Robbery on Ridge

RENO HISTORY True Crime on Ridge Street

On the evening of March 11, 1930, Bessie and Forrest Eccles were entertaining guests at their residence at 571 Ridge Street. Built with Reno’s characteristic patterned red brick, the Eccles family had lived in the Craftsman bungalow from the time it was constructed in 1919. For more than a decade, the house was a comfortable sanctuary for the family. All of that would change on this chilly March evening.

By all accounts, the weather on that day in March was lovely: hinting at the spring to come, it was sunny with temperatures in the 60s. The Eccles invited four guests for dinner: Forrest’s mother, Emma Simmons; Bessie’s sister, Kate Moore; and friends George and Katherine Gunzendorfer. After dinner, the ladies retreated to play cards while the men conversed, leisurely whiling away the hours.

A few minutes before eleven o’clock, the heavy, wooden front door unexpectedly opened, revealing a tall, slim figure in a gray suit and cap. The figure, a man, strolled into the house and pointed a pistol at Mr. Eccles and Mr. Gunzendorfer, demanding they throw up their hands. Mr. Gunzendorfer tried to move to protect the ladies, but the assailant demanded he stay in place. The men handed over the money they had on them, and the robber fled.

An investigation ensued. A few days after the robbery, under-sheriff Joe L. Kirkley arrested John Francis McStravick on the Virginia Street Bridge. McStravick matched the victims’ description and was positively identified by the dinner party guests. However, he had multiple witnesses confirm his alibi that he was gambling downtown when the crime took place. The jury acquitted him in May 1930.

Three months after the incident, on June 29, 1930, Forrest Eccles pulled a building permit for a nineroom brick house around the corner at 245 Lee Avenue. Perhaps the Eccles were shaken by the incident, prompting the move to a more fortress-like domicile, or maybe they just wanted a grander house

fitting with Forrest’s status as president of the Reno Grocer Company and founder of the Reno Furniture Company. Designed by prominent Reno architect Frederic DeLongchamps and built at a cost

Reno Evening Gazette, May 21, 1930

of $25,000, the Mediterranean Revival edifice boasted a little more cachet than their more modest—though beautiful—brick bungalow down the street. By all accounts, it must have been satisfactory, as Forrest and Bessie remained at 245 Lee Avenue for the next three decades.

ZoAnn Campana is an architectural historian and historic preservation consultant. The Old Southwest is close to her heart, as she wrote the National Register Nomination for the Newlands Historic District in 2016. During the summer, she leads Historic Reno Preservation Society walking tours through the neighborhood.

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