Magic in Minden

Building a town is no easy job but it appears 74-year-old Jack Flannery is well on his way to creating a picture postcard version of Carson Valley, only his re-construction will consume a lot less acreage, with no need for a master plan except his own.

Flannery, with a love of historical landmarks here in the Valley, has been faithfully reproducing familiar Valley landmarks in miniature since his retirement when he and his wife Alfie moved from Southern California to their Winhaven home in September 1992.

"All I need is a photograph or two," Flannery said as he talked about some of his past projects.

Flannery had spent his working career in the sheet metal industry for 40 years, using the skills he had learned when he attended Hammond Technical Vocational High School in Indiana. In his spare time he dabbled in woodworking as a hobby. Afraid, when he retired, he would have nothing to do, he was amazed just how full he could keep his days of retirement. According to Flannery, the enjoyment he has gleaned from letting his imagination complement his ability for exacting detail from his years of work, also brings pleasure to everyone around him as they marvel at the accuracy of his diminutive recreations.

In the Esmeralda Room of the CVIC Hall, just in time for Christmas, the town of Minden comes to "miniature life" in a winter wonderland created by town of Minden employees to showcase Flannery's work in front of a snow-covered Sierra background. The Bank, CVIC Hall, the old grammar school and the gazebo in Minden Park cluster around the Virginia & Truckee Railroad as Engine 26, on loan to the Town of Minden, chugs around the track as it did over 50 years ago. The last run to Minden was actually made by Engine No. 27 for the V &T, May 11, 1950.

After restoring a 1800s Studebaker Bros. "Mountain Wagon," a real surrey with a fringe on top, Flannery got the idea that he would like to build a stagecoach.

"My son-in-law was getting these kits of old model automobiles and assembling them. That gave me the idea that I could research, assemble materials and make my own stagecoach," he said. "I didn't know how to build a stagecoach. I got a picture from the library in Minden and used that as a model. Once I had the wheels made, I couldn't stop."

The finished stagecoach made an appearance in the very first Parade of Lights in Carson Valley, as well as winning first place awards in numerous Nevada Day and Carson Valley Days parades. The coach was pulled by a tractor or other mechanical means.

"I was afraid of trying to have it pulled by horses. You just don't know what they will do," he said.

It wasn't until a young couple wanted to hire the use of the stagecoach for their Genoa wedding that Flannery was approached by the Borges family, who assured him they could safely rig the stagecoach to be horse-drawn for the occasion, that the stagecoach was motivated under four-legged horse power.

Soon Flannery expanded his creations to the historical landmarks of the past. For the 100th anniversary of the Trinity Lutheran Church he traced down photographs of the little white church and reproduced it all to scale, from the windows and entrance, clear up to the steeple. He presented his work to Pastor Larry Miller and the tiny church was on display for the centennial celebration.

He went on to recreate the Minden Flour Mill, built in 1906, which is currently on display at the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center. From a photo of the original Ferris wheel he found in the Genoa Court House Museum, he built a miniature version which was displayed at the museum in 1995. He built a scaled-down replica of the old 1915 Douglas County High School from original blue prints that were found in the old school boiler room. He designed the model to be used as a donation box for contributions to the museum. It was his gift to the Carson Valley Museum & Cultural Center.

A high recessed shelf extends across several walls in the Flannery home, graced with a dozen or more historical reproductions including the original St. Gall Catholic Church and Perry's Dry Good Store, which was last to house Belle's Boutique in Gardnerville. Some of his works are "dimensional photographs" of Victorian splendor in his reproductions of turn-of-the-century houses typical to the Valley.

His expertise and his attention to detail can be viewed daily through December in the recreation of Old Town Minden and the Virginia & Truckee Railroad represented by Engine No. 26. As a little piece of history, Engine No. 26 committed "suicide" by fire in her engine house in Reno, one month before the total abandonment of the V&T Railroad, at 7:15 p.m. on May 1, 1950.

This small piece of history and the Christmas scene is in recognition of Minden's Centennial Year.

The V & T will run again in Old Minden through the end of December thanks to Flannery and the town of Minden.