The History of Las Vegas

Part 2 of 3

The first mayor of Las Vegas was Peter Buol, who served from 1911-1913. Las Vegas was instrumental in the creation of Clark County, and eventually became a part of that county. In 1910, the state of Nevada accepted the anti-gaming law – albeit reluctantly – which forbade any kind of gambling. Nevertheless, Las Vegas maintained a thriving business community, and growth continued – until disaster struck, in 1917.

At this point, various economic influences (including the redirection of Federal funds to support the war effort) forced the Las Vegas and Tonopah Railroad into bankruptcy. Clark sold the remains of the company to Union Pacific Railroad, but a nationwide strike in 1922 left Las Vegas in a bad way.

Union Pacific Railroad (Picture from Wikimedia Commons)

In 1926, however, there was a stroke of good fortune: U.S. Route 91 arrived connecting the city to California via road for the first time. Even this did not fully revitalise Las Vegas, however, and it became notorious for speakeasies – and then organised crime began to arrive. It reached such an extent that John Calhan, a newspaper journalist, wrote of the city in 1929: “People in the city of Reno, or northern Nevada would have been very happy if Las Vegas had seceded from the state …”

The event that would really bring life back to the city came in 1930, when President Herbert Hoover authorised the building of Boulder Dam – which would later be renamed Hoover Dam. Work started in 1931 and the once meagre Las Vegas population of 5,000 boomed up to 25,000 as construction workers flocked to the city. The large number of unattached workmen created a demand for certain kinds of entertainment, and so a collective of financiers, businessmen, and organised crime bosses built the casinos and showgirl theatres. Though the government tried to restrict access by the workmen to Las Vegas (by building an entirely separate, federal-controlled town called Boulder City, no less) thisonly encouraged circuitous routes and stealthier journeys.

Hoover Dam (Picture courtesy of Flickr user x-ray Delt One)

Then, in 1931, the state of Nevada legalised gambling. Las Vegas, already a centre for gaming, was set to become the gambling capital of the world. The first gambling licenses issued by the state go to various casinos along Fremont Street – which also becomes the first paved street in the city, as well as receiving the city’s first traffic light.

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~ by rhuntitec on August 11, 2010.