All About Las Vegas, NV

Take a moment to find out about Las Vegas, Nevada. In this section or our website, we have complied an abbreviated history of Las Vegas. Learn how Las Vegas was settled and some key events that have made Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World".

The weather is almost always sunny in Las Vegas and yes it is Hot! Find out average temps and other weather related facts.

If you looking for demographics and economic statistics about Nevada and Las Vegas we have some of the most important local data available.

Finally, if you just looking to stump a friend with trivia, learn fun facts about Nevada and Las Vegas.

Prehistoric Southern Nevada was filled with water and vegetation, a stark contrast from the desert oasis that stands today. If you've ever wanted to know about Las Vegas, then this information is for you.          

Millions of years passed and the marsh receded. Water receded to underground pathways to the Colorado River. Construction workers in 1993 discovered the remains of a Columbian mammoth that paleontologists estimated was 8,000 to 15,000 years old.

The first noted expedition was made by Mexican trader Antonio Armijo, leading a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles in 1829. The expedition veered from the accepted route. Rafael Rivera, a member of the exploration, discovered Las Vegas Springs. Rivera discovered an abundant artesian spring which shortened the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. Traders and explorers made Las Vegas a much needed spot as they made their way to the California Gold Rush. Marked on maps for the first time during 1830 and 1848, "Vegas," was later changed to Las Vegas which means "The Meadows" in Spanish.

John C. Fremont led an overland expedition west and camped at Las Vegas Springs on May 13, 1844. His name is remembered today in neon as well as museums and history books. A hotel in Downtown Las Vegas bears his name as does Fremont Street.

Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City traveled to Las Vegas to protect the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route and in 1855 began building a 150-square-foot fort of sun-dried bricks made of clay soil and grass, a substance known as adobe. A portion of the "Mormon Fort" has withstood the ravages of time and is an historic site today near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard North and Washington Avenue.

By 1890 railroad developers had determined the water-rich Las Vegas Valley would be a prime location for a stop facility and town. More than a quarter century earlier, Nevada, known as the Battle Born State, had been admitted to the Union in 1864 during the Civil War. Nevada was key to the union’s victory as its abundant silver and gold mines provided materials for ammunition, equipment and financial support for a depleted Northern Army.

Nevada was the first state to legalize casino-style gambling 1931. Legalized gambling legislation was designed to raise needed taxes for public schools. Today, more than 43 percent of the state's general fund is fed by gambling tax revenue and more than 34 percent of the state's general fund is pumped into public education. That same year construction started on the Hoover Dam Project which, at its peak, employed 5,128 people.

During World War II, nearby Nellis Air Force Base grew into a key military installation. Originally built to train B-29 gunners, it later became the training ground for the nation's ace fighter pilots.

The success of the El Rancho Vegas, the first resort on the Las Vegas Strip, triggered a small building boom in the late 1940s including construction of several hotel- casinos fronting on a two-lane highway leading into Las Vegas from Los Angeles. By far the most celebrated of the early resorts was the Flamingo Hotel, opened on New Year’s Eve in 1946, and was built by mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, a member of the Meyer Lansky crime organization.

Resort building continued to accelerate in Las Vegas in the 1950s. Wilbur Clark, once a hotel bellman in San Diego, Calif., opened the Desert Inn in 1950. Two years later, Milton Prell opened the Sahara Hotel on the site of the old Club Bingo. The Sands Hotel opened that same year, 1952. Those hotel names have survived but the properties have undergone numerous ownership changes.

In 1955, the Riviera Hotel became the first Strip highrise at nine stories. Previously, Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn had offered guests the highest unobstructed panoramic view of the Las Vegas Valley from the resort's third-floor Skyroom, a cocktail and dancing haunt of visitors, residents and celebrities. Other resorts that opened during the building boom begun in the 1950s included the Royal Nevada, Dunes, Hacienda, Tropicana and Stardust hotels on the Strip and the Downtown Fremont Hotel-Casino. City and county community leaders also realized in the 1950s the need for a Las Vegas convention facility. The initial goal was to fill hotel rooms with conventioneers during slack tourist months.

A site was chosen one block east of the Las Vegas Strip and a 6,300-seat, silver-domed rotunda with an adjoining 90,000-square foot exhibit hall opened in April 1959 on the site of the current Las Vegas Convention Center.

In the 60s, multiple coin slot machines debuted. High-roller slot players today can find machines that accept $500 tokens. In the 70s, video machines that substituted television screens for reels, were introduced. Computerized slot machines now feature poker, keno, blackjack, bingo and craps.

The mega-resort began in 1989 with the opening of the 3,049-room Mirage Hotel-Casino at a construction cost of $630 million. It features a white tiger habitat, a dolphin pool, an elaborate swimming pool and waterfall and a man-made volcano that belches fire and water. Soon after the race to be the biggest and most elaborate resort began. Today the Las Vegas Strip is dotted with an Effiel tower replica, the New York City skyline in minature, a glass pyramid and other visual wonders.

Downtown Las Vegas, where it all began, has launched an extravagant project to keep pace with the booming Strip. The multimillion dollar project is called "The Fremont Street Experience." Set into the inner surface of the space frame there are 1.5 million lights. The Downtown renovation will include the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Some of the above information provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau