Oldest living mayor led Carson through major changes

James Robertson left his furniture store every day at 3 p.m. to campaign door to door.

He said he had to.

He had been in Carson City for two years in 1963 when other business owners encouraged him to run for mayor against an incumbent.

Robertson, the last living former mayor to serve before Carson City and Ormsby County consolidated in 1969, said he's enjoyed watching the city grow since his six years in office.

The city's new mayor, Bob Crowell, will help the city just like the mayor before him, Marv Teixeira, did, Robertson said.

"Teixeira was something else, but he did a good job," he said of the former mayor.

A newspaper article written before Robertson left office described him as "a proud man, but not one inclined to blow his own horn."

His wife, Nancy Lee Robertson, said that was an accurate description.

Robertson, 82, says working together with the rest of the city was the only way he could get projects done, like consolidating Carson City and Ormsby County to reduce waste and improving downtown by moving parking off the main street.

This shows the need to keep elected city seats nonpartisan, he said.

"There's not a place for party politics in local government," he said.

Robertson became the last living mayor to serve before the consolidation when Caro Miller Pendergraft, mayor from 1949 to 1951, died last year.

State Archivist Guy Rocha said Robertson served as mayor during a transitional time. Carson City in the 1960s lost the title of the country's smallest state capital to Montpelier, Vt., saw the Carson Mall built and had most streets paved for the first time.

Robertson also opened Carson City by leading the call to move parking off downtown Carson Street and clean up the area, Rocha said.

People thought a bypass would take traffic away from downtown, he said.

But Robertson said some businesses also complained that moving parking off downtown Carson Street hurt business.

He said in a 1969 newspaper article that was part of the reason he didn't run again when new elections were held after the consolidation.

Robertson later served on Nevada Gaming Commission, and lost a run for state Assembly in 1968.

"I didn't make it, which was fortunate for me," he said.

The loss gave him more time to expand his furniture business to Reno and Lake Tahoe, he said.

His son, Bruce Robertson, said his father was a good listener and a creative thinker who had a vision for the city.

The city, which grew from about 8,000 people to 15,000 people in the 1960s, was smaller then, he said, but his father had the leadership to move it forward.

- Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.