Before the casinos, before the mob, before Steve Wynn, Las Vegas was a dusty stop on a trail primarily used by settlers and for monthly mail service from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles. A series of natural springs provided water to support the Paiute tribes in the area and to refresh travelers taking the route.

Those springs and the surrounding vegetation prompted early Spanish explorers to name the area Las Vegas, “the meadows” or the fertile valleys. In 1855, the Mormon Church saw the location as the perfect spot for a settlement. The adobe buildings of the Old Mormon Fort comprise the oldest non-Indian structure in Southern Nevada and the oldest historic building still stands today.

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