A City Built by
Visionaries
Las Vegas is the fruit of American pioneering and American capitalism. A city built by visionaries and backed by risk takers, Las Vegas is now one of the most dynamic and economically productive places in the world. Even the first non-native travelers through Las Vegas were adventurers – John C. Fremont, famed explorer of the American West (and the namesake of Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas), was the first to put Las Vegas on a map in 1844. Mormon families then began to pass through the area when traveling from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, and they built a mission in the valley in 1855 that was sub- sequently abandoned after two years due to crop failures. Almost a decade later in 1865, a former Gold Rusher named Octavius Gass purchased the old Mormon mission property. In an effort to fund the operations of his 960- acre, 30-employee ranch, Gass loaded the property with debt. He took out a $5,000 loan from Archibald Stewart
in 1879 and put up the Las Vegas ranch as collateral. Gass ultimately defaulted on the loan, and Stewart foreclosed and moved his growing family to the ranch. Stewart profitably operated the Las Vegas ranch, selling goods to miners in southern Nevada and providing a way station for travelers, until he unexpectedly died in 1884 at age 51. His wife, Helen Stewart, took over the ranch and taught herself how to run the business – all while raising five children. Not only did she successfully operate the ranch, she also recognized the value of the surrounding land and, believing a railroad would eventually be built through the town, she astutely acquired several surround- ing parcels to become the largest landowner in the county by 1890. In 1902, she sold the Las Vegas ranch to the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad, and remained heavily involved in the community until her passing in 1926. To this day, Helen Stewart is known as “The First Lady of Las Vegas.”
TOP: Ruins of a Nevada Gold Rush town, The Strip at night (early 2000s), the con- struction of Resorts World, The Mirage at night, OPPOSITE: Sphere, 2025
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VICI LAS VEGAS
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