In this weeks edition, we take another look at the business district of McGill, Nevada around 1940, this time looking south. Starting on the left, there is the McGill Candy Shop followed by McGill Cafe. Parked behind the young woman in front of the cafe is a 1938 Buick Century Coupe Model 66. Next is the White Pine County Sheriff’s Office followed by the L. C. Company store building, which may have been Cononelo’s dry goods store at the time. The last identifiable business in the old photo is the old J. C. Penney’s store. Several buildings beyond the Penney’s appears to be a bar which may have been the Victory Club, though it may have operated under a different name in the 1940’s. Moving to the right side of the street we can see Cyprus Hall with its bar on the ground floor. Barely visible next door is the McGill Theater. There were two smaller businesses next to that, and finally was Nash Storage which had a Texaco gas pump out front. Houses lined the road beyond that. Fun fact, at the time of this photo, the highway through McGill was both US Highway 50 and US Highway 93. Highway 50 wouldn’t be realigned to its present route until 1952 leaving Highway 93 as the main drag through McGill.
In the modern photo, taken October 19, 2024, again one can see the scene has changed significantly, but still has many similarities to the 1940 photo. Once again starting on the left, the candy store is gone, but McGill Cafe still stands although currently vacant. The old Sheriff substation is still there as well, though like the Cafe, it too stands unused. The L. C. Company building is gone, but the IOOF Hall (which is there, just not visible in the 1940 photo) and the former J. C. Penney store still stand. It appears that the buildings between Penney’s and the bar are now (or may have always been) homes, but all are present as is the old Victory Club as it was last known when in business. Although hard to see in either photo, the building that was most recently known as the Frosty Stand is still there but like much of the rest of McGill’s business district, is closed and fallen into disrepair. On the right, the Cyprus Hall still stands but the bar is now known as the McGill Club. The theater still stands, albeit vacant, falling victim to a stalled restoration effort that is now uncertain as the owner moves out of the area. Next door to the theater is Marie’s Cafe, which unfortunately closed as a result of the pandemic and is likely not going to open again. Prior to Marie’s, it was Jim’s Discount Lumber. Next was Cononelo’s Furniture. That building was used for storage for a number of years after Cononelo’s moved to Ely, but is now a private residence. The old Nash Storage building became Standard Market sometime in the 1960’s, but that is a best guess. Like most of the rest of the business district, that building now also sits vacant.
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