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Las Vegas was transformed from a watering hole to a Mormon Fort to the entertainment mecca of the world,  Mexican trader Antonio Armijo, leading a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles in 1829, veered from the accepted route.  Rafael Rivera, left the main party and ventured into the unexplored desert. Within two weeks, he discovered Las Vegas Springs.  Some 14 years after Rivera's discovery, John C. Fremont led an overland expedition west and camped at Las Vegas Springs on May 13, 1844.  The Fremont Hotel-Casino in Downtown Las Vegas bears his name as does Fremont Street 

Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City traveled to Las Vegas to protect the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route and in 1855 began building a 150-square-foot fort (FORT LAS VEGAS)of sun-dried bricks made of clay soil and grass, a substance known as adobe. By 1890 railroad developers had determined the water-rich Las Vegas Valley would be a prime location for a stop facility and town.

Nevada was the first state to legalize casino-style gambling. The success of the El Rancho Vegas triggered a small building boom in the late 1940s including construction of several hotel- casinos fronting on a two-lane highway leading into Las Vegas from Los Angeles. The stretch of road evolved into today's Las Vegas Strip. Early hotels included the Last Frontier, Thunderbird  and Club Bingo. The rest is History