History of Las Vegas (in a Nutshell)
2
billion years ago
Present-day Nevada is under water.
10 million years ago
Nevada's mountain ranges take their present-day shapes.
1.5 million-10,000 years ago
Much of Nevada is covered with ice.
12,000 years ago
The earliest evidence of man in Nevada.
4,500 years ago
Indians known as Archaic or Desert People inhabit Nevada.
They are the ancestors of the Paiute people.
300 BC
Native Indians called the "basketmakers" inhabit the area. They use a spear-throwing stick, called "atlatl," to hunt big-horn sheep.
500 AD
The Anasazi, Navajo for "enemy ancestors," inhabit the
area.
1150
Pueblo Grande, near today's Overton, 70 miles NE of Las
Vegas, becomes the first ghost town in Nevada. It is unknown why this
center of the Anasazi civilization is suddenly deserted.
1000-1700
The nomadic Paiutes roam the future Las Vegas area.
1803
Thomas Jefferson negotiates the Louisiana purchase, a $15 million deal (less than 3 cents per acre), almost doubling the size of the US.
1826
Jedediah Smith, an American explorer, crosses the southern
tip of present-day Nevada and makes contact with the Paiutes. He is credited
as the first American to enter Nevada. (The first Caucasian
credited to first enter Nevada is British fur trader Peter Ogden.)
1829
Mexican trader Antonio Armijo, leading a 60-man party
along the Spanish Trail route, camps about 100 miles NE of present-day
Las Vegas. Rafael Rivera, a scout, leaves the party and discovers an area
with abundant vegetation and several natural springs. He is considered
the first non-Indian to set foot in the Las Vegas area. Las Vegas is Spanish
for "the meadows" or "fertile plains."
1843
Surveyor and cartographer John C. Fremont, sponsored by
the US government, and scout Kit Carson map the area.
1844
John C. Fremont camps at Las Vegas and describes the
area in a report. "We encamped at a camping ground called las
Vegas. The taste of the water is good, but rather too warm to be agreeable;
the temperature being 71 in the one, and 73 in the other [spring]. They,
however, afforded a delightful bathing place."
1845
20,000 copies of Fremont's report and a map are printed
and become a guide for future travelers through Nevada.
1846-47
The US and Mexico are at war.
1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed, and Mexico
cedes to the US ownership of land, a part of which will later become Nevada.
Mass migration to California starts following the news that gold was discovered
at Sutter's Fort.
1849
Dayton is the first settlement in Nevada.
1850
The Las Vegas area, because of its springs, is already
a popular rest stop for California-bound emigrants.
1852
Mormon missionary Hosen Stout stops at the Las Vegas springs
and writes about a "spring of pure water about blood heat."
1854
Congress establishes a mail route from Salt Lake City
to San Diego through Las Vegas.
1855
The first settlement in Las Vegas is established by 30
Mormons led by William Bringhurst. One of their goals is "to build
a fort there to protect immigrants and the United States mail from the
Indians and to teach the latter how to raise corn, wheat, potatoes, squash
and melons." They build a fort, now a museum and a state historic
park, at the intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Washington St.
1858
The Mormons abandon their fort and return to Salt Lake
City.
1859
The number of non-Native Americans inhabiting the future
Nevada is estimated at less than 300. The Comstock Lode, a rich silver
deposit, is discovered on Mt Davidson.
1860
6,857 people live in the territory to become Nevada, most
of them miners.
1861
The Territory of Nevada is created. James Nye of New York
is territorial governor. Carson City is chosen as capital.
1864
Nevada becomes the 36th state. Three names were considered
for the new state: Humboldt, Esmeralda, and Nevada ("snow-clad"
or "snowy" in Spanish). Las Vegas is still part of the state
of Arizona.
1865
Octavius Decatur Gass, a former miner and irrigation inspector,
builds a ranch on the site of the Mormon fort, which becomes known as
the Las Vegas Ranch. He is the first permanent settler in Las Vegas.
1867
Las Vegas becomes part of the state of Nevada.
1870
Nevada's population reaches 42,491.
1881
Gass defaults on a loan and loses his ranch. Archibald Stewart and his wife, Helen, become the new owners. The population of Nevada reaches 60,000.
1884
Archibald Stewart is killed in a fight and his wife Helen
continues to operate the prosperous ranch and store.
1895
Charles Fey, an auto mechanic in San Francisco, invents
the first mechanical slot machine.
1900
The population of Nevada is 42,000 (from 60,000 ten years
earlier). The population of Las Vegas is 19 (nineteen). Nevada's largest
town is Delamar, a gold mining camp of 1,000 people about 100 miles north
of Las Vegas.
1902
Helen Stewart hires J. T. McWilliams to survey her property
planning to sell it to the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad
company, owned by Montana Senator William Clark. McWilliams discovers
and claims 80 untitled acres west of Stewart's ranch which he later sells
to newcomers.
1904
The railroad tracks between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles
reach Las Vegas.
1905
The town of Las Vegas is founded on May 15. The railroad
auctions 1,200 lots in a single day in the present-day downtown (Fremont
St) area. Two blocks, 16 and 17, are designated for alcohol consumption.
Block 16 (between First, Second, Ogden, and Stewart streets, currently
occupied by the Horseshoe casino parking lot) becomes a sex market, at
a time when red-light districts were common all over the country. Hotel
Las Vegas, a 30-room canvas-topped structure, is the first major hotel
in the new town.
1906
The first hotel in Las Vegas, Hotel Nevada, opens. In
1931 it is renamed Sal Sagev, which is Las Vegas spelled backwards, and
later on Golden Gate. Golden Gate is the oldest operating hotel in Las
Vegas. Overland Hotel opens and becomes Las Vegas Club in 1931.
1907
The first telephones are installed. Wooden pipes are used
for telephone lines, and one such pipe can be seen on display at the Golden
Gate hotel, next to the first telephone installed (with the telephone
number "1").
1909
Las Vegas becomes the county seat of Clark County (named
after railroad magnate and Montana Senator William Clark). Houses, bungalow-style,
are built for the railroad workers. Several still exist in the downtown
area, on Second St.
1910
The population of Las Vegas reaches 940. A new law prohibits
all forms of gambling.
1911
The City of Las Vegas is incorporated. Its population
grows to 1,500.
1920
Las Vegas' population is 2,304.
1921
William Clark sells the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt
Lake railroad company to Union Pacific Railroad.
1925
Fremont becomes the first paved street in Las Vegas.
1928
President Calvin Coolige signs the Boulder Canyon Project
Act, which would build Hoover Dam. Las Vegas, for several years in an
economic slump, celebrates "just like they was nuts."
1929
There are 730 phones in Las Vegas. Thomas Young starts
the Young Electric Sign Co. and the first neon sign appears in the window
of the Oasis Club on Fremont St. In 1910, French inventor George Claude
attached an electrode to a glass tube containing neon gas, and a new form
of illumination was invented. In 1923, an American car dealer from Los
Angeles ordered a neon sign from a Parisian sign maker. The sign spelled
Packard and was installed on Wilshire Blvd, causing a sensation.
1930
Las Vegas is the fourth largest town in Nevada, after
Reno, Elko, and Ely. Its population is 5,165.
1931
Hoover Dam construction begins in Black Canyon, 30 miles
southwest of Las Vegas. The Nevada Legislature makes gambling legal, approving
a bill authored by Phil Tobin, a Nevada rancher who never visited Las
Vegas and had no interest in gambling. The bill is designed to to raise
taxes for public schools. The divorce law changes to require only six
weeks' residence for filing.
1932
The Apache, now Horseshoe, opens. With three stories,
it is the first hotel in Las Vegas to have an elevator.
1935
Hoover Dam is completed and dedicated by President Franklin
Roosevelt. Its cost is $175 million. Ninety-six people died during its
construction. At 720 ft height, it has 3 million cubic yards of concrete
and is a considered one of the seven engineering wonders of the world.
1940
Las Vegas' population reaches 8,422.
1941
El Rancho Vegas opens south of Las Vegas, on Highway
91 or the Los Angeles Highway. It is the first hotel and casino on the
future Strip. (The Strip got its name from Guy McAfee, a former Los Angeles
vice cop who opened Pioneer Club on Fremont St and Club 91 on the Los
Angeles highway. He began referring to this stretch of Highway 91 as the
Strip, because it reminded him of the Los Angeles Sunset strip between
Hollywood and Beverly Hills.) El Cortez Hotel opens in downtown Las Vegas.
Nellis Airforce Base is established and contributes much to the growth
of the city. The Basic Magnesium plant is built southwest of Las Vegas,
in the present-day City of Henderson.
1942
The Last Frontier hotel opens, the second hotel and casino
on the future Strip. Today it is called The New Frontier.
1944
The Little Church of the West chapel opens, on the grounds
of The Last Frontier.
1945
The population grows to 20,000.
1946
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel opens Flamingo on December 26,
the third casino on the Strip. Originally started by Billy Wilkerson,
who ran out of money, Flamingo was designed as an elegant hotel and casino
(a "carpet joint"), in contrast with the "sawdust joints"
on Fremont St. Downtown, Golden Nugget and Eldorado (later renamed Horseshoe)
open.
1947
Bugsy Siegel is shot in his girlfriend's (Virginia Hill)
mansion in Beverly Hills. The Hoover Dam name, originally Boulder Dam,
is restored.
1948
Thunderbird, the fourth casino on the Strip, opens. It
is imploded in 2000, after changing names to Silverbird and El Rancho,
and closing in 1992, to make room for the Turnberry Place high-rise condominiums.
1950
The population of Las Vegas is 24,624. Wilbur Clark opens
the Desert Inn. Silver Slipper opens.
1951
Atom bomb testing begins at the Nevada Test Site, sixty
miles north of Las Vegas. More than 900 nuclear tests are conducted until
1992. Benny Binion refurbishes Eldorado and opens it as Horseshoe, the
first downtown casino with carpeting on its floors.
1952
Sahara and Sands (on the site of future Venetian) open.
1955
The Riviera opens; with nine stories, it is the tallest
hotel on the Strip. Moulin Rouge, a hotel-casino for the segregated black
population, opens and closes after 5 months. In 1992 the Moulin Rouge
is declared a national historic site. Royal Nevada and Dunes open. The
population of Las Vegas reaches 45,000.
1956
Hacienda opens, on the site of Mandalay Bay. Fremont opens
downtown. Elvis Presley performs at the New Frontier for an audience who
did not care for him or his music. He returns in 1969 and performs 826
times at the International (now Hilton) for the next eight years.
1957
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is established. The
first topless show in Nevada, Minsky's Follies, debuts at the Dunes. Tropicana
opens.
1958
Stardust opens.
1959
Las Vegas Convention Center opens.
1960
Clark County population reaches 127,016. Las Vegas' population
reaches 64,405. El Rancho Vegas, the first casino on the Strip, is destroyed
by fire and remains a vacant lot to this day (across from Sahara, on Las
Vegas Blvd).
Tally Ho (on the site of Aladdin) and Castaways (on the
site of Mirage) open.
1964
The Beatles make their only Las Vegas appearance ("because
they wanted to see Las Vegas"), performing in two sold-out shows
at the Las Vegas Convention Center. They stayed at Sahara.
1966
Howard Hughes checks into Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Eve,
planning to stay for ten days. Caesars Palace opens at a cost of $25 million.
The apostrophe is omitted deliberately. "We wanted to create the
feeling that everybody in the hotel was a Caesar," said J. Sarno,
the creator of Caesars Palace and Circus Circus. Aladdin opens.
1967
Howard Hughes is still occupying the penthouse floor at
the Desert Inn, and the hotel management decides to get rid of him, so
they could rent the rooms to gamblers. Hughes, who "needed a place to
sleep," buys the hotel from Moe Dalitz for $13.2 million in cash, paving
the way to casino ownership by publicly traded corporations. He begins
a shopping spree of $300 million which includes Castaways, Frontier, Landmark,
Sands, and Silver Slipper in Las Vegas and Harold's Club in Reno. Hughes
had sold his interest in his airline for $546,549,171, which was paid
to him in cash (in one check). Hughes bought Silver Slipper because the
light of its sign bothered him. "I want you to buy that place. That damned
sign is driving me crazy. It goes round and round and round."
1968
Circus Circus opens.
1969
International (renamed Las Vegas Hilton in 1971) opens.
Elvis Presley starts performing at the International. He performs in 837
sold-out shows until 1977.
1970
Las Vegas' population reaches 125,787.
1971
Siegfried Fishbacher and Roy Horn come to Las Vegas from
the Lido du Paris.
1973
The original MGM Grand, now Bally's, opens as the largest
hotel in the world with 2,100 rooms.
1974
Holiday Inn, later renamed Harrah's, opens.
1977
Nevada gaming revenues reach $1 billion. The Nevada Legislature
passes a foreign gaming law allowing Nevada-based casino owners to operate
casinos outside Nevada's borders.
1979
Imperial Palace, Barbary Coast, Vegas World (on the site of Stratosphere) and Sam's Town (on Boulder Hwy) open.
1980
Las Vegas' population is 164,674. Fitzgerald's opens downtown;
with 34 stories, it is the tallest building in the state of Nevada.
1983
Nevada legalizes sports betting.
1985
The first National Finals Rodeo is held in Las Vegas.
1989
Mirage opens with 3,039 rooms, at a cost of $630 million.
1990
Excalibur opens with 4,032 rooms, the largest hotel at
the time. The population of Nevada is 1,201,833, of Clark County 834,907,
and of Las Vegas 232,370.
1993
Luxor ($375 million), Treasure Island ($430 million),
and MGM Grand ($1 billion) open. MGM Grand, with 5005 rooms, is currently
the largest hotel in the world. The Dunes hotel is imploded and the construction
of Bellagio begins.
1994
Boulder Station Casino opens on Boulder Hwy. The first
scheduled Condor charter flight to Las Vegas from Cologne, Germany, lands
on November 7 at McCarran International Airport.
1995
The $70 million Fremont Street Experience opens.
1996
Stratosphere opens. Stratosphere is the tallest free-standing
observation tower in the US and the tallest building west of Mississippi.
Monte Carlo, modeled after Place du Casino in Monaco and offering "popular
elegance," opens. The $13 million Las Vegas Strip beautification
project, in which 76,000 palms, shrubs, flowering foliage and ground covers
were planted, is finished.
1997
New York New York Hotel Casino opens. Its exterior is
a reproduction of the New York City skyline with one-third replicas of
12 New York towers. Las Vegas sets an international record of 101,106
hotel/motel rooms in a single city.
1998
Bellagio ($1.7 billion), opens.
1999
Paris Las Vegas, the Venetian, and Mandalay Bay open.
Four Seasons opens with 400 rooms on the 35th through 39th floors of Mandalay
Bay, as the only Strip hotel without a casino and as a hotel within a
hotel.
2001
Las Vegas declares December 12 Sinatra Day (fifty years
after his Las Vegas debut at the Desert Inn).
2002
Caesars Palace adds a $95 million, 4,100-seat theater.
2003
The Venetian adds a new tower (1,000 suites) and Mandalay Bay also adds
a 43-story tower (1125 suites) along with a 1.5 million sq ft convention
center. Bellagio starts construction on a new 928-room tower. Caesars
Palace starts construction on a new 26-story, 949-room tower. A 25-year-old
engineer from California wins the largest slot-machine jackpot in history
( $39,713,982.25), playing Megabucks at Excalibur.
2005
Las Vegas celebrates its centennial, with many events planned throughout
2005. MGM Mirage buys Mandalay Bay Resort for $7.9 billion and now owns
28 casinos and has almost 75,000 rooms on the Strip (Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Treasure Island, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Excalibur, Luxor, Circus Circus). Wynn Las Vegas opens
on April 28, with 2716 rooms, at a cost of $2.7 billion. Sands Corp. starts
work on a new resort, Palazzo, to open in 2007 at a cost of $1.6 billion;
it will be located between The Venetian and Wynn Las Vegas. Harrah's Entertainment buys Caesars Entertainment for $9.4 billion.
2006
Red Rock Resort opens at 215 and Charleston Blvd, at a cost of $925 million. What was once a small locals' casino, the "Station" company also owns Palace Station (1976), Boulder Station (1994), Texas Station (1995), Sunset Station (1997), Santa Fe Station (2000), and Green Valley Ranch (2001).
2007
Stardust is imploded to make room for Echelon Place, a $4-billion project with 5,300 hotel rooms. Palazzo, a $1.8 billion, 3,025-room resort next to the Venetian, should open later this year. Encore, Wynn Las Vegas' additional $1.4 billion, 2,000-room new tower is under construction and should open in 2008. CityCenter, MGM Mirage's $7.4 billion project that will include a 4,000-room hotel-casino and four highrise condominium towers, is under construction between Jockey Club and Monte Carlo. New Frontier closes to be replaced by a replica of the Plaza Hotel in New York.
See
also www.1st100.com.
See
also www.classiclasvegas.com.
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