch is the house itself, and the tract names that grew up around it.

The Lore: A House With a Reputation

This section is lore and personal impression, not documented history. One of us lives about a block from the old Patrick Ranch house, and the impression from the sidewalk is that it feels a little creepy. It is easy to see why: a two-story Victorian with a wraparound porch and a second-story balcony, standing in a neighborhood built up around it long after it was raised, looks like a house from another century because it is one. That is a feeling about architecture and age, not a claim about the house or about anyone who lives there.

We went looking for anything more. The National Register nomination, Historic Reno’s FootPrints newsletter, the Reno Historical entry, and Wikipedia all describe the house in ordinary historical terms: owners, dates, renovations, preservation awards. None mentions a ghost story, a haunting, or any tragedy tied to the property, and we have not found a published local account that does. We will not invent one. If you know a documented story about the house, we would love to hear it, and a newspaper archive such as the Nevada State Journal or Reno Evening Gazette would be the place to check it.

At a Glance: The Patrick Ranch

• The documented Patrick Ranch House is at 1225 Gordon Avenue in Reno’s Old Southwest, not in the locality of Patrick, Nevada, east of Sparks.
• The house was built around 1901 as Folk Victorian with Queen Anne attributes, on land once part of the Arlington Ranch and Nursery.
• Frank Goodwill Patrick (1854–1922) and Fannie Brown Patrick (1864–1939) bought about 90 acres in 1907 and ran a dairy and stock farm, delivering milk to Commercial Row.
• The land was subdivided from 1923 onward; the house now sits on a lot of roughly 0.14 acre.
• It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 16, 2003, and on the Reno Register of Historic Places in 2004.
• The “creepy” reputation is neighborhood impression only; we found no documented ghost story, and we do not assert one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Patrick Ranch?

The Patrick Ranch House stands at 1225 Gordon Avenue in Reno’s Old Southwest neighborhood. It is not in the locality of Patrick, Nevada, which lies along the Truckee River and Interstate 80 about ten miles east of Sparks, and which Wikipedia associates with the McCarran family.

Who were the Patricks?

Frank Goodwill Patrick and Fannie Brown Patrick, who came to Reno from Nebraska in the early 1900s with their son Lloyd. They bought roughly 90 acres in 1907 and ran a dairy and stock farm. Fannie was also active in Nevada’s musical, club, and suffrage circles.

Is the Patrick Ranch House open to the public?

No. It is a private residence, so please view it respectfully from the public street. Historic Reno Preservation Society’s Reno Historical project publishes photographs and a written history of the house.

Is the Patrick Ranch House haunted?

We found no documented ghost story or haunting associated with the house, and we do not claim one. Its eerie reputation, where it exists, is a matter of neighborhood impression and Victorian atmosphere rather than recorded events.

Conclusion

The Patrick Ranch is a good reminder that Reno was a farm town before it was a casino town: a place where a family from Nebraska could buy a nursery-and-dairy parcel on an irrigation canal, deliver milk to Commercial Row, and watch their pasture become a neighborhood. One farmhouse, preserved and listed on the National Register, is what is left of that world on Gordon Avenue.

If you collect ranch-era and early Nevada pieces, or simply love a house with a past, come see us at the Reno Antique Faire, or explore our curated collection at The Eclection. A note on sources: where records disagree, we have said so, and anything in the lore section is labeled as such.

Resources & Further Reading

For deeper study of Nevada and Reno history, these are reliable, non-commercial starting points:

• Online Nevada Encyclopedia — articles on Nevada people, places, ranching, and history from Nevada Humanities.
• Nevada Historical Society — the state museum and research library in Reno, with photographs, manuscripts, and newspapers.
• Historic Reno Preservation Society — Reno’s preservation organization, publisher of FootPrints and the Reno Historical project.