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Residential Areas: Las Vegas, the principal residential area and trading center, is the county seat of Clark County. The city was incorporated March 16, 1911. Las Vegas covers an area of about 18 square miles and has an estimated population of 41,000. Residences in Las Vegas are of better than average quality, and the m ajority are of recent construction. N orth Las Vegas, incorporated June 29, 1946, is primarily a residential suburb of Las Vegas. N orth Las Vegas has an area of about 2 square miles and has an estimated population of 6,000. Henderson, the city built adjacent to the large Basic Management, Inc., industrial area, covers an area of about 2 square miles and has an estimated population of 10,000. The tow nsite originally consisted of about 1,000 low cost rental units, practically all of which were purchased by B.M.I. and resold to the residents. There are now about 2,000 additional homes built or building. H ender­son was incorporated April 16, 1953. The largest unincorporated residential areas are (a) those surrounding Las Vegas, particularly the area south of Nellis Air Force Base and east of N orth Las Vegas, and (b) a 175 dwelling unit area on Nellis Air Force Base and a “W herry A ct” housing area of 400 units near Nellis. (Construction of 400 additional units is scheduled to start April 15, 1954.) In addition, on the highways radiating from Las Vegas there are a great many hotels and motels, including the seven famous luxury hotels of the “Strip,” a two-mile section on U. S. H ighw ay 91 — 466 immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits. Population: Year C lark County Las V e ga s 1910. 1920. 1930. 1940. 1950. 3,321 800 4,859 2,304 8,532 5,165 16,414 8,422 48,289 24,624 Clark County Las V e gas North Las V e gas Henderson Las V e g a s Valley W ater District 1950 Census........... . 48,289 24,624 41,000 3,838 6,000 5,324 10,000 40.000 (estim ated) Jan., 1954 (estimated).......... 76,000 66.000 In addition to the perm anent population it is estimated by the Las Vegas Chamber of Com­merce that there are upwards of 12,000 visitors on the average in Las Vegas daily. Growth: The tremendous grow th of Las Vegas and Clark County since 1940 is largely due to : (1) Con­struction of H oover Dam, w ith the resultant cheap electric power and w ater su p p ly ; (2) Govern­ment installations; (3) Tourist trav el; and (4) The trend tow ard desert living, made attractive by air-conditioning. 1. Electric power from H oover Dam, plus the w ater available from Lake Mead, makes possible the development of large tracts of land for industrial and residential use. The electric power from Hoover Dam is now fully contracted for, but two m ajor improvements to the power supply are the follow ing. (a) A pipe line to bring natural gas from the El Paso N atural Gas Company’s line near Needles to Henderson and Las Vegas was recently completed. This 10-inch line will alleviate the potential power shortage and perm it new industrial development, (b) A steam generating plant has been planned for construction in the near future by the Southern Nevada Pow er Company. The plant will cost $5,500,000 and will have an initial capacity of 30,000 kw, w ith design for ultim ate capacity of 120,000 kw. T he plant will use one million gallons of w ater per day when it is completed in early 1956, and will ultim ately use four million gallons per day. It is not expected th at the D istrict will serve w ater to this plant. 2. Government installation of . Basic Magnesium, Inc., during the last war resulted in a ready­made industrial area when hostilities ceased. Nellis Air Force Base, a new amm unition dump immediately east of Nellis, and the Atomic Energy Commission’s proving grounds a t Frenchm an’s F lat (about 70 miles north of Las V egas) represent a huge investment. These installations are responsible, directly and indirectly, for a sizable am ount of employment in Clark County. 3 3. Las Vegas, the natural stopping point between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, accommo­dates through its hotels, restaurants, service stations and retail stores practically every automobile traveller on this route and m ost of the annual throngs of visitors to H oover Dam. (As of January, 1954, a total of 18,361,364 visitors had been counted at H oover Dam and power station since the opening in 1937.) 4. The trend tow ard the desert is a phenomenon of many desert areas of the W est—for example Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona and Palm Springs, California. The dry climate, hot days, and cool nights attract both perm anent residents and vacationers. T ax advantages of living in Nevada, where there is no state income tax, inheritance tax, sales tax or tax on intangibles, has also aided in attracting residents. Practically every building in Las Vegas is air-conditioned. The develop­m ent of satisfactory air conditioning units has been an im portant factor. GROWTH STATISTICS City of Las Vegas Building Permits Year Residential Commercial Total Fam ily Units 1948.................... ................ $ 2,996,850 $2,156,300 $ 5,153,150 ' 478 1949.................... ................ 3,040,800 1,283,213 4,334,013 432 1950.................... ................ 6,533,000 2,284,410 8,817,410 855 1951.................... ................ 5,851,266 2,713,696 8,564,962 816 1952.................... ................ 9,564,962 5,05.7,766 .14,622,728 1,110 1953.................... . .21,125,681 7,407,915 28,533,596 2,650 City of Las Vegas Retail Sales 1940................ ................................................................................................. $ 9,457,000 1950................................................................................................... -.............. 75,277,965 ........ ..........................................79,534,755 1952 .. . .......... -................................... 87,396,180 1953 .... ........................................................................ ............................. 111,590,040 Motor Vehicles Electric Meter (Clark County) Connections School Enrollment* Bank Deposits 1942...................................... 14,903 5,459 3,467 $11,816,508 1947.............. 16,481 9,114 4,719 28,743,782 1952 ............ 32,144 14,662 8,183 58,286,877 1953 ...... I........... .— ^ .:.s..... 36,150 19,031 9,254 67,897,143 * Las Vegas Elementary and High School District; does not include Henderson or private schools. City of Las Vegas Post Office Receipts 1929................ ........................................-.......... 1940.. . ^ * ^ ^ ^ ..... -.......- ~ .~ A p 1942..... .............................................................. ..................................... 1 9 4 7 . . . . . . . „ - . . . i s ^ . , y . . . . , . . . . ^ i - v ' - - l - - . . ^ » - . - - ...............................................- ..................................................... 1948................... ..... ..................-...................................................----- 1949.. . a f............................................................................ ............ 1950.. . ....... ...................................... .......... 1951.. ......4 .k --- - -- --- - ..... ........................ ...............S S 1952.. 4 .?S^-*-^-^-•SU ::..•.........................................................------- 1953................. ................ $ 33,496 76,627 214,276 231,512 246,492 281,800 339,405 436,622 553,127 674,165 4