Richard C. MacDonald oral history interview (OH-02836)

Oral history interview with Richard C. MacDonald conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on September 20, 2016 for the Building Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, MacDonald describes his personal history and moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1963. He talks about his experience earning his real estate broker's license and his father's plan to develop and sell Las Vegas property. Upon returning to Las Vegas, MacDonald worked with Frank Sala and Chuck Ruthe to obtain his first two sections of Henderson land, which became Sun City MacDonald Ranch and the western part of MacDonald Highlands. He talks of developing Sunridge at MacDonald Ranch on Eastern Avenue and The Canyons at MacDonald Ranch. He also speaks to local prejudice against Hawaiians and to the way the City of Henderson favored Hank Greenspun and American Nevada Corporation. He recalls his twenty-year experience as a developer with the City of Henderson, its planning commission, city manager, city attorney, and city council. He reveals associations with Del Webb and the Del Webb CEO, Anthem, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Sultan of Brunei, and polo fields as well as Red Alerts, the Foothills project, and MacDonald Highlands. Along the way he talks of golf course architects and planners and the MacDonald Highlands golf course, his family, the Great Recession, and his current status working with the City of Henderson and the Archaeological Institute of America. Digital audio, transcript, and photograph available.