Wendover Will has greeted travelers to Wendover since 1952, carrying the name of William “Bill” Smith, founder of the State Line Hotel & Casino, which began as the State Line Service, a cobble stone service station on the Utah/Nevada border in 1926. Before Wendover Will arrived, weary travelers crossing the Great Basin Desert were welcomed by a shimmering light atop a tall pole, signaling that the small but important oasis on Highway 40 called Wendover was near. After gaming was legalized in Nevada in 1931, State Line Service grew into the State Line Hotel & Casino and, until its sale in 2002 to the Wendover Nugget Hotel & Casino, held the single longest held gaming license in Nevada on record. In 1952, after 26 years, the light atop the pole was retired and Wendover Will took its place as a community and state icon. Young Electric Sign Company of Salt Lake City, Utah, constructed and erected Wendover Will; at the same time, its small twin “Vegas Vic” was also completed and today stands adjacent to Las Vegas’ famed Freemon Street. Wendover Will entered the Guiness Book of World Records as the world’s largest mechanical cowboy. At that time he stood 63 feet tall, had 1,184 lineal feet of neon tubing, two large waving arms powered by a single 3/4 horsepower motor, a winking eye, and a flicking cigarette. His original pedestal proclaimed, “This is the Place” and “Where the West Begins.” Over time, Wendover Will became not only an icon of the State Line Hotel & Casino but also of the community itself. When West Wendover, Nevada, was incorporated in 1991, Wendover Will took a prominent place in the city seal, whose motto, “Come Grow With Us,” reflected the welcome first offered by the light atop a pole and later by the waving arms of the towering mechanical cowboy. Given to the City of West Wendover by Wendover Nugget Hotel & Casino in 2004, Wendover Will once again stands tall as a representation of the community’s heritage and of Wendover as “this is the place” and “where the west begins.”