Junior League of Las Vegas' Records on the Morelli House Preservation Project (MS-00836)

The origins of the Junior League of Las Vegas, previously called the Service League, date back to February 26, 1946, when a small group of women in Las Vegas, Nevada met and considered the need to supplement the services of existing agencies and organizations in Clark County. The seven founding members of the Service League were: Florence Cahlan, Mrs. Richard Donnelly, Mrs. James Down, Mrs. V. Gray Gubler, Mrs. Julian Moore, Mrs. William Moore, and Mrs. Bert Purdy. They soon invited other young women to join them in making a survey of community needs. The Service League intended to address the unmet needs of the rapidly growing community with the primary purpose of promoting community welfare, education, culture, and civic activities.

In 1958 the League developed a training program for all new members. The emphasis was placed on knowing the community, the social service agencies and welfare organizations, and the cultural resources of the community, as well as League policies and projects. In 1959 the Service League started sponsoring the Junior Service League, patterned after the Service League, for local high school girls. Two members of the Service League acted as sponsors and supervised activities with an advisory board composed of five League members. The group was financially independent. On September 26, 1971, after discussion and several meetings, the Service League aligned with the national organization called the Association of Junior Leagues. Las Vegas became the 219th affiliated member and is known known as the Junior League of Las Vegas. Over the past 60 years, the Junior League has donated more than $1,500,000 to the Las Vegas community.

In 1997 the Junior League Endowment Board acquired the historic Whitehead House (built in 1929) as a historic preservation project. The Whitehead House was originally located at 7th Street and Mesquite Avenue and was moved to a temporary site loaned by casino owner, Jackie Gaughan, at 10th Street and Carson Street. The Whitehead House was burned down by vagrants in July of 2000. At the time of the fire, Steve Wynn had purchased properties in the former Desert Inn Country Club Estates to make way for the Wynn Resort. Wynn's company informed the Junior League about the possibility of the Morelli House (built in 1959) as a substitute for their preservation/rehabilitation project.

Antonio Morelli, the original owner of the Morelli House, was the orchestra conductor and musical director for the Sands Hotel from 1954 to 1971. The Morelli House had been identified by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Architecture as the home most worthy of preserving on the Desert Inn Country Club Estates because of its original, non-altered condition, its classic mid-century residential design, and its provenance associated with Antonio Morelli. The Morelli House became a recognized historic preservation site in Las Vegas and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The Morelli House has been repurposed as the Junior League of Las Vegas' headquarters and has become a highly regarded cultural resource center for the Las Vegas community. The two major efforts that attained these achievements were the acquisitions and development of the Morelli House in keeping with the US Secretary of the Interior's "Standards of Rehabilitation" and the public interpretive programs that have brought thousands of visitors to the Morelli House to appreciate its mid-century architectural design.

As of 2021, the Junior League of Las Vegas continues to help the community through their many volunteer projects. They are headquartered at the Morelli House in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sources:

"Summary History of the Junior League of Las Vegas' Morelli House Preservation/Rehabilitation Project, 1997-2016." Nevada Urban Land Institute. November 15, 2016. Accessed April 18, 2017.

http://nevada.uli.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2017/01/History-of-the-Morelli-House-Preservation.pdf. "The Morelli House." The Junior League of Las Vegas. Accessed April 18, 2017. http://www.jllv.org/the-morelli-house.