RENO, Nev. — There are churches, courthouses, cemeteries, shipyards, bridges, breweries and even casinos on the National Register of Historic Places.
But until now, there never has been a house recognized for its historic role in the making of the "quickie divorce."
Built in Reno in 1875, the Nystrom Guest House started operating as a boarding house catering to divorce-seekers by the 1920s. It became one of the most famous homes away from home for those trying to establish the minimum six-week residency to obtain a divorce in Nevada.
Its addition to the national register last month is a tribute to an entire divorce trade that flourished in the wake of the Great Depression as Reno civic leaders made an early foray into economic diversification.
"Nevada very early on — around 1900 — got a reputation for being a place someone could come get a divorce easily and quickly," said Mella Harmon, a historic preservation specialist for the state.
Nevada backed into the title of "Divorce Capital" when the six-month waiting period typical in the West at the turn of the century was extended to a year in most other states.
"Other states and territories were lengthening the period of residence, trying to make it harder to get a divorce, the presumption being there would be fewer breakups of families," state archivist Guy Rocha said.
"By the turn of the century, between 1900 and 1910, Reno recognized that people were coming to Reno because it was the last venue in the country with a six-month divorce," he said.
In 1927, sensing they were onto a good thing, state lawmakers cut Nevada's residency requirement from six months to three months.
"Then," Harmon said, "after the Great Depression they decided that they were attracting so many people, that if they made it even easier to get divorced, maybe even more people would come to Reno."
So in 1931, Gov. Fred Balzar signed legislation that cut the period from three months to six weeks.
"It had its desired effect. It was a great economic strategy during the Depression," Harmon said.
More than 32,000 divorces were granted in Washoe County from 1929-39, a time when the population of Reno totaled about 18,000. By the late 1930s, the county was averaging 5,000 divorces a year.
Many of those divorces spent some time at the Nystrom House at 333 Ralston St., a few blocks west of downtown near the Sands Regency Hotel Casino.