City considers ensuring public access

Aaron D. Treadway owned and ran one of the area's first parks. It was part of his ranch, and he charged people - often travelers riding the Virginia & Truckee Railroad - for the privilege of visiting it, according to Guy Rocha, state archivist.

The sale of the old Carson-Tahoe Hospital property, however, might result in Treadway Park no longer being available to the public.

City officials are trying to determine whether the city once owned it by searching records, and are looking at ways they might be able to continue allowing access to residents.

Negotiations for sale of the old hospital property should continue for at least a couple of more months, according to Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center.

"I want to make sure - if property is sold - citizens have the benefit of the park remaining public property," said Supervisor Pete Livermore. "It has historical value."

This site includes the park among its roughly 7.8 total acres. If it wasn't owned by the medical center before, it became its property a few years ago, according to a hospital spokesperson.

The medical buildings and land used today for outpatient services - now called the Carson Tahoe Specialty Medical Center - were transferred to the hospital when it became private, said attorney Mark Pavlakis.

"That includes the park," he said.

Near the intersection of John and Minnesota streets southeast of the old Carson-Tahoe Hospital building, Treadway looks like a small green area that belongs with the hospital. It sits next to the hospital parking lot, and has some benches and a lot of cottonwoods.

The hospital has been taking care of the park for years.

Livermore, who is also on the hospital board and Parks and Recreation Commission, estimates this arrangement began more than 25 years ago.

An effort spearheaded by Tom Collier, former head of Carson-Tahoe, attracted volunteers to beautify the park, because in the late 1970s "it was in pretty sad shape," Livermore said.

One question the city has is how residential-construction taxes could have been allocated for improvements during the mid 1980s if it wasn't owned by the city. RCT money can only be used on city-owned properties.

"The city should take it back, embrace it, and recognize it" as a historic site, Rocha said.

Treadway Park used to be much larger than it is now, which is less than one acre, and has historic attributes, such as serving as a practice area for the military during the Spanish-American War.

Treadway was a Mexican War veteran born in Connecticut in 1815, according to a newspaper article written in 1893.

The west side has some of the area's older cottonwoods.

The man known affectionately as "Farmer Treadway" started planting the trees on his property during the 1860s, Rocha said.

Treadway died at his Carson City ranch in 1903.

The issue could be brought to the commission within the next few weeks, Livermore added.

"It shouldn't cost a tremendous amount of money to maintain Treadway," Rocha added.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.