Nevada State Route 116 is a rural 10.48-mile highway located in Churchill County east of Fallon. Nevada State Route 116 as presently configured begins at US Route 50 and follows Stillwater Road to the former Churchill County seat of Stillwater.
Stillwater was established as a stage station on the California Trail in 1862. Stillwater served as the Churchill County seat between 1868-1903 prior to it transferring to Fallon. Stillwater Road originally began at Harrigan Road (then US Route 50) in Fallon and was brought into the State Highway System in 1940 as Nevada State Route 42. Much of Nevada State Route 42 and Stillwater Road were consumed in 1959 when US Route 50 was realigned around Naval Air Station Fallon. In 1976 Nevada State Route 42 was renumbered as Nevada State Route 116.
The blog cover is a view along Nevada State Route 42 which was then known as the Fallon-Stillwater Road (now just Stillwater Road). This photo was featured in the 1947-1948 Nevada Department of Highways Biennial.
Part 1; the history of Nevada State Route 116
Nevada State Route 116 begins at US Route 50 east of Fallon and follows Stillwater Road 10.48 miles to the town site of Stillwater. Stillwater was established by Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Company as a stage stop on the California Trail during July 1862. Stillwater Station was named for nearby Stillwater Slough was which was a well-known reliable source of water used by travelers crossing the Forty Mile Desert.
Stillwater Station would quickly grow to become the largest town in Churchill County. The Churchill County Post Office would move to Stillwater on May 7, 1868. Stillwater would replace La Plata as the Churchill County seat following a vote on November 7, 1868. By the end of the 1860s Stillwater reportedly had a population of 150 residents.
Stillwater can be seen prominently on the California Trail on the 1868 Bancroft's map of Nevada. The roadway connecting Stillwater west to Ragtown would form much of the basis for modern Stillwater Road.
The Churchill County Courthouse can be seen below in 1881 (Churchill County Museum & Archives). This building was dismantled in 1925.
On July 24, 1896, the Fallon town site and post office were founded at the ranch of Michael and Eliza Fallon. Jim Richards would open a store close to the Fallon Post Office during 1896. Fallon began to thrive as the commercial center of Churchill County as it was far more accessible than Stillwater.
On New Year's Day 1904 the Churchill County seat would relocate from Stillwater to Fallon following an act by Nevada state legislature. The Southern Pacific Railroad would begin construction of a spur line to Fallon beginning during May 1906. The spur line to Fallon was complete by December 1906 and the first train would arrive on January 10, 1907. Fallon would later incorporate as the only city in Churchill County during 1908.
Following the emergence of the city of Fallon the profile of Stillwater would decline significantly. Stillwater can be seen as it was in 1907 in a photo from the book titled Nevada Ghost Towns and Mining Camps.
Early Stillwater Road can be seen connecting Fallon and Stillwater on the 1908 United States Geological Survey map of Carson Sink.
The local hotels in Stillwater were dismantled in Stillwater in 1946. Nevada State Route 42 in the vicinity of Stillwater appears in the 1947-1948 Nevada Department of Highways biennial as an example of farm-to-market road and mine-to-market road building.
This photo is of a concrete bridge on Nevada State Route 42 at an unknown date in Stillwater (Churchill County Museum & Archives). This bridge was damaged during an earthquake in 1954 and replaced with a culvert span.
Nevada State Route 42 appears in detail on the 1957 Nevada Department of Highways map of Churchill County. This map displays the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge which had been designated in 1948.
The 1957-1958 Nevada Department of Highways Biennial reported as having conducted a study and contracted to realign US Route 50 north of Naval Auxiliary Air Station Fallon. The purpose of the realignment was to permit runway expansion over Berney Road. The project was requested and fully funded by the Navy.
The new then new alignment of US Route 50 bypassing Naval Auxiliary Air Station Fallon was completed in 1959. The new realignment followed Williams Avenue east from Maine Street in downtown Fallon and bypassed the air station to the north. US Route 50 consolidated back in with the existing Austin Highway near Grimes Point east of the air station.
The then new alignment of US Route 50 east of Fallon bypassing Naval Auxiliary Air Station can be seen on the 1960 Nevada Department of Highways map. A portion of Nevada State Route 42 east of downtown Fallon was repurposed as part of the realignment US Route 50. Nevada State Route 42 was truncated to existing on 10.48 miles of Stillwater Road east from US Route 50. The final run of Post Office Service in Stillwater shuttered on April 30, 1959.
The Greenwood Store can be seen in a 1960 era photo in Stillwater along Nevada State Route 42 (Churchill County Museum & Archives). This was the original community store in Stillwater, and it would burn in a fire in 1963.
The 1969 Nevada Department of Highways map of Churchill County displayed the truncated Nevada State Route 42. Portions of Stillwater Road in the vicinity of eastern Fallon were bisected or razed. They now appear on modern maps east of Harrigan Road as Stillwater Avenue and Browns Lane.
This photo from 1970 is of the Cirac-LeBeau Pool and Health Spa (Churchill County Museum & Archives). This pool house opened around a geothermal spring in the 1920s and ultimately closed in 1970. The structure was razed circa 2001-2002.
On July 1, 1976, the Nevada State Highway Renumbering took place. Nevada State Route 42 was renumbered as 116 which lumped it in with a cluster of State Highways assigned to Churchill County. Nevada State Route 116 has never been altered since 1976.
Part 2; exploring Nevada State Route 116 and the relics of Nevada State Route 42
This view is along northbound Harrigan Road which once carried US Route 50 into Fallon (now Nevada State Route 115). The right-hand turn transitions onto Stillwater Avenue which was once the eastbound beginning of Nevada State Route 42. Stillwater Avenue no longer connects to Browns Lane nor the larger Stillwater Road corridor.
Modern eastbound Nevada State Route 116 and Stillwater Road branch from US Route 50 near Harmon Road.
Traffic on Nevada State Route 116 is advised the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge is 12 miles ahead.
Nevada State Route 116 terminates at Postmile 10.48 at the Stillwater town site. Stillwater has a couple remaining residences left and a general town plot is identifiable.
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