Follow
This project is for those who were born, lived or died in Washoe County, Nevada.
Washoe County was created on November 25, 1861, as one of the original nine counties of the Nevada Territory. It is named after the Washoe people who originally inhabited the area. It was consolidated with Roop County in 1864. Washoe City was the first county seat in 1861 and was replaced by Reno in 1871.
In 1911, a small band of Shoshone and Bannock led by Mike Daggett killed four stockmen in Washoe County. A posse was formed, and on February 26, 1911, at the Battle of Kelley Creek, eight of Daggett's band were killed, along with one member of the posse, Ed Hogle. Three children and a woman who survived the battle were captured. The remains of some of the members of the band were repatriated from the Smithsonian Institution to the Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in 1994.
In 1918, Washoe County elected the first woman elected to the Nevada Legislature, Sadie Hurst, a Republican.
As of 2013, "Washoe County is the first school district in the state to offer Paiute classes," offering an elective course in the Paiute language at Spanish Springs High School and North Valleys High School.