Early Days - Las Vegas
It was originally Los Angeles, San Pedro and Salt Lake Railroad that made Las Vegas a watering stop for locomotives, encouraging the formation of a formal town in 1905. From there Las Vegas grew, over the next few years, into an important rail hub and trading center. 1930 the construction of the Hoover Dam spurred Las Vegas into a popular leisure destination.
Bugsy Siegel and Gambling in Las Vegas
It is, of course, gambling that made Vegas famous. Hotels and casinos started springing up right after Nevada made gambling legal in 1931. Gangster Bugsy Siegel played a vital part in helping to transform Las Vegas into the gaming city we all know and love. His goal was to own and run the most up market hotel-casino in the world. With the mob funding his endeavor he opened the Flamingo Hotel in 1946 after running millions of dollars over budget. At the beginning the hotel was a flop, making his partners, understandably, unhappy. Suspecting Siegel of embezzlement, the mob killed Bugsy. But within a year the Flamingo started to gain popularity as the gaming industry in sin city started to boom.
Modern Las Vegas
Bugsy Siegel has long since been forgotten and since his days of opulence, Las Vegas has reinvented itself numerous times over. The population of Vegas has grown from around 25,000 in 1950 to more than 600,000 today. Tourism has also exploded from around six–and-a-half-million visitors in 1970 to more than thirty-eight million in 2005.
Long ago Las Vegas surpassed fabulous and modern Vegas is now an absolutely stellar destination for fans of gaming. Modern Sin City offers more than just gambling opportunities, and has become a family friendly destination offering some of the most exciting dining in the world. The variety of dazzling, outlandish shows and super-exclusive nightclubs continues to grow. Although Vegas isn’t necessarily a major cultural hub, there is plenty of activities, and numerous sights to see on and off the trip to keep visitors occupied for days.
History of Las Vegas – Important Dates
1829-40s
Western traders camp at the present site of Las Vegas, attracted by its springs and meadows
1864
Nevada is admitted into the United States of America as the 36th state
1905
The city of Las Vegas is officially laid out as a railroad hub
1931
Construction begins on the Hoover Dam and gambling is legalized in the state of Nevada
1932
The Apache opens downtown, becoming the city's first high-end gaming resort
1941
Thomas Hull, a successful California motor inn entrepreneur, builds El Rancho, the first casino on what would later become the Strip
1941
Frank Sinatra makes his feature film debut in Las Vegas Nights
1946
Bugsy Siegel opens his famed Flamingo casino resort
1956
Elvis Presley's Vegas debut, at the Frontier's Venus Room, opens to mixed reviews
1959
Sinatra and Dean Martin appear on a Las Vegas stage together for the first time at the Copa Room of the Sands. A year later they join forces with Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the Pack to film the consummate Rat Pack-in-Vegas movie, Ocean's 11
1966
The Roman-inspired Caesars Palace casino-resort opens on the Strip, setting a new standard for luxury and excess and becoming the city's first "theme" casino
1968
Howard Hughes buys his fifth (and last) casino from the Mafia, ending their total control of the city
1971
Hunter S. Thompson publishes Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, a semiautobiographical account of his sensational drug binge, during which he manages to cover a law enforcement narcotics convention for Rolling Stone and a motocross race for Sports Illustrated
1980
The 26-story MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (today's Bally's) catches fire with 5,000 guests and employees inside. Hundreds are injured and 87 die in the second-worst hotel accident in U.S. history
1992
Wolfgang Puck becomes the first major celebrity chef to open a Vegas restaurant, with his branch of Spago at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace
2005
Wynn Las Vegas opens at the north end of the Strip, setting a new standard for over-the-top opulence and high prices
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