Overton in Clark County, Nevada — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Lost City Museum
Photographed By Karen Key, October 2, 2007
1. Lost City Museum Marker
Inscription.
Lost City Museum. . This property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Museum was built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps to display artifacts of prehistoric Native American cultures.
This property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Museum was built in 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corps to display artifacts of prehistoric Native American cultures.
Location. 36° 31.887′ N, 114° 26.467′ W. Marker is in Overton, Nevada, in Clark County. Marker can be reached from South Moapa Valley Boulevard. The marker is located inside the Lost City Museum, which is open daily from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. Admission is $5, free for members and children under 17. Admission includes viewing the museum galleries and two twenty minute films (optional). Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 721 S Moapa Valley Boulevard, Overton NV 89040, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Existing today as a 30 mile-long series of adobe ruins, this "Lost City" was once the home of an ancient Anasazi Indian civilization. Beginning with the basket makers (300 B.C.-A.D.700) & followed by the the pueblos (A.D.700-1150) this valley was inhabited by a sedentary population of Anasazi farmers. They grew corn beans, squash and cotton on the valley floor (the high ground was used for housing) watered by the Muddy River which sources at Warm Springs, 25 miles north of here. Living in pithouses and later multi-room adobe pueblos, these people maintained a rich culture as manifest by archaeological records they left behind. The Lost City Museum was built in 1935 to preserve the remains of this great civilization which suddenly disappeared CA. A.D.1150, possibly due to severe, widespread drought.
Lost City Museum
Photographed By Karen Key, October 2, 2007
4. Anasazi Pueblos (located behind museum)
These pueblo houses and storage units were reconstructed upon prehistoric foundations excavated by the C.C.C. in 1935.
Photographed By Karen Key, October 2, 2007
5. Building a Museum
Part of the CCC work assignment was to build a museum so visitors could view the artifacts. $5,900 was allocated by Congress for construction. M.R. Harrington designed the museum, and with the CCC crews providing the labor, construction began in 1934. Local material was used to make sun-dried adobe brick and stone was collected in the Valley of Fire for the floors. Even before the walls were complete the sign was hung with the original museum name: Boulder Dam Park Museum.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 8, 2007, by Karen Key of Sacramento, California. This page has been viewed 1,740 times since then and 8 times this year. Last updated on March 1, 2020. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on December 8, 2007, by Karen Key of Sacramento, California. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.