How FDR and the New Deal made Las Vegas

 
Above: A postcard shows the WPA-built War Memorial Building in Las Vegas, Nevada. The building was constructed in 1936-1937 and demolished in 1971. Postcard by "C.T. Art-Colortone," scanned from personal copy, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The back of the postcard describes the building. Postcard by "C.T. Art-Colortone," scanned from personal copy, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

The making of Las Vegas

A National Register of Historic Places registration form, for the Las Vegas High School Neighborhood Historic District, highlights how FDR and the New Deal made Las Vegas:

A Civic Facility:

"For several years a convention center had been supported by Las Vegas's forty or more fraternal lodges... Satisfied that the building would qualify as a 'civic auditorium' and thus fulfill its project

guidelines, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed $80,000 worth of free labor and materials. When it opened in 1936, the War Memorial Building provided Las Vegas with its first

major venue for conventions - a major step toward developing a full-scale resort economy."

The New Deal pledge:

"As the supply center and distribution point for supplying Boulder City and the construction of the [Hoover] Dam, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal pledged millions more to outfit Las Vegas with new streets, sewers, and other improvements."

Infrastructure:

"Blessed suddenly with... new advantages, Las Vegans took the initiative, improving their government, developing new industry and pursuing New Deal funds to expand their town's infrastructure."

Parks and Schools:

"The New Deal also 'finished' the half-built City Park (located on the old fairgrounds between Stewart, Washington, Fifth and Main), equipping it with trees, driveways, baseball fields, and other

recreational facilities. Then, following a major fire in May 1934 which gutted the city's old high school (which now functions as a grade school) Public Works Administration officials agreed to build a new grade school at Fourth and Bridger (today the Clark County Courthouse Annex and listed on the National Register of Historic Places)."

Golfing, Fishing, and More Tourism:

"The New Deal continued to build facilities that would eventually contribute to Las Vegas's emergence as a resort city. Thanks to the WPA, a public golf course and fish hatchery (in the City Park) for newly created Boulder Lake (today Lake Mead) both opened in 1937. Access to Las Vegas was also improved when New Deal funding finished the paving and widening of the Los Angeles Highway - an event which forever abolished southern Nevada's remoteness."

An Airport:

"Of greater importance, however, was the new airport Las Vegas hoped to receive as a by-product of President Roosevelt's program to strengthen western air defenses. For the previous five years, Western Air Express had successfully blocked efforts to use New Deal funding to build a municipal airport on its property. Now, with American security threatened by Hitler, federal officials brushed aside the company's interests [and the airport was built]."

Above: Upcoming street work for Las Vegas, funded by the New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA), from the February 5, 1937 edition of the Nevada State Journal (p. 6). Image courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: PWA fish-rearing ponds for Las Vegas, from the June 1, 1937 edition of the Nevada State Journal (p. 9). The article reports: "Sportsmen predict the bass [from the New Deal fish-rearing ponds] will make [Lake Mead] a fishermen's paradise." Today, the National Park Service notes that, "Lake Mead has become famous for its striped bass with an occasional catch weighing in at over 40 pounds. Popular fish include rainbow trout, catfish, sunfish, largemouth bass, striped bass, smallmouth bass and crappie." Image courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A PWA-built grammar school for Las Vegas, as well as a list of some other PWA projects for Nevada statewide, from the June 20, 1937 edition of the Nevada State Journal (p. 9). Image courtesy of newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.