An engineer by trade and a politician by chance, Nevada’s first state engineer brought prosperity to the place he was proud to call home.
An archaeologist who found paradise amid the ruins of the Lost City along the banks of the Muddy River proved Nevada was inhabited long before modern times.
A Frenchman’s dream of not one but two lakes in the desert with recreational facilities for all became a magnet for heat-stricken Las Vegans and tourists alike.
The aviation age took flight in Las Vegas largely through the efforts of one man who put the growing town on aviators’ maps by making Anderson Field planeworthy.
While he had dreams of helping build a city brick by brick, a civil engineer soon became a civil servant whose eye on the sky brought air service to Southern Nevada.
A woman who was unimpressed with what others thought she should and should not do made a life of teaching Southern Nevada’s children to think for themselves.
As district attorney for a county just coming into its own, a self-taught lawyer set a high standard for law enforcement amid an influx of lawlessness.
The valley’s political and civic future was shaped in part by two brothers, one of whom built the Review-Journal into the state’s largest newspaper.
Chronicling the events — whether they were tea parties or murder trials — that made Las Vegas the city it is today was this journalist’s first love; her second love was the city itself.
A civil engineer who went from public to private employment just for the chance to build Hoover Dam realized his dream and put Las Vegas and Boulder City on the map.
The rigid influence of the man who controlled the lives of the workers who built Hoover Dam, and the town where they lived, is still felt in that town’s legacy of no gambling.
To keep her railroad-working husband and sons respectable, a woman who had no background in gaming held Las Vegas’ first casino license.
After selling the trailblazing Meadows, Admiral Cornero took to the high seas, but his Stardust dreams left their mark on the Strip.
A church-goer who was never a hypocrite, the man who founded North Las Vegas believed in the motto live and let live — without government interference.
In making his dreams of Las Vegas come true, an early mayor allowed old bad habits to get in the way of equality among those who called the valley home.
A man of firsts — first automobile dealership, first community celebration, first highway to Las Vegas — found humor in almost every situation.
A visionary, whose El Rancho gave one of the more famous streets in the world its start, began a trend in hotel-casinos in Las Vegas.
The man who would build the biggest magnesium plant in the world during World War II took on the big job despite considerable obstacles.
Female workers flourished during the war years in positions initially thought of as too difficult for women.
A member of a pioneer Mormon family, who found himself thrust into a national office after a key official died, returned to the city he loved and made himself and his family proud.
The Silver State’s champion who served as a Nevada Supreme Court justice found himself on the losing side of many an election until he was able to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.
A radio man with a gift for promotion, KENO’s first owner proved to the rest of Las Vegas that publicity is everything.
The mobster with the movie star looks and the certifiable paranoia brought Las Vegas much more attention after his death than he did during his short life.
A father of six with a flair for lettering found his niche in the neon-bathed streets of a fledgling gambling town called Las Vegas.
A wealthy man who wanted to make his own way in the world brought Southern Nevada into the commuter aviation age by developing its own scheduled airline.
A female flier when soaring through the clouds was a man’s domain, she helped put Las Vegas on the aviation map and bring commercial air travel to the valley.
Publicity played a big part in Las Vegas’ formative years as a resort destination, and one publicist used every cornball stunt he could think of to get hotels’ showgirls global exposure.
Shady dealings did little to dull the luster that this private man brought to the city of glitz