Walking Box Ranch
“You can't make history more interesting than the Walking Box Ranch. Built in 1931 by silent film legend, Clara Bow and her husband, cowboy-film star Rex Bell, the remarkably preserved ranch has the glamour of a Hollywood retreat and the grit of a working ranch."
Andy Kirk - Director of The Reid Public History Institute
The Walking Box Ranch is a remarkable historic property located an hour south of Las Vegas. Built by the silent screen star and her actor-turned-politician husband Rex Bell, the Ranch is one of the best surviving examples of large-scale desert ranching in the American Southwest. At its height in the 1940s, the ranch was upward of a half million acres.
Our public history program has been central in the restoration and interpretation of the historic property. More than 20 years ago, Institute Director Andy Kirk was awarded a Saving America’s Treasures Grant in 2004 to stabilize the house and conduct research toward a National Register listing. Students drafted the nomination and wrote the grant.
Since then, UNLV public history students have had a constant presence on the ranch, working across disciplinary boundaries with geologists, biologists, and botanists. They have cataloged the material culture found there, developed storage plans for 1930s Navajo rugs, and created K-12 educational programming and interpretive materials for the general public. We collaborate with the Bureau of Land Management and with the Ranch’s advocacy group, The Friends of Avi Kwa Ame.
