How Was Las Vegas Formed?

Las Vegas is a desert metropolis built on vice, gambling, and entertainment, hence the Entertainment Capital of the World nickname. Within just a century, this city grew to draw in millions of visitors annually and massive wealth. Did you know that railroad workers and ranchers founded the city? Well, let me give you a small history lesson on Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Prehistory

Canyon petroglyphs show evidence of human presence in southern Nevada for over 10,000 years. The Paiute tribe lived in the area as early as A.D. 700. The first person of European ancestry to enter Las Vegas was Rafael Rivera, who scouted the area in 1821 as one of Antonio Armijo’s expedition. They aimed to open it up as a trade route. It would be between California and New Mexico, and it’d be called Old Spanish Trail. Rivera was actually the one that named the valley Las Vegas, “the meadows,” because of its spring-watered grasses.

Birth of a City

The San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad arrived in Vegas in 1905. It connected the city with the Pacific and the main railroad networks in the country. Railroad backers auctioned Downtown Vegas, and Las Vegas became incorporated in 1911. In 1910, gambling was made illegal again. But, of course, the practice continued in illicit casinos and speakeasies. It was legalized again in 1931, and by this time, the Mob controlled Las Vegas. The construction of the massive Boulder Dam, later Hoover Dam, began in 1931. It drew thousands of workers, and it led to the opening up of many showgirl and casino avenues on Fremont Street. It was completed in 1936, and the city received cheap hydroelectric power, which then lit the flashing signs of Fremont’s “Glitter Gulch.” Fun Fact: In the early 1900s, Nevada was where unhappy couples came to get a quick divorce. Las Vegas then adopted the concept of an even quicker marriage without the required waiting period or blood tests. The first wedding chapel in the Strip was opened in 1942 and was called the Little Church of the West.

The Mob, the Strip, and Glamour

El Rancho Vegas Resort opened in 1941. Other hotel casinos began to open up after that, and most adopted the Old West (regional) themes that were very popular on Fremont Street. Bugsy Siegel, the mobster, opened the Flamingo in 1946 on Las Vegas Blvd, a stretch of road nicknamed the Strip. He desired a Hollywood theme and enabled many celebrities to book lounges in the resort. He was assassinated in 1947, but his vision for Vegas lived on. In the 50s and 60s, mobsters built great hotels like the Riviera, New Frontier, Sands, and Sahara. The funds from organized crime, together with flows from Princeton University endowments, the Mormon Church, union pension funds, and even Wall Street banks, triggered the city's development. Tourists began to flock to the resorts; by 1954, the annual arrival was over 8 million. They mostly came to watch performers like Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. They also came to gamble in the many gaming tables and slot machines. A military boom also contributed to the building of the city when World War II and Cold War facilities sprouted up in the city. The Nevada Test Site was constructed, and over 100 nuclear bombs were detonated there.

Mega – Casinos

When Howard Hughes checked in at the Desert Inn in 1966, he never left. Eventually, he bought the hotel and spent over $300 million more in buying and refurbishing other hotels in Sin City. He ushered in a new era of corporate conglomerates, displacing the Mob. Steve Wynn opened the Mirage in 1989, becoming the city’s first mega-resort. Over the next two decades, the Strip was transformed. Old casinos were brought down, and massive complexes were brought up. They took aesthetic cues from ancient Rome, Paris, Egypt, and Venice. They emulated New York and other glamorous places. Entertainment and casinos remain the major employers in Las Vegas. As visitors and resorts increase, the size of the city also grows.