Senator Francis G. Newlands House Photo by Charles Miller, Courtesy of Nevada State Historic Preservation Office

Nevada Senator Francis G. Newlands Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920, LC-USZ62-35403 DLC

Newlands was the primary author of the Reclamation Act of 1902. The Reclamation Act sought to promote agriculture in the arid west through the construction of large-scale irrigation projects. The first project under the Reclamation Act was the Newlands Irrigation Project in Nevada's Lahontan Valley. After Newland's death, George Thatcher, a prominent local attorney, purchased the home in 1920. Thatcher was a well-known and successful divorce lawyer, who occasionally let his prominent clients reside in his home. This was the case when Woolworth dime store heiress Barbara Hutton came to Reno for a divorce in 1935.

Because of Newlands's prominence in politics, water and reclamation projects in the west, his property was designated a National Historic Landmark, one of just six in Nevada. Newlands's mansion was the first residence built along the bluff overlooking the Truckee River, and the area grew into a fashionable neighborhood known as Newlands Heights. Today it contains many historic mansions and homes. The majority of the residences were erected between 1920 and 1940, and the diversity of architectural styles range from large Colonial Revival and French Chateau mansions to more modest Spanish Colonial Revival and Craftsman bungalows.

The Newlands Mansion is located at 7 Elm Crt. in Reno. The mansion is privately owned and not open to the public.