Las Vegas: The City That Shouldn’t Exist

In the middle of one of the harshest deserts in North America sits a city that, by all rights, should not exist. What began as a watering hole for ancient peoples became a railroad stop, then a gambling outpost, and ultimately one of the most famous cities on earth. Its story involves mobsters, megarezorts, nuclear tests, and reinvention after reinvention. But how exactly did a barren stretch of desert in the middle of nowhere become the entertainment capital of the world? Learn more about Las Vegas and how it beat the odds on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? Throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Throughline podcast from NPR. Long before neon lights, casinos, and Elvis impersonators, the Las Vegas Valley was something entirely different. During the late Ice Age, the region was a wetland oasis fed by springs and marshes, including large mammals like mammoths and ancient camels. Humans have lived in the area for over 10,000 years, leaving behind tools, petroglyphs, and archaeological remnants. Around the first millennium, the southern Paiute people inhabited the valley. They adapted to the harsh desert environment through seasonal migration, hunting and gathering, relying heavily on the valley's scarce water resources. At this stage, Las Vegas was not a city, but a rare and valuable watering stop in the middle of the Mojave Desert. The name Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish. It dates back to 1829, when a scouting party led by Antonio Armijo passed through the valley. A young scout named Rafael Rivera recognized the lush springs and gave the area its name. These springs made Las Vegas an important stop along the old Spanish trail, a trade route between New Mexico and California. In 1844, explorer John C. Fremont passed through the area and documented it, bringing wider attention to the region. His name later became immortalized on Fremont Street, which remains a centerpiece of downtown Las Vegas. After the valley's discovery, little changed for about 20 years. In 1855, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young, sent Mormon settlers into the valley. The Mormons built a fort during their time in the valley, ultimately abandoning the area in 1857. In 1856, Octavius Gus took over the fort and established a ranch, which he named Las Vegas Rancho, to distinguish it from another Las Vegas in New Mexico. Gus eventually failed to pay a loan, so in the following years, the property was purchased by Helen and Archibald Stewart. They continued to live in the ranch until Helen sold it in 1902. The ranch was then sold to US Senator William Clark. He wanted to capitalize on his profitable San Pedro Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. Clark purchased the land and water rights from Stewart, then auctioned off the land after the workers had arrived. Modern Las Vegas began in 1905 when the land was auctioned off to create a town along the Union Pacific Railroad line, connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Seeing the potential profit in settling the area, another businessman, J.T. McWilliams, purchased a large plot of land. However, McWilliams' location was not Las Vegas, but rather a nearby settlement known as McWilliamstown. This led to competition between Las Vegas and McWilliams. Clark launched aggressive campaigns to lure more people to his town. Clark's main selling point was refunding train fares for land buyers in Las Vegas. Clark also worked to secure benefits for anyone moving to his town. He created the Las Vegas Land and Water Company, which ensured that any buyers who moved in would have immediate access to sewer, road, and water maintenance. And this strategy worked, as McWilliams could not match Las Vegas' sanitation and maintenance services. Las Vegas became officially incorporated in the state of Nevada in 1911. The voters had decided to turn the railroad company town into a formal municipality. Interestingly, what Las Vegas is best known for, gambling, was actually against the law when the city was first incorporated. In 1910, Nevada had passed a law making gambling illegal. Still, even in certain years, Las Vegas maintained its reputation for vice. Residents opened illegal casinos, speakeasies, and brothels, which fostered early ties to organized crime. Additionally, the city attracted visitors from Los Angeles. Legal from Los Angeles, like Las Vegas, for two primary reasons, the weather and Nevada's relaxed laws. Specifically, divorce laws, which only required that someone live in the state for six weeks before they could file. Likewise, prostitution had always been legal in Nevada since statehood in 1864, as they allowed counties and municipalities to regulate it at the local level. The Los Angeles connection brought well-connected entertainment industry figures to the city, boosting the city's population to 5,000 people by the year 1930. But then everything changed in Las Vegas in 1931. First, gambling was legalized in the state of Nevada, and second, construction began on the Boulder Dam, today known as the Hoover Dam. The construction of the Hoover Dam brought thousands of workers into the city. The project took place during the Great Depression, and it was one of the most ambitious public works ever completed. Capitalizing on the influx of new residents, businessmen quickly sought to make a profit. With casinos now legal, they began to open, drawing on workers' disposable income. The dam's construction provided the vital resources of water and electricity, which were essential for Las Vegas's sustainability. This influx of power facilitated the opening of yet more establishments, such as casinos and nightclubs. Another key aspect of Las Vegas's development was World War II. The federal government placed two major military installations near the city. These projects brought in thousands of soldiers and civilians, many of whom stayed after the war. Organized crime took root in Las Vegas early, becoming tightly associated with the city. The connections stemmed from gambling being illegal when the city was founded. As Las Vegas expanded, it attracted numerous individuals, some involved in questionable enterprises who contributed to the city's development. Guy McAfee, a former Los Angeles police officer accused of corruption, fled to Las Vegas in 1939, and after arriving, he purchased several nightclubs. California hotel owner Thomas Hall created Vegas's first luxury resort, the El Rancho Vegas. He made the resort attractive with gardens and pools. This growth in casinos and entertainment venues eventually caught the attention of the New York mob. Vegas was attractive to mobsters due to the legality of gambling. And the fact that casinos were all cash businesses also made it extremely easy to skim money off the top. Bugsy Siegel was a gangster who moved from New York City and opened the Flamingo Resort in 1945. This establishment was a pivotal moment for the Las Vegas strip as it became the first casino to fully embrace the luxury and glamour that we associate with Las Vegas today, shifting away from the Western themes to focus on sheer opulence. The Flamingo success was so significant that it served as the blueprint for all subsequent casinos, fundamentally reshaping the strip's character. Siegel was gunned down in 1947 in Beverly Hills, and he served as the basis for the character Moe Berg in The Godfather. During the 1950s and 60s, mobsters built multiple casinos and resorts, including the New Frontier, Riviera, Sahara, and Sands. These mobsters are credited with ushering in what's known as the Golden Age of Las Vegas. Money began to pour into Las Vegas, not only from organized crime, but also from Wall Street, the Mormon Church, and Union pension funds fueling its growth. The city gained further recognition as entertainers began establishing residencies. These residencies are long-term engagements, typically featuring a superstar performer who commits to performing at a single venue for extended periods, sometimes lasting for years. The first residency in Vegas was Liberace, performing around the end of World War II. His residency led to other resorts and casinos to bring in other artists. Notable performers included Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, and Elvis Presley. Publicity from these acts helped make the city a destination for gambling and entertainment. Even nuclear tests in the 1950s drew visitors to Las Vegas. Above-ground testing conducted at the Nevada test site just 65 miles away could easily be seen from hotels in the city, which touted their view of the detonations. Organized crime in Las Vegas began to decrease during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Despite its role in shaping the city, Nevada sought to curb its dominance during this period. The Nevada Gaming Commission was founded in the late 1950s. It served as a licensing and oversight body for gambling. The commission worked to limit gangsters' control in the city. One example of this was the creation of the Black Book used to fight corruption and gambling. Anyone with a criminal record was banned from entering, owning, or working in casinos. The Gaming Commission was highly effective in enforcing the law. Its efforts were largely successful in regulating the industry, eliminating corruption, and keeping organized crime from increasing its influence over the casinos. Corporate entities replaced organized crime in managing many resorts and casinos, which shifted Las Vegas's leadership from an illicit to corporate structure. Howard Hughes is actually one of the best examples of this. Howard Hughes arrived in Las Vegas in 1966 and stayed at the desert Inn. And he never left the hotel. Instead, he just purchased it. Over the following years, Hughes bought more hotels, turning his profit into hundreds of millions of dollars. Howard Hughes ushered in the era of corporate Las Vegas, leading the strip to transform once more. One of the people to take a cue from Howard Hughes was an entrepreneur named Steve Wynn. Wynn had a history in Vegas having owned many casinos, but his claim to fame was opening the first mega resort, The Mirage, in 1989. The city kept growing to keep pace with rising tourism and gambling. Many old casinos were demolished to make room for new casinos, resorts, and attractions. Massive hotels like the Bellagio and MGM Grand, as well as attractions like Replicas of the Eiffel Tower, Venetian Canals, and New York Skyscrapers were all put in place. Before the corporate acquisitions, Las Vegas was known as an affordable destination, where the profits came primarily from gambling. Visitors enjoyed inexpensive accommodations, complementary attractions, and cheap dining options. However, since falling under control of mega corporations, prices across Las Vegas have increased dramatically. The high prices have reduced visitors by 7.5% in 2025, and Las Vegas' tourist numbers are expected to decline further over the next several years. Nonetheless, Las Vegas remains one of the world's largest tourism destinations. Still known for gambling and events, the city still attracts 40 million visitors annually, and is widely considered to be the entertainment capital of the world. Roughly a third of the state of Nevada's revenue comes from gambling, making the city one of the best ways to bring additional money into the state's economy. The Las Vegas Convention Center is one of the largest convention centers in the country, and Las Vegas is one of the few cities that has enough hotel rooms to host the largest events, such as the Consumer Electronics Show. Las Vegas is one of the most unusual cities in world history. Unlike most major cities, it did not grow gradually from agriculture or industry. Instead, it was engineered almost entirely around tourism, entertainment, and legalized vice. It's also a location where absent legalized gambling, a city would probably have never sprung up. From a desert spring to a railroad stop, from a gambler's outpost to a global icon of entertainment, Las Vegas has reinvented itself again and again in ways few cities ever have. And perhaps that's the real story of Las Vegas. Not just what it is, but how it consistently becomes something new. The executive producer for Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Othkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode was provided by Olivia Ash. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show for on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. This is where everything happens that's outside of the show. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read on the show.