North Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

🇺🇸 North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. The city was incorporated on May 1, 1946. It is the 4th most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the 77th most populous city in the United States.

History During the 1860s, Conrad Kiel established a ranch at the modern-day intersection of Carey Street and Losee Road in what would be North Las Vegas. In 1917, libertarian Thomas L. Williams of Eureka, Utah visited the Las Vegas Valley, back when Las Vegas, Las Vegas Indian Colony, and Arden were the only entities in the valley. He did not approve of Las Vegas, perhaps because of its rowdiness (he was a Christian, or at least went to church), or because Las Vegas' attempts at municipal control over its citizens. However, he was pleased by the abundance of the valley's artesian water and potential for agriculture. Two years later in 1919, he moved together with his family (his wife and three sons) to a 160-acre piece of land a mile from Las Vegas. That year, he founded his town, developing the town by building for himself and his family a house, sinking a well, grading roads, extending power lines, and forming a system of irrigation ditches. Williams believed that churches and church people should govern the new town, and so encouraged churches to buy property in the town. In 1919, the federally enforced Volstead Act was passed, which prohibited the sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol. Since there was no local law against alcohol, and because of a system of tunnels that would connect the town's underground speakeasies, the town attracted bootleggers from Las Vegas, although Williams was initially unaware of this. This gave his town the nickname of "Old Town". When he did discover it, he stuck with agriculture for his economic purposes.

In 1924, Williams built his second house that was the first business of the town. It was named the Oasis Auto Court, and it contained a grocery store, a campground, a post office, a community centre, and a telephone. At the time, it was the town's only telephone. Between 1928 and 1935, a large influx of workers from the Hoover Dam settled in Williams' town, as Las Vegas was intolerant towards them. In 1932, the town board was created. That same year, the town's first grammar school, Washington School, opened. A proper name had not yet been established for the town, and Williams did not want it named after himself, which lead to the town board voting for either "North Las Vegas" or "Vegas Verdes" (which means "Green Meadows" in Spanish). "Vegas Verdes" won, and that became the name for the town for a few months. George Hansen, a town board member who voted for the name "North Las Vegas", noticed that at one town board meeting, two members who voted the name "Vegas Verdes" were absent. The vote for a name came once again, and "North Las Vegas" won. In 1939, Williams died of stroke, and that left North Las Vegas to the ruling of the town board. An elementary school, and a road, were eventually named after him. During World War II, the Las Vegas Aerial Gunnery School opened in North Las Vegas. It would eventually become Nellis Air Force Base. North Las Vegas was the subject of many annexation attempts from Las Vegas. On May 1, 1946, North Las Vegas was incorporated as a city. In 1957, North Las Vegas planned to annex an area to its south-east, and in response, the Clark County Commission created the town of Sunrise Manor to prevent further annexation attempts.

On May 13, 1964, First Lieutenant Raynor Lee Hebert, a student pilot from Port Arthur, Texas, took off from Nellis Air Force Base at approximately 2:00 PM on an F-105 fighter jet. He radioed his flight leader saying that he could not retract his nose gear, and thus could not gain altitude. He was at a height high enough to bail out, but too low that if he did, he would've hit Lincoln Elementary School, which was in session with 800 students. He kept the plane nose up long enough to pass the school, and eventually hit nine residential houses on Lenwood Avenue. The crash killed Hebert and four civilians. Hebert Memorial Park was created by the City of North Las Vegas with a plaque at the crash site to commemorate Hebert.

In the early 1960s, North Las Vegas had a major growth boom. The 1970s in North Las Vegas saw a growth in poor neighborhoods, population density, and crime. In 1988, former mayor James Seastrand said in one interview,

There are those of us who live here and care for this city and would not move out of it — even though we could afford to.

— James Seastrand

In the 1990s, North Las Vegas annexed about 60 square miles of empty desert surrounding the city, reportedly for more "upscale" housing.

On January 29, 2022, nine people were killed and a tenth critically injured following a six-vehicle crash on an intersection in North Las Vegas. The crash occurred after a speeding Dodge Challenger ran a red light and struck the other five vehicles. It was the deadliest road accident in the area in recent history.

Geography Located within the Mojave Desert in the south-western United States, North Las Vegas sits north-east of Las Vegas. According to the United States Census Bureau, North Las Vegas has a total area of 101.4 square miles (262.6 km²), of which 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²), or 0.04%, is water. In the Las Vegas Valley, there are several prominent mountain ranges nearby.

Economy Bigelow Aerospace is headquartered in North Las Vegas. Traditionally, manufacturing, industrial and warehouse distribution companies have dominated the local market. However, high-tech businesses, including solar and green technology, and custom manufacturing facilities are moving to North Las Vegas.

On May 12, 2019 Amazon opened a 850,000-square-foot fulfillment centre in North Las Vegas which currently employs more than 1,500 people.

In October 2019 Sephora opened a 715,000-square-foot distribution centre in North Las Vegas.

Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center, Nevada's only female correctional facility, is located in North Las Vegas.

Master-planned communities in the city include Aliante and Eldorado. The Apex industrial Park is now a part of the city as well.

North Las Vegas has many medical/recreational marijuana dispensaries, and opened the first 24-hour dispensary in the Las Vegas Valley.

Education North Las Vegas is home to the Cheyenne Campus of the College of Southern Nevada. The institution covers an area of roughly 80 acres (32 ha) and provides for a broad variety of different courses. As of 2013, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas was planning to open a branch in North Las Vegas near the I-215 Beltway, though this plan has yet to be implemented as of 2022.

Primary and secondary school students in North Las Vegas are served by the Clark County School District (CCSD), the fifth-largest in the United States with over 300,000 students enrolled in any of its 357 schools. CCSD has a workforce of over 35,000 people, and is considered a major employer in the county.

The following high schools are in North Las Vegas: • Canyon Springs • Cheyenne • Legacy • Mojave • Rancho

Transport Domestic and international airline travel for the entire metropolitan area is handled at Harry Reid International Airport, south of Las Vegas, adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip.

The North Las Vegas Airport, formerly known as Sky Haven Airport, was established on December 7, 1941. A division of Vision Airlines operates tours to the Grand Canyon in Arizona from the airport.

RTC Transit provides bus service in the city, as it does throughout the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

The major highways/roads serving North Las Vegas are Interstate 15, Clark County Route 215, U.S. Route 93, Las Vegas Boulevard (SR 604) and Rancho Drive (SR 599 / US 95 Bus.)