[2][3] Virginia City was the prototype for future frontier mining boom towns, with its industrialization and urbanization.

The town is laid out in a grid pattern 1,500 feet below the top of Mount Davidson.

Virginia City was the first silver rush town, and the first to intensely apply large-scale industrial mining methods.

[4][5] After a year in existence, the boomtown had 42 saloons, 42 stores, 6 restaurants, 3 hotels, and 868 dwellings to house a town residency of 2,345.

[2] The National Register of Historic Places inventory nomination form lists 65 contributing properties in the historic district,[9] including: Located in Virginia City, Storey County, Nevada: Located in other villages in the district: