The Idiosyncrasy and a Unique History of Las Vegas

Las Vegas, easily one of the world's top destinations for casino gaming (and home to two of Crescent School's locations), is a city of idiosyncrasy and a unique history - a history not many people know.

Essentially, Las Vegas was founded by ranchers and people that worked in the railroad industry. But it didn't take long for people to realize the city's greatest selling point was not its springs. It was its casinos. That's because Las Vegas embraced Old West freedoms, like gambling.

Early Years of Las Vegas

The first person of European ancestry to enter the Las Vegas valley was Rafael Rivera, who scouted the area in 1821 as part of the Old Spanish Trail, an expedition to open up a trade route between New Mexico and California. He named the valley Las Vegas, which means “the meadows,” after the area's grasses.

From then on, Las Vegas didn't see much action until around 1855. During that time, Brigham Young sent a group of Mormon settlers to the area. Their settlement was unsuccessful, but their abandoned fort was taken over by politician and businessman Octavius Gass.

Gambling in Las Vegas

Nevada outlawed gambling in 1910 but the practice continued in speakeasies and illicit casinos. By the time gambling was legalized again in 1931, organized crime already had roots in the city.

Construction began on the massive the Hoover Dam, then known as the Boulder Dam, in the early 1930's. This drew thousands of workers to a site just east of the city. Casinos and showgirl venues opened up to attract the project’s workers. When the dam was completed in 1936, cheap hydroelectricity powered the flashing signs of Fremont’s “Glitter Gulch.” By the 1940s, money from drugs and racketeering built casinos and was laundered within them.

The Birth of The Las Vegas Strip

In 1941, the El Rancho Vegas resort opened on a section of U.S. 91 just outside the city’s jurisdiction. Other hotel-casinos soon followed, and the section of highway became known as “the Strip.” Most were built around the regional or Old West themes that were popular on Fremont Street. In 1946 mobster Bugsy Siegel, opened the Flamingo, which had a more glamorous vibe - a new feel for Vegas.

Six years later Siegel was murdered. But, over the next two decades, the mob still had a huge presence in the city. Casinos like the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier and the Riviera where all built with mob help. Eventually investments from organized crime combined with funds from more respectable investors like Wall Street and the Mormon Church. By the mid 1950's Las Vegas had 8 million tourist a year visit its multitudes of casino gaming tables and slot machines.

Howard Hughes also made a mark on Vegas around this time. He checked into the penthouse of the Desert Inn hotel in 1966 and never left. He decided to buy the hotel rather than face eviction. He didn't stop there though. He bought $300 million worth of Las Vegas properties, ushering in an era in which mob interests were displaced by corporate conglomerates.

Modern Day Las Vegas

In 1989, casino developer Steve Wynn opened the Mirage, the city’s first mega-resort. Yet again, Las Vegas was transformed. Old casinos soon were demolished to make room for massive complexes, like Wynn's vision, taking their aesthetic cues from popular destinations from around the world.

Casinos and entertainment remain Las Vegas’ major employer, and the city continues to grow in size of the resorts and the numbers of annual visitors. Even in 2008, during the recession, the city still received nearly 40 million visitors.

Its amazing to see that in just a century of existence Las Vegas has drawn millions of visitors and trillions of dollars in wealth to southern Nevada.

About Crescent Schools

Looking for a fun and exciting career? Crescent School of Gaming and Bartending can train you for a dynamic, well-paying job in the hospitality or casino industry today.

You can be ready to bartend in just three weeks. Be around fun people and have cash in your pocket every night as a mixologist, or claim your place in the ever-growing casino gaming industry in as little as three months. Financial aid is available, if qualified. You can start one of Crescent's top-quality programs with no money down.

Crescent is an accredited bartending and table games dealer school in the United States.