Old Mormon Fort

After founding Salt Lake City in 1847, the Mormon Church expanded its settlement westward and established the Las Vegas Mission in June 1855 as an outpost roughly halfway between Salt Lake City and Southern California. Built alongside Las Vegas Creek, 30 missionaries constructed a 150 square foot adobe fort, the first non-native building and settlement in the Las Vegas Valley. Part of an original 1855 wall remains as the oldest extant building remnant in Nevada. The Mormons taught new farming techniques and religion to the local Paiutes, and although lead was discovered in a nearby mountain, mining proved unsuccessful. By 1857 the mission was abandoned because of dissention among the leaders, the summer climate, and a deteriorating relationship with the Paiutes. In 1865, Octabius D. Gass developed a ranch on the site and provided food for travelers and nearby mining communities. By 1881, the property had passed to Archibald and Helen J. Stewart; after Archibald was killed in a gunfight in 1884, Helen continued to operate the ranch, raising their five children and providing rest and comfort for travelers. In 1902 she sold the ranch, the surrounding land, and the water rights to the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and on her former land the new town of Las Vegas was born in 1905. In 1972 the Old Fort was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the site is now part of the Nevada State Park System.

Las Vegas, Nevada · United States