LAS VEGAS’ HERITAGE BEGINS WITH ITS NAME. “LAS VEGAS” MEANS “THE MEADOWS” in Spanish, and the place so named was a wet spot in the desert. Artesian wells flowed to the surface, offering water that drew people and animals as they passed through the arid desert. Paiute Indians long came to these springs in search of the water that sustained life. They returned each year for more than a thousand years, laying a foundation for humanity in the desert. The city of today grew from those origins to become the world’s premier city of entertainment.

Modern Las Vegas is built above the remains of a 19th-century Mormon settlement that left behind only a few cantankerous ranchers. It started as a railroad town, a repair shop for the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad. Like so many other places in the West, the railroad promised a reason to exist. When the railroad prospered, as it did when prospectors found silver in Bullfrog and Rhyolite in the center of Nevada early in the 20th century, so did little Las Vegas. By 1910, the little town had nearly 1,000 people. Fremont Street and Glitter Gulch, now the heart of old downtown, was paved and had bustling sidewalks. The railroad built 64 workers’ cottages and offered easy terms to other workers who wanted to build their own homes. Instantly a town was born, full with the promise of the future.