Why Was Las Vegas Built in a Desert?

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Situated in a barren desert landscape, Las Vegas exists for one reason—water. Popular as a waystation for travelers, the Las Vegas Valley attracted the attention of railroad visionaries at the end of the 19th century. After purchasing land from a local widow, the developers laid out a town in 1905. Vegas hasn’t slowed down since.
Building on one opportunity after another, the citizens of that railroad town refused to entertain the notion that they could fail. Buoyed by the building of Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) during the Great Depression, Vegas played a major role in World War II. But the war years also put Las Vegas on the radar of organized crime as a wide-open town ripe for casinos that hid extensive money-laundering operations.


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