Las Vegas, As It Began, As It Grew
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The Las Vegas Story
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Las Vegas, A Centennial History
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Resort City in the Sunbelt
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Young Las Vegas
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From 1905 to 1931, Las Vegas was still a tiny oasis in a big, dangerous desert. Its isolated people made their own swamp coolers, and sometimes their own whiskey. This work captures the memories of a Mojave Mayberry where neighbours took care of each other, not merely because no one else would, but because it was their hometown, and they cared.
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Good for: Searching books and periodicals, including full text access to those in the public domain and limited search for those still under copyright.
Contains: Scanned books and periodicals
1830-1939
Pamphlets, maps, books, ephemeral material and rare printed sources related to the history of the American West.
Good for: Finding primary source materials on exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and more.
Contains: Historical books, pamphlets, serials and other documents about North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Dates covered: 1500-1926
1400-1950s
Primary sources for American Indian history in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books from pre-contact through the mid-20th century.
Good for: Searching newspapers from ethnic, minority, and native communities in the United States.
Contains: Newspaper articles, editorials, and reviews.
Dates covered: 1959-present.
Memoirs and oral histories of pioneer residents such as C.P. Squires, Florence Boyer Squires, and Leon Rockwell also provide insight into these early years. All books are cataloged and can be searched in the library catalog.
The most comprehensive historical records of the earliest days of the town of Las Vegas are those of the Union Pacific Railroad, whose precursor, the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad, built the line on which it laid out a small town to service its trains. It is impossible to separate the town from the railroad in these early years and the extensive documentation created by this most bureaucratized of corporations assured a detailed record of all the details of building a town, from renting lots, building houses, and railroad buildings, to providing and distributing water through its subsidiary Las Vegas Land and Water Co.
Family papers and photograph collections provide a more personal perspective on this early history. They include the Las Vegas “pioneers” families who in some instances were its first settlers, established its first businesses and over the generations provided its leaders. Besides being active participants in this history several were avid local history buffs, very aware of their own history and the adventure of settling a new frontier, and consequently amateur historical collectors. The most notable of these collections are from the Rockwell, Stewart, Squires, Bracken, Ferron, Wilson, Von Tobel, Lake, Eglington, and George families.
