Who Was Moran Street Named For?

On July 24th, 1960, the article titled “They Gave Their Names To the Streets of Reno” by Ethel Zimmer ran in the Reno Gazette. The article was part of a series covering past residents of Reno and the streets named for them. The street in this article was Moran Street and the article covered the life of Judge Thomas (Barney) Moran.

An Irish immigrant, Judge Moran came to America in 1878, when he was ten years old. He lived in Cleveland, Ohio and came to Reno by way of Chicago, Winslow, Arizona and Carson City, Nevada. Along the way he studied Law and worked as a telegraph operator and train dispatcher, while he built his law practice. He was, undisputely, a memorable figure in Reno history. There are many references to him in the local papers of his time. He is certainly someone a street could be named after. However, Moran street may not have been named for him.

I first began to suspect Moran street may not have been named for Judge Moran when I bought my house on Moran and began to research it's history and past residents. There are records referring to my house as far back as 1909. Past residents have told me it was built in 1906 and it is clearly visible in an aerial photo taken from a captive airship in 1908. My research puts the year our home was built in as 1907.

This would make sense as my house is in the Wells Addition to Reno, which was approved in 1905. It's Queen Anne style dates it to the turn of the century. The original application for the Wells addition shows Moran street is an extension of an existing street. This indicates that Moran street was in existence prior to 1905. Further research shows Moran Street in existence on a map drawn by H. E. Stewart in 1900.

Barney Moran lived in Nevada prior to 1900. Up until 1892 he was a telegraph dispatcher in Wadsworth at which time he left to take a job as a dispatcher in Fresno, California. He returned sometime in 1894, but to Wadsworth, not Reno. In 1906 he became District Attorney for Washoe County. However, the colorful part of his career didn't really take off until he was elected to the post of Washoe County District Judge in 1911. Since this is well after the date that Moran Street first shows up on a map, it is doubtful Moran Street was named for him.

So if Moran Street was not named for Judge Moran, who was it named for? My research has found a few possibilities. There are two which stand out.

The first is Jacob Moran who opened a saloon on Virginia Street in 1876. He was also known as Jake Moran or Uncle Jake. In addition his last name sometimes appears in local papers as Muren.

Besides being a saloon operator, he may have built and opened a hotel in Reno on the corner of Lake and Commercial row in 1879. I have found evidence that he may have bought a third establishment, the Ocean Spray Saloon in or around 1884.

In 1882 there is a reference to Mrs. Jacob Moran dying suddenly at home. The article states “she lived on the south side of the river near the V&T track.” Moran Street is located south of the Truckee river and crosses Holcomb Street, which parallels the old V&T line. There is also a reference in 1882 to a Josie Moran (possibly his daughter) as a student at the South Side School. The old South Side School is clearly visible in the above mentioned aerial photo and sits just two blocks from where present day Moran Street is located.

After 1884, direct references to Jacob Moran are hard to find. This is in part, I believe to the great number of references to the Moran Brothers and other Morans that appear in the local papers during this period. There is a reference to the Washoe County Board of Commissioners granting Jacob Moran seven dollars of (tax?) relief in August 1894 and again in July of 1895.

The second possibility is Moran Street was named for the Moran Brothers, who ran the Moran Bank in New York city and were early investors in America's railroads. They took over the Nevada and California railroad in 1884 after the original owners failed to pay the interest on their bonds. They changed the name to the Nevada and Oregon railroad (later the Nevada, California and Oregon), as they intended to extend the line to Oregon. It ran north from the Reno area into California. There is an article that lists “Messers. Moore, Woods, Wheeler and Moran” as traveling to Beckworth on the NC&O in 1881. Samuel Wheeler developed the Wells addition and it would be likely that, if he was associated with the Moran brothers, he might have named a street after them.

Even though they never achieved their dreams of a railroad line to Oregon, they did extend the line further into California. There was a stop in California at a town called Moran. It is possible that Moran, California may have been named for the Moran Brothers. If a town in California, may have been named for it's benefactors, why not a street in Reno? Reno certainly benefitted from the NC & O which transported lumber and supplies from Northern California to Reno for decades.

Of the possibilities I have researched, I believe Jacob Moran is the best candidate. He lived in Reno for many years during the late 1800's, he was a well known businessman with a least two establishments in town. At sometime, he lived south of the river. Josie Moran may have been his daughter and since she attended the old South Side, that shows the Morans lived somewhere near the present day Moran St. In the “They Gave Their Names To the Streets of Reno” series about Taylor street it states “When the town caught up with the Taylor place the street close by was named for the family.” In my opinion it also stands to reason that when the town caught up to where the Morans lived, the street nearest them was named Moran Street. In addition, many of the streets on the 1900 map were named for well known residents of Reno who lived in there prior to 1900 and Jacob Moran surely counts among them.

Ethel Zimmer, the author of the “They Gave Their Names To The Streets Of Reno” series, grew up in Franktown, Nevada, which is nearly twenty five miles south of Reno. She probably would not have known Jacob Moran, who died when she was eight years old. It would be natural for her to assume the Moran street was named for Judge Moran.

Jacob Moran died on March 13, 1899. There was no obituary telling the story of his life, only a small notice in the local papers reading “MORAN-In Reno. Nev., March 13,1899, Jacob Moran, a native of Germany, aged 80 years...” While the other Morans I have mentioned, and the ones I haven't, all contributed to the history of Reno, I believe the timing of the 1900 map, the evidence of Jacob Moran living south of the river and the fact that Jacob Moran was well known in Reno long before Judge Moran made his mark here, can only lead one to conclude that Moran Street was named for him.