Vegas, of course, wasn’t always the glamorous city it is today. At first nothing more than a swamp, then  a fort, a tent town, a mining town, and then…the boom happend.

Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City traveled to Las Vegas to protect the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route and in 1855 began building a fort.  Mormon pioneers abandoned the settlement in 1858, partly because of Indian raids.

 In 1864, Nevada is admitted into the union as the 36th state. This day is recognized annually as a state holiday.

The discovery of precious metals and other minerals lead to the beggining of the mining industry.

By 1890 railroad developers had determined the water-rich Las Vegas Valley would be a prime location for a stop facility and town.

Work on the first railroad grade into Las Vegas began the summer of 1904. The tent town called Las Vegas sprouted saloons, stores and boarding houses.

Las Vegas is founded as a city on May 15, 1905, when 110 acres of land situated between Stewart Avenue on the north, Garces Avenue to the south, Main Street to the west, and 5th Street (Las Vegas Boulevard) to the east, were auctioned off.

 The Nevada Legislature created Clark County on July 1, 1909. The new county was named after William Clark, who brought the railroad to southern Nevada. Prior to the formation of Clark County, southern Nevada was part of Lincoln County.

Las Vegas was incorporated on March 16, 1911. The population was 800. Clark County had a population of 3,321.

http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/FactsStatistics/history.htm

http://www.lvol.com/lvoleg/hist/lvhist.html