Las Vegas
Old Las Vegas Mormon State Historic Park
The Old Las Vegas Mormon State Historic Park is a
state park that contains the Old Mormon Fort which was the first
structure built by Europeans in what would become
Las Vegas,
Nevada
50 years later.
The first settlers,
Mormon missionaries, arrived on June 14, 1855 and selected a site, along one of
the creeks that flowed from the Las Vegas springs, on which they would build the
fort. The fort served as the mid point on the trail from Salt Lake City, Utah
and Los Angeles, California.
The fort was surrounded by 14 foot high
adobe walls that extended for 150 feet. While called a fort, it never really was
home to any military troops. Around 1860, a small detachment of U.S. Army
troops were assigned to protect the settlers at the fort. They stayed for about
5 years.
In present day Las Vegas, the site is just east of
Las Vegas Boulevard and slightly north of the
downtown
area and
Fremont Street. This is the only state park located in a city that actually
houses the first building ever built in that city.
A
visitors center is available to help explain the history of the fort. The fort
is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
History
Ownership of the fort and the land around it changed hands many times and it
had several close calls with destruction. Protection finally seems assured when
the state acquired the site as a state park in the
1990s.
While the fort was called
Fort Baker during the
Civil War, this was only as a deception by the
Union Army
since no troops were ever stationed there.
At some point, the now defunct Las Vegas Land and Water Company
acquired the properity. In 1955 the land was
acquied by the Las Vegas
Elks. With
support of the
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, the city of Las Vegas acquired the fort in 1989.
A $4.5 million renovation was completed in
2005.
External links
Old Las Vegas Mormon State Historic Park website
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