( Hoover Dam )
Native American groups such as the Anasazi settled the area that is now Las Vegas about 2300 years ago. The Anasazi abandoned the region in about 1150, making way for the Paiute people.
In the late 1820s early Spanish explorers searching for water discovered an oasis in the region that now contains the city. They named the oasis “Las Vegas,” Spanish for “the meadows.” These expanses of wetlands, once irrigated by artesian waters carried under pressure from the nearby mountain ranges, were a main draw to southern Nevada until the 1940s.
Las Vegas was an important stop along the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and southern California for much of the 19th century because the oasis enabled Spanish traders to shorten their route to Los Angeles by cutting directly across the desert.
Descriptions of the lush valley, made in 1829 and widely circulated, generated much interest. In 1844 explorer John C. Frémont camped in the Las Vegas Valley and described the fertile landscape in his journals.
Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) began an intermittent settlement of the Las Vegas Valley in 1855. This settlement served as a link to California and the Pacific Ocean.
The coming of the railroad in 1905 stabilized the Las Vegas Valley, and an era of slow growth ensued.
In the early 1900s laws allowing divorce after only six months’ residency in the state. By 1931 the requirement was reduced to six weeks, and Las Vegas gained a reputation as an easy place to get a divorce.
Population growth accelerated in the 1930s with two innovations.
In 1931 the Bureau of Reclamation started construction of Boulder (later Hoover) Dam on the nearby Colorado River.
The Boulder was then the largest dam in the world. Dam construction brought jobs, growth, city development, and major federal funds to Las Vegas.
That same year the state of Nevada legalized gambling, facilitating the modern era of Las Vegas, which began with the construction of the Flamingo Casino by gangster Bugsy Siegel in 1945. Other lavish casinos opened soon after, most of which were influenced or owned by criminals.
Eighty-three percent of Nevada’s land is owned by the federal government, and federal funds have significantly affected the development of southern Nevada.
The Las Vegas Aerial Gunnery School began the militarization of Las Vegas. In addition, the government required vast quantities of magnesium, a strategic metal used by the military, for its efforts in World War II (1939-1945).
In an attempt to keep those involved in organized crime out of Nevada casinos, in 1967 the Nevada legislature passed a law that allowed publicly held corporations to own casinos in the state.
Hotel and motel construction boomed after the war, with showy new casinos being built. A trend began toward huge resorts and family-oriented theme parks.
Las Vegas now has several huge hotels, including the MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park, which opened in 1993 as the largest hotel in the world. These hotels and resorts play a vital role in attracting more than 29 million guests to the city each year.
In the late 1820s early Spanish explorers searching for water discovered an oasis in the region that now contains the city. They named the oasis “Las Vegas,” Spanish for “the meadows.” These expanses of wetlands, once irrigated by artesian waters carried under pressure from the nearby mountain ranges, were a main draw to southern Nevada until the 1940s.
Las Vegas was an important stop along the Old Spanish Trail between Santa Fe, New Mexico, and southern California for much of the 19th century because the oasis enabled Spanish traders to shorten their route to Los Angeles by cutting directly across the desert.
Descriptions of the lush valley, made in 1829 and widely circulated, generated much interest. In 1844 explorer John C. Frémont camped in the Las Vegas Valley and described the fertile landscape in his journals.
Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) began an intermittent settlement of the Las Vegas Valley in 1855. This settlement served as a link to California and the Pacific Ocean.
The coming of the railroad in 1905 stabilized the Las Vegas Valley, and an era of slow growth ensued.
In the early 1900s laws allowing divorce after only six months’ residency in the state. By 1931 the requirement was reduced to six weeks, and Las Vegas gained a reputation as an easy place to get a divorce.
Population growth accelerated in the 1930s with two innovations.
In 1931 the Bureau of Reclamation started construction of Boulder (later Hoover) Dam on the nearby Colorado River.
The Boulder was then the largest dam in the world. Dam construction brought jobs, growth, city development, and major federal funds to Las Vegas.
That same year the state of Nevada legalized gambling, facilitating the modern era of Las Vegas, which began with the construction of the Flamingo Casino by gangster Bugsy Siegel in 1945. Other lavish casinos opened soon after, most of which were influenced or owned by criminals.
Eighty-three percent of Nevada’s land is owned by the federal government, and federal funds have significantly affected the development of southern Nevada.
The Las Vegas Aerial Gunnery School began the militarization of Las Vegas. In addition, the government required vast quantities of magnesium, a strategic metal used by the military, for its efforts in World War II (1939-1945).
In an attempt to keep those involved in organized crime out of Nevada casinos, in 1967 the Nevada legislature passed a law that allowed publicly held corporations to own casinos in the state.
Hotel and motel construction boomed after the war, with showy new casinos being built. A trend began toward huge resorts and family-oriented theme parks.
Las Vegas now has several huge hotels, including the MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park, which opened in 1993 as the largest hotel in the world. These hotels and resorts play a vital role in attracting more than 29 million guests to the city each year.
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