Las Vegas is a city in the Mojave Desert of southern Nevada, officially founded in 1905 as a railroad town and transformed over the following century into the world’s best-known gambling and entertainment destination. Its name, Spanish for “the meadows,” refers to the desert springs that first drew travelers to the site.

Where Is Las Vegas Located?

Las Vegas sits in a desert valley in Clark County in southern Nevada, surrounded by mountain ranges including Mount Charleston, which rises to nearly 12,000 feet nearby. Lake Mead, formed by the completion of the Hoover Dam in 1936, lies just southeast of the city and supplies much of the water that has sustained its growth in an otherwise arid environment, according to the City of Las Vegas.

A Brief History of Las Vegas

Indigenous peoples lived in the Las Vegas Valley for thousands of years before Spanish traders led by Antonio Armijo passed through in 1829 and gave the area its name after its desert wetlands and meadows. Mormon missionaries built a short-lived settlement, the Old Mormon Fort, in 1855, abandoning it within a few years. The modern city traces its founding to May 15, 1905, when mining executive William A. Clark auctioned off town lots near a new railroad depot, a sale that found buyers for nearly every available parcel, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Nevada briefly banned gambling in 1910 before legalizing it again in 1931, the same decade that construction of the Hoover Dam brought thousands of workers, and the water and electricity they needed, to the region.

Las Vegas’s Culture and Economy

Fremont Street, not the modern Strip, was the city’s original main thoroughfare; the Strip itself did not begin to take shape until 1941, when the El Rancho Vegas resort opened south of downtown, according to the City of Las Vegas. World War II brought military installations and defense industries to the region, and postwar population growth was dramatic, nearly tripling between 1940 and 1950 and more than doubling again the following decade as air conditioning made the desert climate more livable year-round. Nevada’s relatively simple marriage licensing requirements later made Las Vegas a major wedding destination, with more than 100,000 weddings performed in the city annually.

What Is Las Vegas Known For?

Las Vegas’s most recognizable single landmark is the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, a freestanding neon and incandescent sign erected in 1959 at the southern end of the Strip. It was designed by Betty Whitehead Willis, and the U.S. National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places lists it as a historic object, with 1959 recorded as its year of construction and 1950 to 1974 as its period of historical significance. Beyond the sign, the city is internationally known for its casino resorts, large-scale entertainment, and convention business, all built on the foundation of legalized gambling and the financing that Nevada banks, including one opened in 1954 by Mormon banker Parry Thomas specifically to lend to casinos other banks would not serve, made possible.

Why Las Vegas Matters

Las Vegas matters as a striking example of a city built almost entirely around a single industry, legalized gaming, that transformed a small desert rail stop into one of the most visited entertainment destinations in the world within a few generations. Its growth also illustrates how large-scale infrastructure, from the Hoover Dam’s water and power to the rise of air conditioning, can make sustained urban growth possible in an otherwise harsh desert environment.

Key Takeaways

• Las Vegas was officially founded on May 15, 1905, when William A. Clark auctioned town lots near a new rail depot.
• Nevada legalized gambling in 1931, the same decade Hoover Dam construction brought water, power, and workers to the region.
• The Las Vegas Strip did not begin to form until 1941, with the opening of the El Rancho Vegas resort.
• The “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, designed by Betty Whitehead Willis and erected in 1959, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Relatively simple Nevada marriage laws have made Las Vegas host to more than 100,000 weddings a year.

Sources

• City of Las Vegas, “Reasons Why Vegas Is a Historical Gem”
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Las Vegas, Nevada: History”
• U.S. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign, The” (Reference #09000284)

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed October 5, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue