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.