Nevada Theatre

Built in 1865. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. 13 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1888.

From the record

“The Nevada Theatre, also known as the Cedar Theatre, located in downtown Nevada City, California, is California's oldest existing theater building. Its principal periods of significance were 1850-1874, 1875-1899, 1900-1924, and 1925-1949.”
Wikipedia article Nevada Theatre, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 22 National Register listings published here for Nevada County · listed in 1973 · category: Building · built in 1865.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. Broad and Bridge Sts., Nevada City, 95959
When was it listed? March 1973
Category. building
Census division. Nevada City
When was it built? 1865
National Register reference number. 73000417 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1888 to 2000

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 112 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Nevada Theatre, surveyed 2000

Topographic sheet covering Nevada Theatre, surveyed 1888

Fires near this property

719 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 719 fires within 5 miles of Nevada Theatre between 1992 and 2020, burning about 2,570 acres in total. 12 started naturally. 28 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	288
Debris and open burning	169
Equipment and vehicle use	117
Misuse of fire by a minor	36
Smoking	34
Arson/incendiarism	28
Power generation/transmission/distribution	20
Natural	12
Recreation and ceremony	12
Other causes	3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2019	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit	SNMH CRISIS STABILIZATION
9 September 2000	Misuse of fire by a minor	under an acre	Central California District	ADAMS
9 September 1996	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit	CAREY
8 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Central California District	UNNAMED FIRE 1886
7 September 2020	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit	HWY 20 / DORSEY DR
7 September 2019	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit	5 MILE
7 September 2014	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8.0 acres	Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit	PASQUALE
6 September 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection	not named

Every fire recorded in Nevada County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 809 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 809 workings within 5 miles of Nevada Theatre: 406 past producers, 295 occurrences, 87 unknowns, 11 producers. 11 still produce. What was taken out: Gold, Chromium, Copper, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Brunswick	Gold, Zinc, Lead, Copper, Silver	Past Producer	Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Canada Hill	Gold, Silver, Copper, Zinc, Lead, Antimony, Arsenic, Tin	Past Producer	Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite, Stibnite
Champion Con Qtz	Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc	Past Producer	Underground
Empire Star	Gold, Lead, Arsenic, Zinc	Unknown
Gold Hill	Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc	Past Producer	Chalcopyrite, Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite
Grass Valley District	Tungsten, Gold	Producer	1915
Green Lode	Gold, Lead, Silver	Past Producer	Unknown
Hussey	Copper, Lead, Silver, Gold	Past Producer
Mountaineer	Gold, Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper	Past Producer	Chalcopyrite, Gold, Pyrite
Murchie	Gold, Lead, Copper, Silver, Zinc	Past Producer	Galena, Gold, Pyrite, Sphalerite

Every working recorded in Nevada County

Storms near this property

9 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Nevada City, the town this property stands in, in 9 storm reports between 2013 and 2025: 5 flood, 3 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2017	Flood	Nevada City	$3,560,000	HWY 49 was closed north of Nevada City, from Newtown Rd. to Tyler Foote Rd. due to multiple slip outs.
December 2016	Flood	Nevada City	$30,000	Roadway flooding was reported in Nevada County as creeks went over their banks. This also included flooding into a downtown Nevada City garage and into residential backyards.
February 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Nevada City	$10,000	A power outage in Nevada City affected 1,278 customers on the east side of Hwy 20 and another 54 on Cement Hill.
December 2025	Flood	Nevada City	-	California Highway Patrol reported a mud and rock slide on N Bloomfield Road between Wet Hill and Highway 49 from heavy rain.
February 2024	Flood	Nevada City	-	California Highway Patrol reported completely flooded roads along Highway 49 northbound at State Route 20.
September 2019	Heavy Rain	Nevada City	-	The public reported mud and rocks in the roadway on highway 49 between Nevada City on the South Yuba River. Time is estimated by radar.
September 2019	Flood	Nevada City	-	The local news paper reported that multiple members of the public were sending in reports of localized street flooding in Nevada City. This particular point does not necessarily reflect the exact location of flooding and the time of this report is based on radar and observations.
December 2016	Heavy Rain	Nevada City	-	An emergency manager in Nevada City reported heavy rain, 7.26 over 24 hours.
September 2013	Heavy Rain	Nevada City	-	Showers developed in a southwest to northeast line from southwest of Stockton area to northeast of Quincy. Trained spotters reported 1.50 of heavy rainfall as convective showers trained over the area all day long on Sept 2nd. Flooding was reported at 10:43 am PST along Highway 49 in Alta Sierra. Flooding was also reported at 10:46 am PST along Highways 49 and 20 in Nevada City. Rain continued through the early morning Sept. 3rd.

Every storm recorded in Nevada County

Maps showing this location

13 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1888 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
1891 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
1892 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
1894 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000
1895 USGS Smartsville quadrangle1:125000 - 6 printings
1948 USGS Nevada City quadrangle1:62500 - 4 printings
1948 USGS Nevada City quadrangle1:24000 - 4 printings
1950 USGS Nevada City quadrangle1:24000
1958 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1960 USGS Chico quadrangle1:250000
1993 USGS Yuba City quadrangle1:100000
1995 USGS Nevada City quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
2000 USGS Nevada City quadrangle1:24000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Nevada City Firehouse No. 2	under 500 feet	1974
Aaron A. Sargent House	under 500 feet	1980
Nevada City Downtown Historic District	under 500 feet	1985
National Exchange Hotel	0.1 miles	1973
Nevada City Free Public Library	0.2 miles	1990
Ott's Assay Office	0.2 miles	1975

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 73000417 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Nevada County	All 22 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.