Las Vegas/San Miguel

Past
Las Vegas, New Mexico

Established by Spanish land grant in 1835, Las Vegas was originally called Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes (Our Lady of Sorrows of the Great Meadows). Over the years since 1835, The Las Vegas area has been influenced both by different cultures and also by two forms of transportation.
When General Stephen W. Kearney took possession of New Mexico for the United States in 1846, he found a thriving community in Las Vegas of 1,500 Spanish settlers. These folks can be traced back to 15 Spanish families who petitioned the Mexican government for a grant to establish the town in 1835. By 1846, William Becknell had opened the Santa Fe Trail which passed through Las Vegas.

The Santa Fe Trail was allowed entrepreneurs to send their wares westward while enterprising Las Vegans traded eastward. Fort Union, built in 1851 to protect the Santa Fe Trail from Indian raids, encouraged growth and development of Las Vegas for the army bought supplies for the several hundred soldiers and civilians stationed at the Fort.

The notoriety Las Vegas attained brought immigrants seeking their fortunes as well as others who stopped at nothing to make theirs without honest labor. Among these notorious men and women were Billy the Kid, Vicente Silva and his gang, Belle Sidons (alias Monte Verde), Jesse James, Doc Holliday and his girlfriend, Big-Nosed Kate. Holliday operated a dental office and a saloon and gambling hall in Las Vegas, before moving on to Tombstone, Arizona.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1879 to open a new era of prosperity. The State's first phone system and its first opera house were established in Las Vegas.

Brought in by rail, European immigrants settled in with a sense of permanence--resulting in the myriad of architectural treasures that give Las Vegas its special charm and enabled the city to place some 900 buildings in the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Las Vegas provided 21 Rough Riders to Teddy Roosevelt in 1898, most of whom were at his side during the famed charge up San Juan Hill. The town hosted the first Rough Riders reunion--attended by the soon-to-be-president himself. Reunions continued until the 1960s--a museum in Las Vegas displays tributes to these Veterans.

Las Vegas, in San Miguel County, is one of New Mexico's less-known tourist destinations--an area with much to see and do for those on a New Mexico vacation.

Current

Back