Las Vegas: history and heritage

About Las Vegas: history and heritage

By the ULTIMATE Las Vegas Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Las Vegas exists because of water in the desert. Artesian springs made a green valley, las vegas, the meadows, on the route across the Mojave; the railroad made a town; the building of Hoover Dam brought workers; and the legalisation of gambling in Nevada in 1931 turned a desert stop into the entertainment capital of the world.

At a glance

Population: 641,903 in the City of Las Vegas and 2,265,461 in Clark County (US Census Bureau, 2020 Census).

Names: Las Vegas, Spanish for “the meadows”, after the springs on the Old Spanish Trail.

A green meadow in the Mojave became the entertainment capital of the world.

Shaped by: the Southern Paiute, the Old Spanish Trail, the railroad (1905), Hoover Dam (1931–1936), the legalisation of gambling in 1931 and the post-war casino resorts.

The Southern Paiute

The Southern Paiute lived in the valley and the surrounding mountains for centuries, using its springs; the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe has land in the city today.

The meadows

In the 1830s traders on the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe and Los Angeles named the springs Las Vegas. In 1855 Mormon missionaries built a fort here; its remains are now the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park, the oldest Euro-American structure in Nevada.

A railroad town

On 15 May 1905 the railroad auctioned lots in a new townsite on the line between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, and Las Vegas was born. Fremont Street, downtown, was its main street, and still glows under its canopy of lights.

The dam and the casinos

In 1931 Nevada legalised gambling, and the same year work began on Hoover Dam, 30 miles away, completed in 1936. Thousands of workers spent their wages downtown. In the 1940s resorts began to rise on Highway 91 south of the city: the Strip.

The Strip

The post-war decades brought the Flamingo, the Sands and the Rat Pack, and the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign (1959). From 1989 the Mirage began the age of the mega-resort, followed by Bellagio, the Venetian and Wynn. The Neon Museum preserves the city’s great signs, and the Sphere (2023) added a new landmark.

Our advice: see the Neon Museum’s boneyard after dark, walk Fremont Street, and take a day trip to Hoover Dam to see the engineering that helped make the city possible.

Sources

Population: US Census Bureau, 2020 Census. History: Nevada State Parks (Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort); The Neon Museum; US Bureau of Reclamation (Hoover Dam); Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; Nevada State Museum.

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