When this photo was taken in 1915, Las Vegas was little more than a trading stop between Los Angeles and New Mexico. The arrival of the railroad in 1904 saw some development, but it wasn’t until construction began on the Boulder Dam (later renamed the Hoover Dam) in 1931 that the city really began to grow.

Gambling was legalised in Nevada the same year, and in 1941 the first themed hotel-casino resort, El Rancho Vegas, opened on Highway 91, now better known as The Strip.

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