We want to thank all of the local businesses who participated in VEGAS ROOTS, a special section that salutes our Las Vegas Valley businesses, their milestones and contributions in helping build our community.

‍

For 120 years, Las Vegas has attracted entrepreneurs of all sorts. The city’s official birth date was May 15, 1905. That is when a group of dreamers gathered on a hot day to buy lots near what would become Fremont Street. The lots went from $1,000 for a premium spot to $100 for a discounted one, according to “Young Las Vegas” by former Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Joan Burkhart Whitely.

‍

“The railroad planned to build a town from scratch in this godforsaken spot, which Mormon missionaries had abandoned in 1858 as too troublesome to inhabit and develop, it had served for centuries as a watering spot for travelers,” Whitely said in her book.

‍

San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, which later became the Union Pacific Railroad, sold 176 city lots that day. People, some who were young wage-earners from Southern California and Utah, traveled to the new town to live in tents without running water or air conditioning and battled abandoned prospectors’ burros to open businesses and to build the city, which would ultimately become Las Vegas, the Entertainment and Sports Capital of the World.

‍

In 1931 Hoover Dam began construction in Boulder City and brought in workers from around the country.

‍

On Dec. 26, 1946 Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel opened The Flamingo on what would become known as the Strip. The valley was expanding past the city’s downtown boundaries. Siegel began the glitz and glamour era of Vegas and also its colorful history with the mob. The Flamingo had the Hollywood flair as opposed to the wild cowboy vibe downtown.

‍

Vegas became Hollywood’s little sister and the days of the Rat Pack in the 1960s saw the famed Sahara, Caesars Palace, Desert Inn and Tropicana in their heyday.

‍

Howard Hughes purchased the Desert Inn and other hotel-casinos, a local TV station and 30,000 acres on the western rim of the valley that would later become Summerlin, named after his grandmother, Jean Amelia Summerlin.

In 1989 Steve Wynn ushered in the corporate era of casinos financed through Wall Street. He changed Vegas forever when he opened The Mirage, which closed last year. By that time casinos had become destinations, and the megaresort era was in full swing.

‍

That corporation model went into high gear in the 2000s when casino companies started to merge and fine dining and nightclubs entered the scene. The famous marquees became digital with video. And the old neon signs went into The Boneyard.

‍

For decades, community leaders worked hard at getting professional sports teams. It took a long time, but eight years ago we got the Vegas-born Golden Knights, which won Las Vegas a Stanley Cup in 2023. The Las Vegas Aces team won two back-to-back championship cups. We even have a professional football team, The Raiders. All this, not to mention baseball, soccer and Formula 1 Racing. And, we still have the rodeo.

‍

‍

Gaming is no longer the main attraction. Sports, high-end entertainment and dining are taking the stage for the next big thing in Las Vegas.

‍

We are still young, and we have gone through our growing pains and awkward big-hair stages, but we are finding ourselves. Still, we have plenty of founding leaders who won’t let us forget where we came from.

‍

‍

A lot of old-timers, most of them with blue vehicle license plates and tales of mob neighbors, talk about when Vegas ended at Rainbow and Charleston boulevards. They chat about what has changed and what has stayed the same. In any case, our city remains resilient, and has always faced its challenges head on and with that streak of Wild West bravery.

‍

Bring it on world, Las Vegas is ready for the next 120 years.

‍

The Commission for the Las Vegas Centennial has funded one historical documentary each year. This year, the seventh episode in that series, “The city of Las Vegas: The Seventies” is about Las Vegas in the 1970s. It and others can be seen here at youtube.com/@cityoflasvegastv.

‍