The building to the left, once known as the Philadelphia House, was built in 1866 by the Combination Silver Mining Company of New York from native stone taken from a nearby quarry. It served as headquarters for mine operations, living quarters for the superintendent, and for a brief time a temporary sheriff's office and courthouse during Belmont's early glory days, when the town grew to several thousand people and over a 20 year span produced 15,000,000 dollars in minerals. Later the building housed various residents, including Rose Walter, a tall, tough woman with severe blue eyes who had been born in Barley Creek, Nevada, and had lived in Belmont as a young girl. She married Jack, a miner who died of silicosis in the early 1950's, and after his death she stayed in Belmont for another thirty years, eventually becoming its only permanent resident and a self-appointed protector. Carrying a .44 caliber pistol, she killed rattlesnakes and discouraged scavengers from taking what remained of the town, saying that the old houses still belonged to someone somewhere. Known as the Belmont Guardian for her vigilant defense of town property, Rose Walter died in 1987 at the age of 93.