Las Vegas History
How a railroad water stop became the Strip. Organised by era, each topic covers the dates, the people and the buildings that still shape the city you visit.
30 pages in this section.
1900s
1930s
- Hoover Dam Construction (1931-1936)1931-1936Built in Black Canyon from 1931, Hoover Dam employed 21,000 men over five years and turned nearby Las Vegas into a Depression-era boomtown.
- Nevada Legalizes Gambling (1931)1931Assembly Bill 98, signed March 19, 1931, made casino gambling legal again in Nevada and laid the foundation of the Las Vegas economy.
1940s
- El Rancho Vegas Opens (1941)1941Opened April 3, 1941, on Highway 91, Thomas Hull's El Rancho Vegas was the first resort on what became the Las Vegas Strip.
- The Flamingo Opens (1946)1946Billy Wilkerson's Flamingo, finished by mobster Bugsy Siegel, opened December 26, 1946, and set the luxury template for the postwar Strip.
1950s
- Atomic Tourism in the 1950s1951-1962From 1951 to 1962, nuclear tests 65 miles away became a Las Vegas attraction, with viewing parties, Atomic Cocktails and mushroom-cloud mark
- The Neon Strip (1950s)1950-1959In the 1950s, designers such as Betty Willis turned Las Vegas signs into roadside art, capped by the 1959 "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" si
1960s
- The Rat Pack at the Sands (1960s)1960-1965Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford and Bishop made the Sands' Copa Room the hottest ticket in Las Vegas, peaking with the 1960 "Summit at the S
- Howard Hughes Buys the Strip (1966-1970)1966-1970Arriving secretly in 1966, Howard Hughes bought six Strip casinos in four years and helped open Las Vegas to corporate ownership.
- The International Hotel Opens (1969)1969Kirk Kerkorian's International opened July 1, 1969, as the world's largest hotel, and became Elvis Presley's Las Vegas home for seven years.
1980s
- The MGM Grand Fire (1980)1980On November 21, 1980, a fire at the original MGM Grand killed 85 people and led Nevada to adopt some of the toughest fire-safety codes anywh
- The Mirage Opens (1989)1989Steve Wynn's $630 million Mirage opened November 22, 1989, with an erupting volcano, and launched the era of the Las Vegas megaresort.
1990s
- The Luxor Pyramid Opens (1993)1993Circus Circus Enterprises opened the 30-story Luxor pyramid on October 13, 1993, after just eighteen months of construction, for $375 millio
- Bellagio and Its Fountains (1998)1998Steve Wynn's $1.6 billion Bellagio opened October 15, 1998, on the Dunes site, with free fountain shows on a lake that became a Strip icon.
- The Venetian Opens (1999)1999Sheldon Adelson's Venetian opened in May 1999 on the site of the Sands, with all-suite rooms, canals and gondolas, and a focus on convention
- The Dunes Implosion (1993)1993On Oct. 27, 1993, the Dunes became the first Las Vegas hotel brought down by explosives, a televised spectacle that cleared the way for Bell
- The Stratosphere Opens (1996)1996Bob Stupak's Stratosphere opened April 30, 1996, with a 1,149-foot tower, still the tallest freestanding observation tower in the US. It is
2000s
- Wynn Las Vegas Opens (2005)2005Steve Wynn opened his $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas just after midnight on April 28, 2005, on the old Desert Inn site, five years to the day a
- CityCenter Opens (2009)2009MGM Mirage's $8.5 billion CityCenter opened in stages in December 2009: Vdara, Crystals and Mandarin Oriental, then Aria on December 16.
- Encore Opens (2008)2008Encore, Steve Wynn's $2.3 billion all-suite sister to Wynn Las Vegas, opened December 22, 2008, with 2,034 suites, in the depths of the rece
2010s
- 1 October: The Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting (2017)2017On October 1, 2017, 58 people were killed and more than 850 injured when a gunman fired on the Route 91 Harvest Festival from the 32nd floor
- The Mob Museum Opens (2012)2012The Mob Museum opened Feb. 14, 2012, in downtown's 1933 federal courthouse, where the Kefauver Committee questioned witnesses about organize
- The Smith Center Opens (2012)2012The $470 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts opened March 10, 2012, in Symphony Park downtown, on land that had been a railroad yar
- The High Roller Opens (2014)2014Caesars' 550-foot High Roller observation wheel opened March 31, 2014, at The LINQ, then the tallest observation wheel in the world.
2020s
- The Raiders Arrive: Allegiant Stadium Opens (2020)2020NFL owners voted 31-1 in 2017 to move the Raiders from Oakland; they opened Allegiant Stadium on September 21, 2020, beating the Saints 34-2
- Sphere Opens (2023)2023Sphere, the 366-foot LED globe beside The Venetian, opened on September 29, 2023, with U2's residency. It cost about $2.3 billion and has a
- Formula 1 Returns: The Las Vegas Grand Prix (2023)2023Formula 1 raced down the Strip on Saturday night, November 18, 2023, on a 6.201 km street circuit. Max Verstappen won; F1 had last raced in
- COVID-19 Closes Nevada's Casinos (2020)2020Nevada's casinos went dark at 11:59 p.m. on March 17, 2020, under orders from Gov. Steve Sisolak, and reopened 78 days later on June 4 at ha
- Fontainebleau Las Vegas Opens (2023)2023Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened December 13, 2023, after an 18-year saga of bankruptcy and changing owners: a $3.7 billion, 67-story, 3,644-r