Harrington, Elizabeth, 1898-1992

Elizabeth Harrington was born January 25, 1898 in Salida, Colorado. She married Arthur Harrington, a bookkeeper with the Empire Zinc Company of New Jersey. In 1916, they moved to Southern Nevada, as the Empire Zinc Company owned the Potosi Mine just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. After the Potosi mine closed around 1920, the Harrington family moved to Hanover, New Mexico. They later returned to Las Vegas where Arthur Harrington started the Harrington Insurance Company. He also was a founding member of the Las Vegas chapter of the Kiwanis Club, a fraternal organization for businessmen, and the Bank of Nevada in February 1926 and May 1941, respectively. He served as the Kiwanis Club's first secretary and was named secretary of the board for the Bank of Nevada.

In 1946, the Harrington family moved to Santa Monica, California due to Elizabeth Harrington's declining health. Arthur Harrington died in California in 1961. From 1975 to 1979, Elizabeth wrote a series of historical articles from her personal knowledge and experience living in Southern Nevada. These articles were published in the Nevadan, the former Sunday supplement magazine to the Las Vegas-Review Journal. Her articles described life in early Las Vegas and at the Potosi mine, detailing aviation, Helldorado parades, banking, hotels, and medicine.

Elizabeth Harrington died in 1992.

Source:

Elizabeth Harrington Collection of Essays, 1975-1979. MS-00220. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.