History
Founding
Las Vegas (English: "The Meadows" or "The Grasslands")
was given its name by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo party, who used the water
in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas.
In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported
extensive green areas or Meadows (Vega in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas.
John C. Frémont traveled into the Las Vegas Valley on May 3, 1844, while
it was still part of Mexico. He was a leader of a group of scientists, scouts
and observers for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. On May 10, 1855,
following annexation by the United States, Brigham Young assigned 30 Mormon
missionaries led by William Bringhurst to the area to convert the Paiute Indian
population. A fort was built near the current downtown area, serving as a stopover
for travelers along the "Mormon Corridor" between Salt Lake and the
briefly thriving Mormon colony at San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas was
established as a railroad town on May 15, 1905, when 110 acres (44.5 ha) owned
by Montana Senator William A. Clark's San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake
City Railroad, was auctioned off in what is now downtown Las Vegas. Las Vegas
was part of Lincoln County until 1909 when it became part of the newly established
Clark County. Las Vegas became an incorporated city on March 16, 1911.
Major events
Las Vegas is one of the most dynamic cities in the world, "reinventing" itself
as a gambling mecca, family destination, capital of hedonism ("What
happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"), or hotspot for dining and shopping over the
years. Several events stand out as turning points:
:: The floods of 1955, 1984, 1999, and 2003.
:: Establishment of Las Vegas as a railroad town (May 15, 1905).
:: Legalization of gambling (March 19, 1931).
:: Completion of Hoover Dam (October 9, 1936).
:: Opening of Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel on what would become the Las
Vegas Strip (December 26, 1946).
:: Atmospheric nuclear testing (1951 to 1962).
:: The first Strip property "The El Rancho" was consumed by fire
on July 17, 1960.
:: Elvis Presley returns to live performances in August 31, 1969 by opening
the International Hotel
:: MGM Grand Hotel fire the worst disaster in Nevada history on (November
21, 1980).
:: A series of explosions destroys the PEPCON rocket fuel plant and nearby
Kidd and Co. marshmallow factory (May 4, 1988)
:: Opening of The Mirage which began the era of megaresort casinos on (November
22, 1989).
:: The Dunes became the first Strip property to be imploded on October
27, 1993.
:: 100th birthday, or Centennial, of Las Vegas (May
15, 2005).
Economic history
Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west and became
a popular railroad town in the early 1900s. It was a staging point for all
the mines in the surrounding area, especially those around the town of Bullfrog,
that shipped their goods out to the rest of the country. With the growth
of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important, but the completion of
the nearby Hoover Dam resulted in substantial growth in tourism, which, along
with the legalization of gambling, led to the advent of the casino-hotels
for which Las Vegas is famous.
The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was augmented by a new source of federal money. This money came from the establishment of what is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land building boom which still goes on today.
Law and government
The City of Las Vegas government
operates as a council-manager government. The Mayor sits as a Council member-At-Large
and presides over all of the City Council meetings. In the event that the Mayor
cannot preside over a City Council meeting, the Mayor Pro-Tem is the presiding
officer of the meeting until such time as the Mayor returns to his seat. The
City Manager is responsible for the administration and the day-to-day operation
of all of the municipal services and city departments. The City Manager also
maintains intergovernmental relationships with federal, state, county and other
local governments.
Most of the people and businesses who live in what they call "Las Vegas" are actually residents of neighboring unincorporated communities or incorporated cities. In fact, of the 1.91 million people who live in the Las Vegas Valley, only 591,536 live inside Las Vegas city limits. In 2006, approximately 800,000 people lived in unincorporated areas governed only by the county. As mentioned above, the Strip is in one of these unincorporated towns.
While much of the metropolitan area is not in the city limits, it does share a police department. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department provides most law enforcement services in the city and surrounding county after a 1960s merger of the Las Vegas Police Department and the Clark County Sheriff's Office. Incorporated cities in Clark County, as well as colleges, parks and schools have their own police departments that fall outside of Metro's jurisdiction.
A Paiute Indian reservation occupies about 1 acre (4000 m²) in the downtown area of Las Vegas.
City redevelopment
When The Mirage, the first Megaresort,
opened in 1989, it started a movement of people and construction away from
downtown Las Vegas to the Las Vegas Strip. This resulted in a drop in tourism
from which the downtown area is still trying to recover.
A concerted effort has been made by city officials to diversify the Las Vegas economy from tourism by attracting light manufacturing, banking, and other commercial interests. The lack of any state individual or corporate income tax and very simple incorporation requirements have fostered the success of this effort.
Having been late to develop an urban core of any substantial size, Las Vegas has retained very affordable real estate prices in comparison to nearby urban centers. Consequently, the city has recently enjoyed an enormous boom both in population and in tourism. However, as a New York Times series on the city reported in 2004, the median price of housing in the Las Vegas Valley is now at or above the nationwide median. The urban area has grown outward so quickly that it is beginning to run into Bureau of Land Management holdings along its edges, increasing land values enough that medium- and high-density development is beginning to occur closer to the core.
As a reflection of the city's rapid growing population, the new Chinatown of Las Vegas was constructed in the early 1990s on Spring Mountain Road. Chinatown initially consisted of only one large shopping center complex, but the area was recently expanded for new shopping centers that contain various Asian businesses.
With the Strip expansion in the 1990s, downtown Las Vegas began to suffer. The Fremont Street Experience (FSE) was built in an effort to draw tourists downtown. While greatly slowing the decline, it did not stop the decline in tourism and revenue. The multi-level Neonopolis, complete with 11 theaters (managed by Galaxy Theaters, Inc.), was built to offer more retail and services downtown. While there have been changes in ownership and management, Neonopolis has not been able to lease all the space available. As of May 2006, the property has been sold and is under new management. Renovations are under-way to revitalize Neonopolis. Look for new restaurants to open in the late summer to early fall of 2006.
In the early 2000s, some promising signs emerged for downtown Las Vegas. The city successfully lured the Internal Revenue Service to move operations from the far west of the city to a new building downtown that opened in April 2005. The IRS is expected to create a demand for additional businesses in the area, epecially in the daytime hours.
The city purchased 61 acres (247,000 m²) of property from Union Pacific Railroad in 1995 with the goal of creating something that would draw tourists and locals to the downtown area. In 2004 Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced plans for the Union Park Development which will include residential and office high-rises, The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, an academic medical center, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and a new City Hall. After failed negotiations with The Related Co. on the development of Union Park in October of 2005, San Diego-based Newland Communities was chosen by the city as the new development firm. The Newland contract calls for Dan Van Epp, Newland's regional vice president and former president of the Howard Hughes Corp., to oversee his company's work on Union Park. The Lou Ruvo Brain Institute is expected to be completed in 2007.
Along with the Union Park Development, other promising residential and office developments have begun construction around downtown Las Vegas. New condominium and hotel high rise projects have changed the entire Las Vegas skyline dramatically in recent years. Many large high-rise projects are planned for downtown Las Vegas as well as the Las Vegas Strip.
The city council of Las Vegas has agreed on zoning changes on Fremont Street, which allows bars to be closer together duplicating efforts of similar cities, like the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego. It is expected that this change will bring more tourism and business to the downtown area.
In 2005, on a lot adjacent to the city's 61 ac (247,000 m²), the World Market Center opened. It is intended to be the nation's and possibly the world's preeminent furniture wholesale showroom and marketplace, and is meant to compete with the current furniture market capital of High Point, North Carolina.
In 2004, the city partnered with Cheetah Wireless Technologies and MeshNetwork to pilot a wide area mobile broadband system. The pilot system is installed downtown, around the Fremont Street Experience.
On October 23, 2006, plans were unveiled to build a World Jewelry Center in Downtown's Union Park. Similar to the World Market Center, the WJC will be a one stop shop for jewelry trade shows from around the world. The project proposes a 57-story, 815-foot office tower.
Attractions
The major attractions in Vegas are the casinos. The most famous casinos line
Las Vegas Boulevard South, also known as the Las Vegas Strip. There are many
casinos in the city's downtown area as well, which was the original focal
point of the city's gaming industry in its early days. Several large casinos
are also located in the county around the city.
The Las Vegas Strip
North towards Fremont Street |
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| Sahara Avenue | Sahara Avenue | |
| Sahara | ||
| Riviera | ||
| Convention Center Drive | ||
| Wynn Las Vegas | ||
Fashion Show Mall |
||
| Spring Mountain Road | Sands Avenue | |
| The Venetian | ||
| Casino Royale | ||
| Harrah's | ||
| Imperial Palace | ||
| Flamingo | ||
| Barbary Coast | ||
| Flamingo Road | Flamingo Road | |
| Bally's | ||
| Paris | ||
| Aladdin | ||
| Harmon Avenue | Harmon Avenue | |
| MGM Grand | ||
| Tropicana Avenue | Tropicana Avenue | |
| Tropicana | ||
| Russell Road | ||
South towards Interstate 215 |
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