930 - 1946 - Hoover Dam and the Beginning of the Resort Casinos

On July 3, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed the appropriation bill for the Boulder Dam. Work started on the dam in 1931 and Las Vegas' population swelled from around 5,000 citizens to 25,000, with most of the newcomers looking for a job building the dam. Las Vegas tried hard to put on a respectable air when the Secretary of the Interior Lyman Wilbur visited in 1929 to inspect the site. However one of his subordinates came to him with alcohol on his breath (this was during the time of Prohibition) after a visit to Block 16. It was decided that a federal-controlled town, Boulder City, would be erected for the dam workers. This still did not stop the flow of federal and dam worker money into Las Vegas and the city was recharged when the dam was completed in 1935. In 1937, Southern Nevada Power became the first utility to supply power from the dam, and Las Vegas was its first customer. After much discussion the name of the dam was changed from Boulder to Hoover Dam.

With gambling legalized in 1931, Las Vegas started its rise to world fame as the gambling capital of the world. Gaming (although already legal in Las Vegas) became organized and regulated. The city issued the first gaming license in 1931, to the Northern Club. As other casinos were licensed on Fremont Street like the Las Vegas Club and the Apache Hotel. Fremont Street developed its nickname as Glitter Gulch from all of the lights that were powered by electricity from Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam and its resevoir, Lake Mead, turned into tourist attractions on their own and the need for additional higher class hotels became clear. Freemont street received the city's first traffic light in 1931.

In 1940, US 95 was finally extended south into Las Vegas, giving the city 2 major roads that provided access from the rest of the country. Also in 1940 Las Vegas's first permanent radio station KENO began broadcasting replacing the niche occupied earlier by transient broadcasters.'

History of Las Vegas

On January 25, 1941 the U.S. Army finally moved into Las Vegas when Las Vegas Mayor, John L. Russell, signed over land to the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps for the development of a flexible gunnery school for the Army Air Corps. The gunnery school would become Nellis Air Force Base. The U.S Army was not pleased with prostitution being legal in Las Vegas and in 1942 used it's clout to force Las Vegas to outlaw the practice, handing Block 16, which since the inception of Las Vegas, was the equivalent of the city's "Red Light District", it's death sentence.

On April 3, 1941, hotel owner, Thomas Hull opened the El Rancho Vegas. It was the first resort on what would become the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel gained much of its fame from the all you can eat buffet that it offered.

Three years later, on October 30, 1942, R. E. Griffith rebuilt on the site of a nightclub called [[Pair O’Dice], that first opened in 1930, and renamed it Hotel Last Frontier. A few more resorts were built on and around Fremont Street but the next hotel on The Strip showed pubilcly the influence of Organized Crime on Las Vegas. Bugsy Siegel, with help from Meyer Lansky built The Flamingo in 1946.

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