The Fourth Ward School is one of the finest surviving examples of Victorian public school architecture in the American West. Built in 1876 in Second Empire style, the four-storey wooden building dominates the south end of Virginia City's main street. It now operates as a museum documenting both the school's history and the broader story of the Comstock Lode.
The building itself is remarkable — the construction quality and scale reflect the enormous wealth that flowed through Virginia City in the 1870s, when the mines were producing silver at rates that made Nevadans among the wealthiest people in North America. The museum includes exhibits on daily life in a mining boomtown, the Chinese community that formed a significant part of the population, and the rapid decline that followed the silver crash.