Nevada Historical Marker #224
Kyle (Kiel) Ranch. Established by Conrad Kiel in 1875, this was one of only two major ranches in Las Vegas valley throughout the 19th century. The Kiel tenure was marked by violence. Neighboring rancher Archibald Stewart was killed in a gunfight here in 1884. Edwin and William Kiel were found murdered on the ranch in October 1900.The San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad purchased the ranch in 1903 and later sold it to Las Vegas banker John S. Park, who built the elegant white mansion.Subsequent owners included Edwin Taylor (1924-39), whose cowboy ranch hands competed in national rodeos, and Edwin Losee (1939-58), who developed the Boulderado Dude Ranch here, a popular residence for divorce seekers.In the late 1950s, business declined and the ranch was sold. In 1976, 26 acres of the original ranch were purchased jointly by the City of North Las Vegas and its bicentennial committee as a historic project.
Kiel Ranch Historic Park, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #40
Las Vegas (The Meadows). In the Las Vegas Springs The famous Las Vegas Springs rose from the desert floor here, sending two streams of water across the valley to nurture the native grasses, and create lush meadows in the valley near Sunrise Mountain. The natural oasis of meadow and mesquite forest was the winter homeland of Southern Paiutes, who often spent the summers in the Charleston Mountains. An unknown Spanish-speaking sojourner, named this place “Las Vegas” meaning “The Meadows”. Antonio Armijo led a trading party from Santa Fe to California in 1829-30, traversing part of the Las Vegas Valley. One branch off the main Old Spanish Trail included the Springs as a resting spot. On one of his western exploration trips, John C. Fremont camped here on May 3, 1844 and was the first to officially put Las Vegas on the map.Because of artesian water here, Mormons established the Las Vegas Mission and Fort in 1855 a few miles east of the Springs. The San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad Company acquired water rights and land, with which it created the City of Las Vegas in 1905.
Vegas Spring, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #142
Old Spanish Trail (Mountain Springs Pass). This portion of the Old Spanish Trail was discovered in January 1830, by Antonio Armijo during his first trip from Santa Fe to Los Angeles. The springs just north of this marker provided excellent water and fed meadows of luxuriant grass for draft animals. Two days were required to travel between Las Vegas and Mountain Springs Pass. The trip was broken at Cottonwood Springs, the site of Blue Diamond, where an early start was usually made in order to climb the pass by nightfall. Early travellers often referred to the area as Piute Springs, but the present title has been used for over a century. The altitude made Mountain Springs one of the favorite camping spots on the trail.
Nevada State Rd 160, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #86
Tule Springs. Tule springs is one of the few sites in the United States where evidence suggests the presence of man before 11,000 B.C.Scientific evidence shows this area, once covered with sagebrush and bordered with yellow-pine forests, had many springs. These springs were centers of activity for both big game animals and human predators. Evidence shown at these fossil springs shows the presence, 14,000 to 111000 years ago, of several extinct animals: the ground sloth, mammoth, prehistoric horse, and American camel. The first Nevada record of the extinct giant condor comes from Tule Springs.Early man, perhaps living in the valley as early as 13,000 years ago, and definitely present 11,000 years ago, was a hunter of the big game.Small populations of desert culture people, from about 7,000 years ago to the historic period, depended upon vegetable foods and small game for subsistence.Late Pleistocene geological stratigraphy in few other areas is as complete and well known.
Floyd Lamb Park, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #270
The Morelli House. The Morelli House is a classic example of Las Vegas mid-century residential architecture. It was built in 1959 by the Sands Hotel orchestra leader Antonio Morelli and his wife Helen. Originally located at 52 Country Club Lane in the former Desert Inn Country Club Estates, now the Wynn resort, the modernistic house then featured an open plan that integrated interior and exterior spaces, natural materials, and the latest innovative home appliances. In 2001, the Junior League of Las Vegas relocated the Morelli House to its present site and completed restoration in 2009.Listed 2001, Nevada State Register of Historic PlacesListed 2007, City of Las Vegas Historic Property RegisterThis historic preservation project was funded, in part, by the Nevada Commission for Cultural Affairs and through generous donations from the Las Vegas community and members of the Junior League.
E Bridger Ave, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #190
Original Homesite Of A Las Vegas Pioneer “Pop” Squires 1865 1958. Charles “Pop” Squires, often referred to as “the Father of Las Vegas,” lived at this location, with his wife Delphine, from 1931 until his death in 1958.Squires first arrived in the Las Vegas Valley in February 1905. He and his partners established a lumberyard, a tent hotel, a real estate firm, and the First State Bank. In March 1906, “Pop” assisted in the formation of the Consolidated Power & Telephone Company, bringing electricity and phone service to the new town.In 1908, Squires and his wife purchased the community’s only newspaper, the Las Vegas Age. Squires campaigned for the creation of Clark County in 1909. He subsequently worked on incorporating Las Vegas into a city. With his wife and the voice of their newspaper, the couple became advocates for women’s suffrage. As a member of the League of the Southwest and the Colorado River Commission, Squires helped advance plans that eventually led to the construction of Hoover Dam.Upon “Pop’s” passing, Las Vegas Sun reporter Bob Faiss wrote, “It seems strange that Las Vegas, a modern boomtown … should owe so much to the foresight of one man. But there is little we have today that wasn’t given an initial shove by ‘Pop’ Squires.”
South 7th St, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #35
Las Vegas Old Mormon Fort (Nevada’s Oldest Building). Las Vegas had its beginning at this location on June 14, 1855, when thirty-two Mormon missionaries arrived from Utah under the leadership of William Bringhurst. They set to work establishing farm fields that summer, and began to build a 150-foot square adobe fort that September, enclosing eight two-story houses. They cultivated small gardens and fields, planted fruit and shade trees, and tried to convert the local Southern Paiutes.Most of the Mormons departed in 1857, and by 1865, Octavius Decatur Gass began developing the Las Vegas Rancho, using the adobe structures as headquarters. He farmed and raised beef cattle, supplying travellers and miners in the Potosi region.Helen J. Stewart, owner of the property from 1882 to 1902, expanded the ranch to 1,800 acres, which she sold to the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad for the Las Vegas townsite. The Company auctioned the land on May 15, 1905, starting the process of building the Las Vegas around you today.
E Washington Avenue, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #32
Old Spanish Trail. Stretching for 130 miles across Clark County, this historic horse trail became Nevada’s first route of commerce in 1829 when trade was initiated between Santa Fe and Los Angeles. The trail was later used by the wagons of the “49ers” and by Mormon pioneers. Concrete posts marking the trail were erected in 1965.NEVADA
E Washington Avenue, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #141
Old Spanish Trail Armijo’s Route. On January 8, 1830, the first pack train to pass from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles crossed Las Vegas Valley. Antonio Armijo, a merchant in Santa Fe, commanded the train and roughly sixty men. The successful completion of the journey opened a trade route between the two Mexican provinces of New Mexico and California.Following the “longest, crookedest, most arduous pack mule route in the history of America,” Armijo’s party and others brought woolen goods to Los Angeles and returned to Santa Fe driving herds of valuable mules and horses. Later termed the Old Spanish Trail, this route was the principal means of transportation between the two Mexican territories, until the end of the Mexican War in 1848.
Lake Mead Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #195
The Last Spike. On January 30, 1905, near this site, workers drove the last spike that completed the railroad between Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California. This was the last “transcontinental” line to southern California and one of the last lines built to the Pacific Coast. Although there was no formal celebration at the time of the last spike, those present gave some recognition to the event.Las Vegas owes its existence to the railroad, then known as the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. Because the valley had a good supply of water, the railroad company platted the Las Vegas town site and established a division point there.
S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Nevada Historical Marker #214
Rafael Rivera. This historical marker commemorates the valor and service of pioneer scout Rafael Rivera, the first European American of record to view and traverse Las Vegas Valley, who scouted for Antonio Armijo’s sixty-man trading party from Abiquiu, New Mexico. In January 1830, young Rivera ascended Vegas wash twenty miles east of this marker and blazed a route to the Mojave River in California by way of the Armargosa River.Rivera’s pioneering route became a vital link in the Old Spanish Trail, with Las Vegas Springs an essential stop on this popular route to Southern California. John C. Frémont mapped the trail in 1844. Three years later, following an extension of the course to Salt Lake Valley, the route became known in this area as the Mormon Trail. Today the Old Spanish Trail closely parallels Interstate route #15.
Mountain Vista St, Las Vegas, NV, United States