Touring 10 of the oldest continuously run businesses in Las Vegas

In most places, the pre-World War II era conjures up an idyllic image embodied in Andy Hardy movies.

Las Vegas had already discovered sin as an economic generator when Nevada relegalized gambling in 1931, the pit of the Depression. But in many ways, it was still a small town where the name on the door was usually the person behind the counter and where distant corporate control, with the notable exception of the Union Pacific railroad, was largely unknown.

During this era, for example, the Review-Journal's phone number was simply 6.

Frank Reed, who bought Roberts Roof and Floor with a partner in 1968, recalled it was much like that 40 years after the company started.

"We were very close with a lot of our customers back then," he said. "We even knew a lot of our competitors very well. I think there were six roofers back then. Now, there (are) 106."

When he joined Anderson Dairy in 1955, Harold Bellanger was given a book of past-due accounts that he was supposed to collect.

"At that time, we still had a lot of dirt streets," said Bellanger, now president. "Every time I stopped, I would have to wait in the car for a few seconds while the dust rolled by before I got out." The companies that have survived from the prewar years defy pigeonholing. Some, such as NV Energy, have evolved into major market forces, while others, including the Golden Gate and White Cross Drugs, have remained single locations. A few have managed to remain in the same family and even the same building, but most have changed ownership and moved at least once.

All of them have figured out how to adapt to a rapidly evolving city that has made an art form of blowing up some of its best-known landmarks.

Here's a brief look at 10 of Las Vegas' oldest businesses:

(For the complete story, and descriptions of the 25 oldest companies, see the Aug. 17-23 issue of the Las Vegas Business Press or find it online at lvbusinesspress.com)

•NV Energy (1906)

Less than a year after the railroad stop went into operation, the village acquired one of the cornerstones of modern civilization: Electricity. As much as garnering prestige, the township was trying to eradicate the plague of fires started by kerosene lamps. The Consolidated Power and Telephone Co. started with a pair of small generators and a handful of copper wires and continued to grow on its own until signing a deal to buy power from the railroad in 1914. The phone and power operations were split 15 years later. Consolidated Telephone eventually merged into Embarq -- but the Southern Nevada Power Co. would evolve into Nevada Power, gain the state's first New York Stock Exchange listing, then merge with Reno's Sierra Pacific Resources to form what is now NV Energy.

•Golden Gate (1906)

Though its name and ownership have changed over the years, the Golden Gate set in motion the city's reliance on tourism. The hotel that opened as the Hotel Nevada, with a canvas roof, was across the street from the original train station and marketed itself as a stopover for passengers wanting a taste of Old West anything-goes atmosphere. It became the Sal Sagev in 1931, when gambling was relegalized, then the Golden Gate in the 1950s, but has been a hotel in the same location for more than a century.

•Anderson Dairy (1907)

On a patch of desert near the current University Medical Center, Harry Anderson started a farm with about a dozen cows. In that era, the cost and difficulty of shipping dairy products made homegrown the economical choice for home delivery. Over time, the plant moved and the delivery wagons and cows disappeared, but Anderson has continued by gaining a toehold in supermarket refrigeration cases and the hospitality industry.

•Las Vegas Review-Journal (1909)

Many towns, no matter how small, would often have several newspapers even if they were only single sheets. The Clark County Review began publication as a weekly, changing its name to the Las Vegas Review in 1926. Three years later, the Clark County Journal was launched, but joined forces with the Review after just three months to form the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal. In the 1940s, the R-J took over the Las Vegas Age, the city's first newspaper, then dropped Evening from the name when the ownership changed in 1949.

•White Cross Drugs (1918)

W. E. Ferron is credited with opening at least three drugstores in the city's early days, but White Cross Drugs is the one still standing. Before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took extensive control of the pharmaceutical manufacturing and marketing process, people had to rely on their local druggist to come up with effective medicines. Drugstores, with the soda fountains and lunch counters, were also the fast food industry before it existed. Later, it became the first store to stay open 24 hours, fitting the needs of casino patrons who might need a painkiller in a hurry.

•Palm Mortuary (1926)

Brad and Anna Parks opened their funeral home at a time that was not one of the economically strongest in the city's history but stuck it out for two decades on a site now occupied by part of the Golden Nugget. In the process, Anna Parks gained a place in state history as Nevada's first female licensed mortician. In 1957, Palm moved to North Main Street, and has since added new locations and funeral-related services. Now in the second generation of ownership by the Knauss family, it has remained independent in an industry that has become more concentrated in chain ownership.

•Credit Bureau Central (1928)

As the town grew, merchants organized the Vegas Credit Bureau to pool their information about who paid their bills and who were the deadbeats. Many of the early files were based on newspaper clippings, at a time when almost everything was reported, or even just gossip. In the 1930s, the bureau was set up as a private company, then divided into the Credit Bureau of Southern Nevada and the Collection Bureau Central when ownership changed in 1946. In the early 1980s, the two entities were combined into the Credit Bureau Central, which now does mostly collection work.

•Pioneer Pawn (circa 1931)

With gambling came hard-luck stories and pawnbrokers willing to lend people the money to get home in return for a carefully valued piece of collateral. Pioneer Title & Trust, with the exact starting date uncertain, had a pawn license that it let sit dormant for a number of years. Shortly after World War II, it started Pioneer Jewelry and Loan and hired a staff gemologist to appraise the numerous pieces of jewelry that came in. Although many pawnshops have come and gone over the years, and the chain pawnshops have exerted increasing market muscle, Pioneer Pawn has managed to keep going.

•Wells Cargo (1935)

While casinos have ruled the economy locally, Howard A. Wells Sr. and his two brothers decided to cash in on the natural resource production that was predominant in other parts of the state. Starting with one truck, they hauled timber and mining camps in the Sierra Nevada. Over time, the company evolved into a contractor, particularly for paving, holding the lowest-numbered active license in the state. The company has now passed to the third generation of family ownership.

•KENO radio (1940)

Static had emerged as a major community concern in the 1930s. With a tiny, isolated market, the only radio shows Las Vegas could pick up when radio was king came from other cities, notably Los Angeles, but often on erratic signals. The city had its own station for a short time, but it shut down. In stepped Max and Laura Belle Kelch, who moved from California to open KENO as an ABC affiliate, finally giving the town a signal of its own. Shortly thereafter, they accepted hotelier Tommy Hull's offer to move the studio and tower to the new El Rancho Vegas hotel, the first resort on what would become the Strip.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5290.