Things to do / Travel Guide
A young scout named Rafael Rivera was the first non-Native American to set foot in the Las Vegas Valley, but the exact date he arrived is not known. The rich artesian spring water in the area allowed travelers to take a shorter route along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, instead of diverting to older, established routes, and eased the passage for traders and those headed west looking for California's gold. Around 1830, Mexican settlers named the area “Las Vegas,” which means “the meadows” in Spanish.
Fourteen years after Rivera's initial excursion, John C. Fremont led an expedition west from Virginia and set up camp near the Las Vegas springs. The Fremont Hotel-Casino bears his name, as does Fremont Street, the main street running through downtown's casino-lined Glitter Gulch.
Mormons from Salt Lake City came to Las Vegas in the 1850s to guard the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route. By 1890, railroad network planners singled out the Las Vegas Valley as a prime location for a depot and town. Just after the turn of the 20th century, the tent town called Las Vegas suddenly sprouted saloons, stores, and boarding houses.
Nevada was the first state in the U.S. to legalize casino-style gambling, and did so in 1931. Thanks to the vision of gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Segal, who built the Flamingo Hotel, Las Vegas has become the world's premier gambling and entertainment resort. In particular, Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip) boasts some of the largest, most glamorous resorts to be found anywhere on the planet.
The last 20 years have seen Las Vegas undergo unprecedented building booms in the form of dozens of new mega resorts, beginning with the Mirage Hotel (1989), and most recently topped off with the Wynn (2005). The Las Vegas metropolitan area has also become the fastest-growing locale in the United States, with a current population of over 1.6 million.
Las Vegas recently celebrated its centennial, having been officially founded on May 15th, 1905.
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