Reno, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World", is a city in the northwest part of the United States, near the Nevada-California border, approximately 22 miles from Lake Tahoe. Reno, the county seat and main city of Washoe County, is located in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, in the Truckee River valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, and is known for its casino and tourist business. Because of large-scale investments from Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Area companies such as Amazon, Tesla, Panasonic, Microsoft, Apple, and Google, the Reno metro area (along with neighboring city Sparks) occupies a valley colloquially known as the Truckee Meadows, which has become a new major technology center in the United States.
In 1926, the Reno Arch was built on Virginia Street to advertise the 1927 Transcontinental Highways Exposition. The words "Nevada's Transcontinental Highways Exposition" and the dates of the exposition were carved into the arch. The Reno City Council agreed to maintain the arch as a permanent downtown entryway after the exposition, and Mayor E.E. Roberts requested Reno residents to submit a motto for the arch. There was no appropriate slogan until a $100 reward was given, and on March 14, 1929, G.A. Burns of Sacramento was named the winner with "Reno, the Biggest Little City in the World."
