The history of Las Vegas is one of growth. The city has been growing since Rafael Rivera became the first non native to enter the valley back in 1829. Following the incorporation of Clark County back in 1905 its population has grown more than 30% every decade, with some decades increasing by nearly 200%. From growth driven by the mining industry, through to the goldmine that is the casino industry, Las Vegas has had a number of factors make it the fastest growing part of America in the last 100 years.
The Paiute and Anasazi Indians were the first on the scene in Las Vegas, followed by the Spanish explorers of 1829, who named it “the meadows” for its water-rich marshland. The next major visitor was John C. Fremont in 1843, who produced and distributed a map of the area. It was the Mormons that came in 1855 who first tried to really settle in the valley, but the Paiutes ran them off. Despite this the area began to grow as it was used as a resting point in the journey from Utah to California. This led to the next big figure in Nevadan history to enter center stage: William Clark, who built a railroad and land a townsite. The railroad was the backbone to significant growth in the following decades, until the real driver of modern Las Vegas came about in 1931 with the legalization of gambling.
The story of modern Las Vegas is really that of the Strip, which was initially simply known as Route 91. Thomas Hull opened El Rancho Vegas in April 1941, and this was the first step in drawing the crowds away from the Downtown casinos. Next came R.E. Griffith who built the Last Frontier on 175 acres in October 1942. This was the first themed hotel that Vegas had seen.
The first famous episode in the Strips’s history started when the founder of the Hollywood Reporter, Billy Wilkerson, acquired 33 acres south of the Last Frontier and started construction of the Flamingo in April 1945. Wilkerson was a compulsive gambler, and when he misallocated development funds his mob partners Gus Greenbaum and Moe Sedway secured $1m from crime boss Meyer Lansky to continue the project. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was asked to oversee the investment, and he eventually took it over. Unfortunately he rushed the opening in December 1946 and it had to close one month later because it did not have enough rooms available to generate the funds to maintain operations. The Flamingo reopened in 1947 with 93 rooms available, and it was an instant success, however, the cost overruns were not forgotten and Bugsy was shot to death in his Hollywood bungalow.
In the history of Las Vegas it is easy to forget the credit due to the true pioneers: Thomas Hull and R.E. Griffith. In the story of the Flamingo it is easy to forget the importance of Billy Wilkerson’s initial vision, and the operational skills of Greenbaum and Sedway. For many people it will always be Bugsy who built the Strip.
The Flamingo changed Las Vegas by opening it up to more sophisticated customers than those that visited Downtown, and once the concept was proven the hotel was quickly followed by the western-themed Thunderbird in 1948, and the Palm Springs-inspired Desert Inn in 1950. Next came the Sahara, the Sands, the Royal Nevada, the Dunes and the Riviera – all in place by 1955. But it wasn’t over and the Hacienda opened in 1956, the Tropicana in 1957, and the Stardust in 1958. The Stardust was the first hotel to realize the potential of the mass market, and its 1,000 rooms were soon filled with average folks who enjoyed gambling.
It was Jay Sarno who bridged the gap from this building boom to the destination resort that we know today. Sarno was a visionary who opened Caesar’s Palace in 1966, and followed it up with Circus Circus. He paved the way for those that followed, and it was Steve Wynn and Kirk Kerkorian who took up the reigns.
The Mirage Hotel opened on 22nd November 1989, and the Strip has never been the same since. Whilst Las Vegas Boulevard had seen mega-resorts before, such as Kirk Kerkorian’s International and MGM, a young Steve Wynn raised the stakes with his Mirage and started a trend that transformed 1990s Las Vegas. The building boom that followed delivered: Excalibur (1990), Rio (1990), Luxor (1993), MGM Grand (1993), Treasure Island (1993), Hard Rock (1995), Monte Carlo (1996), Stratosphere (1996), New York, New York (1997), Bellagio (1998), Mandalay Bay (1999), Paris (1999), Venetian (1999), and new Aladdin (2000).