Schiappacasse's Past
Although it’s small, Schiappacasse Park serves as a reminder and pays tribute to what was once a vast network of farms and ranches that formerly dotted the Truckee Meadows.
Once known as the Schiappacasse Ranch, the spread was a typical, but modest ranch, sitting on land adjacent to its closest neighbors, the Caughlins. The family, whose patriarch Agostino, hailing from Neirone, Italy, occupied the property during the 1890s and into the early 1900s; unfortunately, there is no longer any trace of the home, but early pictures show that it was one-and-one-half stories tall with a full basement and clapboard siding. According to research, the final few acres of the ranch was sold in 1995.
Bordering the south bank of the Truckee, the 67-acre ranch fronted the well-used Old Verdi Road or South Verdi Road, better known now as Mayberry Street. Surprisingly, today only 3-acres of the original parcel remain free of housing.
Now that you know just a bit more about the Schiappacasse family, it might be a good time to lace up your shoes and head to the series of parks along the Truckee River and imagine what the area might have looked like in the late 1800s. The history of the trail and the park system in the Truckee Meadows is fascinating and definitely worth a closer look.
