History of Las Vegas
historical aspects of the city in Nevada, United States
The settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada was founded in 1905 before the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The stopover attracted some farmers (mostly from Utah) to the area, and fresh water was irrigated to the settlement. In 1911, the town was incorporated as part of the newly founded Clark County. Urbanization took off in 1931 when work started on the Boulder Dam (now the Hoover Dam), bringing a huge influx of young male workers, for whom theaters and casinos were built, largely by the Mafia. Electricity from the dam also enabled the building of many new hotels along the Strip. The arrival of Howard Hughes in 1966 did much to offset mob influence and helped turn Las Vegas into more of a family tourist center.
The name Las Vegas—Spanish for "the meadows"—was given to the area in 1829 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Spanish explorer Antonio Armijo’s trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico. At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas. The flows from the wells fed the Las Vegas Wash, which runs to the Colorado River.
Prehistory
The prehistoric landscape of the Las Vegas Valley and most of Southern Nevada was once a marsh with water and vegetation.
“History of Las Vegas” enters the record as historical aspects of the city in Nevada, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what History, Vegas and historical can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“History of Las Vegas” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, History, Vegas and historical provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5865231. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1905, 1911, 1931 and 1966.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “History of Las Vegas”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow History of Las Vegas primary sources, History of Las Vegas archive and History research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “History of Las Vegas”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “History of Las Vegas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.