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Annie Oht wearing a traditional Paiute (Nuwuvi) basket hat, circa 1893-1904.
Kiel Family Photographs. MS-00838. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Beckley House
Originally on 4th Street 299 N 4th and Stewart, currently preserved at the Clark County Museum

Built in 1912 originally

The Beckley House, originally built in 1912 and now preserved at The Clark County Museum, was home to William and Leva Beckley, who were among the first early non-Native residents and business owners in Las Vegas.

A cornerstone of their household was Annie Oht, a Southern Paiute (Nuwuvi) woman who worked with the Beckleys as a laundress and domestic laborer. Oht's legacy reflects the broader presence of Indigenous people in the Great Basin, whose work, knowledge, and craft have deeply contributed to the development of early Las Vegas into the booming city it is today.

People:

• Annie Oht**
  • Annie Oht was one of the first Southern Paiutes to live primarily in the Las Vegas area after the city’s founding in 1905. She worked as a domestic worker and laundress for the Beckley family. Her surname, Oht, means burden basket in the Nuwüvi language. Native women in early Las Vegas used, traded, and sold their basketmaking work. Laundresses mostly toiled outdoors, with clothes boiled, scrubbed and rinsed by hand. Annie often brought her daughters, Edith and Marie, to the Beckley House. When either child fell ill, Leva Beckley often provided medicine, reflecting the mutual care and cooperation that shaped life in early Las Vegas.
  • **Researcher Note: Verification of exact birth and death dates has not been confirmed due to limitations in the archival record.

• William Beckley (1877-1965)
  • Born in Switzerland, William Beckley immigrated to Illinois as a child. Motivated by a news report about the railroad's expansion into Las Vegas, he and his brother, Jake Beckley, traveled westward to seek new prospects. He later convinced his sweetheart, Leva Grimes, to join him and start a new life in the growing desert town. In 1908, he opened Beckley’s Men's Furnishings in a canvas tent before moving to Hotel Nevada (now the Golden Gate) at Fremont and Main Street.

Learn More:

• https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/step-back-in-time-at-clark-county-museum-this-fall/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb1Qs84gMp0
• https://www.clarkcountynv.gov/adobe/assets/urn:aaid:aem:ff57a8fc-0456-4c57-b86f-bd0c91c1af9e/original/as/beckley-2024.pdf

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The Beckley House, preserved at Heritage Street in the Clark County Museum since 1979.

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Will and Leva Beckley's children, Bruce and Virginia, stand in front of the Beckley house on 4th Street, circa 1928.
Beckley Family Photograph Collection. PH-00148. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Beckley's Men's Furnishings was one of the very first men's clothing stores in budding Las Vegas, circa 1900-1925.
Charles Thomas-Perry Photographs. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

For questions or comments, please reach out to the Clark County Museum at ccmuseum@clarkcountynv.gov.