Then and now: Kingsbury Grade not always a paved road
Highway 50-Kingsbury in the late 1950s. Photo/UNR Library
In the 1950s, Highway 50 at Stateline was a two-lane mountain road where it met unpaved Kingsbury Grade, then labeled State Route 19, a twisting dirt road going to the Carson Valley. It was gated at the Daggett Pass summit for winter closure until the 1960s.
The two white diagonal streaks between the junction and the lake are today’s Kahle Drive and 4-H Road. Just left of the highway junction is Casino De Paris or Oliver’s Club in Tahoe Village. Early gaming endeavors at the state line appear at the right edge of the photo.
Highway 50 remained as two lanes in this area until 1957. Kingsbury Grade was paved only part-way up and only on the Tahoe side by then.
Development surrounds Highway 50-Kingsbury Grade. Photo/Google Earth
Today, Kahle Drive and 4-H Road are enclosed by various businesses, including Lakeside Inn, plus diverse housing in Oliver Park and Tahoe Shores.
On the north side of Kahle Drive is Rabe Meadow and the Lam Watah walking trail to Nevada Beach. The large center green area is Edgewood Golf, seen nationwide every July via NBC-TV coverage of the American Century Championship golf tournament. The Nevada portion of the loop road encircles the Stateline casinos along Highway 50.
All of Kingsbury Grade was paved to the Carson Valley floor in 1967. Then it was realigned to join Foothill Road about three miles south from its original junction near Mueller Lane
A sign captures the road’s history. Photo/Bill Kingman
Kingsbury Grade was renamed State Route 207 in 1976. Today it handles an annual average daily traffic count up to 10,000 vehicles daily, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. Highway 50 in the same area counts up to 22,000 vehicles daily, according to NDOT.
— Bill Kingman
I recall the late Flip Brandy, publisher of the old Lake Tahoe News, saying he was offered most of the land on Kingsbury Grade for $25,000 sometime in the 1940’s or 50’s.
Bill, Wasn’t that meadow you mentioned once a landing strip? A lady came by here once told me that her uncle would buzz over the house in his airplane to let the Tahoe family know he was coming in for a landing and come out to pick him up in the family car.
Also Bill I want thank you again for your “Fireside Chat” out at Camp Richardson.Excellent presentation! Looking forward to the next one. Old Long Skiis
If you walk the trail at NV beach there is signage regarding the old airport/landing strip, Old Long Skiis.