One of the friendliest, liveliest and most colorful of all California Gold Rush towns!

In recent years, the Nevada City lifestyle has attracted artists, writers, musicians and retirees as well as small business people and high-tech entrepreneurs who are able to locate their enterprises away from the pressures of big city life.

Nevada City has prepared for its future by preserving its past.

Today, Nevada City has a population of just 2,800 but it wasn't always so peaceful. In 1850, there were 10,000 boisterous souls living here, and in the general election of 1856, the 2,082 ballots cast in Nevada City were exceeded in the state only by Sacramento and San Francisco.

People visiting here for the first time are struck by the old mining town appearance

In 1985 the entire downtown area was registered as a national historic landmark. The historic district, including 93 buildings, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is considered to be among the best-preserved towns of the West.

But Nevada City is more than a historical site to see. It is a vibrant,
thriving community and entertainment capital of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Visitors enjoy fine restaurants and lodgings, live theatre and music, specialty shopping, galleries and museums.

Nevada City developed along the banks of Deer Creek in 1849. Early
reports told of miners who pulled a pound of paydirt a day from gold deposits along the creek. The town was first known as Deer Creek Dry Diggins and later as Caldwell's Upper Store. Several major fires in the 1850s and early 1860s convinced the townspeople to use more brick in rebuilding their structures.

Civic leaders named the town Nevada, Spanish for "snow-covered," in 1850 and the next year the newly incorporated city became the Nevada County seat. The town's name was later changed to Nevada City after its title was borrowed by the state to the east.

Nevada City has had its share of firsts and famous people. Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover lived and worked here as a gold miner in his younger days. Three former U.S. senators, George Hearst, A. A. Sargent and William Morris Stewart, lived in Nevada City.

While many California gold rush towns have disappeared into the pages of history, Nevada City has rebounded time and again to emerge as a unique blend of yesterday and today. Nevada City's current cultural and economic renaissance is again proof of the town's indomitable spirit.