Mizpah Hotel - Reno, NV
N 39° 31.654 W 119° 48.633
11S E 258428 N 4379096
This fire memorial is located at the corner of Lake and E 2nd Streets in downtown Reno, NV.
Waymark Code: WMKYN0
Location: Nevada, United States
Date Posted: 06/16/2014
Views: 4
Located at the corner of Lake and E 2nd Streets in downtown Reno is a citizen memorial that reads:
MIZPAH HOTEL
Built in 1922 by the Pincolini brothers
Joseph Adelvaldo, Evaristo and Dante.
Listed in the National Register of Historical Places,
it served the community well for eighty four years.Destroyed by fire on October 31, 2006
In remembrance of those who perished
Alford Edward Yates Gregory Jack Wiltes
Kevin M. Sutherin Ernest James Duarte
William John Serrao Paul D. Smith
Unknown Victim Christopher James Covert
Jermey Lee Wren Nadine Inge Nicodemus
Diana Barbara Pochini Philip James Bridges
I did some online investigating on this former hotel and discovered through various online news articles that the fire that destroyed this hotel was an arson fire and started by Valerie Moore, one of the hotel tenants. Moore, a black woman, was apparently drunk and on drugs when she lit a mattress in her room on fire, causing the blaze to go out of control. I also read that Moore was convicted of second-degree murder in 1987 and had served 18 years in prison before being paroled in 2005. She is now serving 12 life sentences concurrently for the people she murdered in the blaze. This fire was the deadliest fire in Reno history.
I've also posted a few pictures I located online of this historic hotel to know what it looked like before being burned to the ground. All that remains is an empty, fenced off lot and this memorial plaque monument.