On September 17, 1930, hundreds of people gathered at Boulder Junction, Las Vegas (near the cross streets of Valley View and Russell today) to mark the start of construction of the 22 mile Union Pacific railroad track to link Las Vegas to Boulder City, as well as the beginning of the Boulder Dam project. The […]
On September 10th 1957, the first classes were held on the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) campus in a new 13,000-square-foot building; serving a growing post-war population in need of higher education services. The university started as an extension program from the University of Nevada Reno (UNR) back in 1951. It gained independence from […]
On 29 August 1946 the U.S.S. Nevada, the second ship to be named after our state, was decommissioned. The U.S.S. Nevada was a battleship nearly 200 yard long with a crew of 2,200 men. Launched in 1914, she was the first to have what were to become standards for US Navy battleships such as new […]
#OnThisDay in 1966 Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino opened with a lavish launch party that reportedly cost $1,000,000! At the time Caesars Palace was the largest hotel ever built as a single unified project in Nevada. It had 700 rooms across 14 crescent-shaped floors, although some were still being built when it first opened its […]
This Spring through a combination of the UNLV Regent’s Service Program, and the generous donation following the 2020 Fall silent auction by the Friends of NSMLV, the museum acquired a special record player and we embarked upon a new project – digitizing record albums! Our history collection contains many vinyl records (6”, singles, 12”, LPs, […]
On June 2nd 1966 the Four Queens Hotel & Casino opened on Fremont Street, downtown Las Vegas. The casino was named after the four daughters of the founder and president Ben Goffstein. In turn, they were named after a queen from a pack of cards: Michele (the eldest) was the Queen of Spades, Benita the […]
On 23 May 1955 the Dunes Hotel and Casino opened – the 10th resort on the Strip, and Las Vegas was booming! Two other casinos had opened in the previous month, the Riviera and Royal Nevada, and the off-Strip Moulin Rouge was planned for the following day. The Dunes was themed on the stories of […]
On May 3rd, 1999, the Venetian Hotel and casino opened its doors to the sounds of trumpets and singing gondoliers! The Venetian is located where the Sands Hotel and Casino used to stand. Construction started in 1997 and the final building comprised of 3,036 rooms, was 35 storys high and eventually cost $1.5 billion – making […]
On April 24th 1950, Wilbur Clark’s Desert Inn opened its doors and became the fifth major resort on the Strip. While it had taken a couple of years to complete the construction due to money troubles, the final building was a place of luxury and offered 300 hotel rooms. The resort also provided views of […]
On April 18th 2006, Red Rock Resort in Summerlin opened its doors. Named after the local Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, it was built at a cost of $925 million. It has a contemporary design involving a desert-themed influence, although there are touches of old style Las Vegas incorporating luxurious chandeliers, the one in […]
