Las Vegas History

Despite the desert heat, the area that is now Las Vegas was actually once a rich marshland yielding an abundance of vegetation. Over thousands of years, the marsh receded and water all but disappeared from the area, becoming trapped underground only to rise to the surface centuries later and transformed the land into an oasis surrounded by arid desert.

In 1829, a group of Mexican explorers en route from New Mexico to Los Angeles camped some 100 miles northeast of present-day Las Vegas. A scouting party led by Rafael Rivera rode west to find water. Rivera ventured into the desert alone and discovered a lush, green valley and freshwater springs. The land was named Las Vegas, or “the meadows,” for the abundance of grass growing despite the merciless desert sun. 

America’s Playground

Over the next century, Mexican settlers used Las Vegas as a stopover on their route to California via the Old Spanish Trail, many with dreams of discovering riches during the gold rush. Mormons from Salt Lake City settled in Las Vegas to protect a mail route, building adobe structures and mining for lead, though they had abandoned the area by 1858.

As the railroad industry grew, land developers saw Las Vegas as a prime location for a stop along the railroad servicing San Pedro, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, connecting Las Vegas to major cities on the West Coast. With the arrival of the railroad in 1905, Las Vegas became a boomtown, with stores, saloons, and boarding houses popping up all over the area. 

“[Las Vegas is] the most extreme and allegorical of American settlements, bizarre and beautiful in its venality and in its devotion to immediate gratification.” – Joan Didion

Mostly occupied by railroad workers and cattle ranchers, Las Vegas thrived with the spirit of the Wild West – complete with drinking, gambling, and ladies of the night. Despite Nevada’s ban on gambling in 1910, bootleg casinos and illegal gambling dens continued to operate. 

This blatant disregard for the law would see Las Vegas become a breeding ground for vice and organized crime, as several mobsters from the East Coast established roots in the city.

When gambling became legal in Nevada once again in 1931, new casinos, restaurants, and entertainment venues opened up along the only paved road in the city – Fremont Street. Venue owners hoped to attract the thousands of workers who had arrived for the construction of the Hoover Dam some 30 miles away. 

The Mob Comes to Town

Although World War II slowed growth in Las Vegas, the city found success with a string of hotels opening along Highway 91, which would one day be known as The Strip. These hotel builders included East Coast mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky among their ranks. During the 1950s and 1960s, many Las Vegas hotels were built that were funded by racketeering and drug trafficking, although mafia-financed casinos would eventually be pushed out by reputable businesses. 

The casino scene boomed and would cement Las Vegas’ reputation as America’s playground, where glamorous resort hotels welcome you to forget the real world for a while. Entertainment venues featured beautiful showgirls and famous singers, and thousands flocked to see famous artists like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra perform. Over the next few decades, the Strip would produce high-end resorts inspired by iconic locations, like Egypt, New York, Paris, and Rome.