1. George Wingfield was a Nevada cattleman and gambler who became a financier, investor and one of the state's most powerful economic and political figures during the period from 1909 to 1932.
17 Facts About George Wingfield
1. 2.
George Wingfield was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1876 to Thomas Yates Wingfield and his wife, the former Martha Matilda Spradling.
3.
Meanwhile, Thomas Wingfield's family moved with his extended family to Oregon when young George was five years old, and he would become a buckaroo on a ranch in Burns.
4.
George Wingfield married, but after he made his first fortune in 1906, as discussed below, his wife, May, filed for divorce; the couple received an annulment.
5.
George Wingfield then married a divorced woman, Maud Azil Murdoch Hamlin of San Francisco, and they had a son, George Wingfield Jr.
6.
In 1899, George Wingfield decided to leave the cattle business and opened a saloon in Golconda, in Humboldt County, but sold it by 1901.
7.
George Wingfield used the proceeds to travel south, arriving in Tonopah, then the county seat of Nye County and a town of about 250 residents, which was booming because Jim Butler had discovered silver ore and established a mine nearby in 1900.
8.
At first, George Wingfield played poker and dealt cards for faro at the Tonopah Club, but by 1902, he and fellow gambler John Hennessey took over the club and soon made $200,000 in profits.
9.
In 1908, George Wingfield moved to Reno and became active in politics, banking, ranching, and hotel-keeping.
10.
George Wingfield returned to his cattle-ranching roots, operating a ranch and dairy farm in Fallon.
11.
George Wingfield cultivated friendships in both political parties, and his businesses survived the 1923 fire which devastated Goldfield.
12.
George Wingfield worked to legalize gambling, illegal in many states, especially California and other destinations easily reachable by railroad.
13.
In 1928, George Wingfield was elected to the University Board of Regents for the University of Nevada.
14.
Much of George Wingfield's fortune was lost during the Great Depression.
15.
In 1931, $500,000 in state funds were missing and George Wingfield was accused of embezzling them.
16.
George Wingfield put up the money himself, but soon declared bankruptcy.
17.
Red Hawk at George Wingfield Springs was completed in 2005 and named after George Wingfield by its developer, Harvey Whittemore.