Transcript of interview with Mary Habbart by David Patt, March 7, 1975

UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart i An Interview with Mary Habbart An Oral History Conducted by David Patt Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart ii © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart iii The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart iv Abstract On March 7, 1975, collector David R. Patt interviewed dairy and vegetable farm owner, Mary Habbart (born January 1st, 1719 in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania) in her home in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview offers an overview of life in Las Vegas in the early days, which included: atomic testing, floods, prostitution on Block 16, early Fremont Street and Duck Creek. Also discussed during this interview: Sunset Park, The Roosevelts, Bugsy Siegel, local government and the Hoover Dam. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 1 Okay, my name is David Patt. This is the 7th of March, 1975. And your name is Mary? Mary E. Habbart. And this is 6912 South Pecos. South Pecos. In Las Vegas. And your phone number is? 451-4995. Okay. And you came to Southern Nevada when? August the 23rd, 1920. There was no road directly into Las Vegas. We came by in Needles and Searchlight into Las Vegas. There was only three blocks on Fremont Street where there were any stores or any buildings. I’ve seen pictures. Fremont Street, at that time, was not paved. It was one (unintelligible) after another. There was about one block of boardwalk from the store on one side of the street, and the First State Bank was on the corner of First and Fremont. Ed (unintelligible) store was on the opposite side. There was a sweet shop, and there was Pete’s Grocery at First and Fremont. I’m not sure (unintelligible). It was there later, but I’m not sure— Where’d you use to live when you came here first? First I came here, at Arden, by the Six Companies store at Arden—not Six Companies, U.S. Gypsum, and then later we had a store on Main Street and Las Vegas. And then my husband run the Six Companies store in Boulder City during the building of the dam. Arden is in Nevada, isn’t it? Yes, it’s about four or five miles— Were you born there? UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 2 No, I was born in Pennsylvania. Did you go to school in Pennsylvania? (Unintelligible) My folks live in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, on the other end, Philadelphia. So, he operated a general store, or? We operated a general store on Main Street and Las Vegas after running the U.S. Gypsum store in Arden. What was his name? That was my first husband, Harry Gravell, the Main Street Grocery. Where did you live, it says, what other addresses did you have then? Two. 321 North Seventh—built the first house on North Seventh Street in Las Vegas. And that was 1928, and built this house in 1949. So you’ve been here all that time? Mm-hmm. I didn’t know there was anything— There was nothing—this is part of the old (unintelligible) to raise all the vegetables for the City of Las Vegas for many years. Really? (Unintelligible) The only time I was not living in Las Vegas was when I was living in Boulder City during the building of the dam. And then I was in Reno through the years, while I had three in the university. That’s great. And were you married here? I guess you were married twice, huh? UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 3 Yes, I was married in Phoenix, Arizona. Would you mind telling me what church you belong to? Presbyterian. Are you very active in the church? Well, I was up until the time I went to the hospital, and since that, I’m more or less—it’s hard for me to sit in those— Yeah, I got you. ‘Cause I’ve got a bad back; I’ve had three operations on my back. And since that, I’ve been low key. I still belong with the Presbyterian Church, but I usually watch it on television. Here’s the question: do you remember any of the presidents that came to the Las Vegas area? And I’d like you to talk about President Roosevelt. Yes, I remember the day very well when President Roosevelt came to Las Vegas, and my husband was U.S. Marshal, was in charge of all the policing of that, came in here by train, and then was taken to Hoover Dam in a car. And they built a platform overlooking the dam, and that is where he dedicated the dam. It was Roosevelt then—Boulder Dam, they called it. Yes, changed names. That’s what I mean, can’t keep up with things. But at that time, it was called Boulder Dam. I’m trying to think of the one that came in that (unintelligible) for the railroad to the dam. Was it Hoover? No. Chief Justice— Oh, a justice. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 4 Oh, maybe that’ll (unintelligible), but that was a big thing—he drove his wife for the railroad to go out to build the dam. (Unintelligible) little bit hard to just (unintelligible) down the line without— Well, it doesn’t have to be in any order. We can go back whenever you think of something. Take out what is not necessary and just the facts, is that right? Well, no, we’ll just keep talking, and everything’s of value, so just keep talking, and—see, this’ll be used by historians, and they’ll go back and re-piece it anyway for what they want to use. And of course I was here when Kennedy was here, of course he flew in. He was only here a short time, two short hours, something like that, and flew out and— Did you see him? Did I see him? Yes, I saw the cars, but I wasn’t on the platform or anything. I’d like you to talk about Mrs. Roosevelt. Well, my daughter sat on her lap all through the program. That’s really something. She has just moved back there. Her husband is a colonel in the Air Force, and he is now being sent overseas for a year or so. She went back to Las Vegas. She is a native daughter, and her daughter is a native daughter, so we’re not just Johnny-come-latelies. Oh, I realize that. (Unintelligible) I can’t remember the justices back that far. Do you remember when Carole Lombard’s plane crash? UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 5 Yes. Until just the last two or three years, you could see the metal shining up there on the mountain. Really? Did you see it happen, or what do you remember, say?— Well, no, I didn’t see it happen. It happened at night. I would say nine, ten o’clock at night. And they really didn’t get to the plane till early morning sometime, before they got to the plane. I don’t remember anything about it. Did she die, or what? [Audio cuts out] Also, Clark Gable, or other people like that, do you remember—? Clark Gable, of course, was here, and—he wasn’t here at the time, but of course, he was here shortly after it happened. She had been on a trip selling bonds for the war and was coming home. She lived here? No. No, she was (unintelligible). But the plane had stopped here and then went on and just didn’t clear that mountain. Did they still use McCarran Field then or was it someplace else? That’s before they were using McCarran. It was on the other side of town out at Nellis. See, to begin with, that is where our airport was. To begin with, the earliest one where they were flying the mail is where the convention hall sits today, or the Hilton Hotel, either one. There are pictures of that, I had forgotten. It seems hard to picture this town with (unintelligible) all built up. I’ll show you what picture. I don’t think— [Audio cuts out] UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 6 Yeah, I vaguely remember reading something about that in a textbook, but I’ve only lived here three years, so I really come from New York, so a lot of this is all news to me. It’s fascinating, I just love it. Obviously, you were active in politics; what party are you affiliated with? Democrat. Democrat? Senator McCarran always said that (unintelligible). I worked in Boulder City, it was all the buses coming up from working down on the dam, see. And they were from every state in the Union and had no affiliation with any particular (unintelligible)—pretty good-looking gal in those days. Jim Cashman was there for the Republicans, and I was there for the Democrats, and (unintelligible) Boulder City four to one, and he won by 400 votes. Well, that must have been around the time that—well, the state was originally Republican, wasn’t it? Reno, and Clark County, Democrat. I know they are now. They were then—it always has been that way. Oh, I really didn’t know. Have you ever run for political office, or it’s just been behind the scenes? Well, I’m (unintelligible) that I have been for twelve years, but I never (unintelligible). Your husband, was that Mr. Habbart, or? No, was Gravell. He was the Marshal, or U.S. Marshal? And he died, and I remarried. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 7 What years was that? What years was he? Yes, from when to? During Roosevelt’s first four years of office. What social clubs do you belong to? I’m not a club woman. You don’t. Look, I got enough— Yeah, you look pretty busy. I’m never—that’s the reason why it took so long to get to you was because of working on this annexation deal, and we’re having one meeting after another. And this week, well (unintelligible) Tuesday, Wednesday, Wednesday night. Yeah, they’re pushing it pretty strong (unintelligible)— Well, now they’re going for weekends, I think that’s the way they’re going to go. Monday night and Tuesday night next week. Was gambling important to the family, or did you stay out of that? I got (unintelligible). I know of too many hardships that’s laid on people, and as far as I’m concerned, they can say that it made the state of Nevada, but at the time they closed down here at Henderson and all after the war. And they didn’t need the ore that they were going—and that closed down, DuPont and all the other free companies wanted the companies here because they had power and everything, you know, and it was a good place to get started in some manufacturing, but because of the gambling, they wouldn’t come. And that’s a fact. I never knew that, that’s very interesting. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 8 Because my daughter was the one that was running the telephone office, which was underground then. During the war, that was underground. That was a private telephone company. It’s nothing to do with Central Telephone? That was just out for the dam area, or? That was—well, it was at Henderson, what is Henderson today. That’s where they built the plant and built houses for the people working there, and of course that was World War II—now you want to go back to World War I, too? No, you came in twenty— No, I can tell you something—Senator Pittman’s office in Washington, D.C., five years before that, and he said that that’s what was going to happen, what happened in Hawaii. I think there were more than just the two people that knew that (unintelligible). Well, I heard him make the statement—he was foreign affairs. Do you remember the atomic testing? Yes, of course. (Unintelligible) all the time, putting them off into service. It just looked like a big— I didn’t realize—I knew, I had friends from Tonopah, and they said— If you wanted to go out closer, you could see better, but you could see it from here. Did people worry about it or anything? No, we just went around (unintelligible)—well, I’m the one who got the benefit of that—I had a dairy. And after one of those, when it got—well, the wind wasn’t right, and it come this way, this ranch got it. The next morning, I wondered why all these trucks were coming through here, government trucks going down the barn—they tested my ground, my alfalfa, my milk—I got a (unintelligible) and then bought three or four cows and took them up to the Test Site to test them UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 9 out. That went on for—they took a test of milk, night and morning, for the university for six months. They were testing the air, the water, the ground. That was during the war or after the war? That was when they (unintelligible). They did the other testing in the next part of it, during the war. What changes have you noticed since you first arrived? That’s a rather broad question— I think you can answer that question. Yes. It’s got it divided into economic and environmental—do the people seem richer? Well, they didn’t know anything about this environment, this air and all that, at that time. People were richer, did you say? Yes, do you think people are generally richer, or do you think they—I don’t know, I get an impression, this town being very garishly rich with the big cars. Was it always like that, or was it more of a small town? No, it was a small town with a different class of people. That’s what I sort of imagine. With about 4- or 5,000 people. I think there was only about 2,500 when we first came here. And of course, the dam brought more, Nellis brought more, and once again, the gambling (unintelligible). (Unintelligible) everywhere. They had to do (unintelligible) around, too. Oh, during the Prohibition. We had Hoover City, too. I remember that—what was that like? UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 10 Down by the cemetery. What did it look like? Well, you picked up a piece of tin here, a board there, maybe you found a piece or two of cardboard, and you put it up together, there was a whole city down there—people living with children and everything else in these cardboard tin whatever you could think of. Did they have sanitary facilities or anything like that? No, not very much of anything like that. I don’t know just what they did do. I just seen it, I can’t say that I ever went over and investigate it, because I didn’t. But the people come in here without a dollar, it was during the Depression, and everybody that could get here came because they wanted some work. And there was people from every state in the Union working on this dam. Kind of hard to picture in this day in age. What do you remember about the Mormon Fort on the Stewart Ranch? Just that it was there. That was before my time that they built that there, and of course, Las Vegas means (unintelligible)— (Unintelligible) valley or something? No, it’s garden, but I forget now. See, there was water there, a well that was free-flowing, in other words, and that’s what made the Stewart family settle there. And, of course, the Indians also were here at that time. Do you remember what it looked like when you first came to town, or? Well, it was just made out of adobe. You can still see it, it’s down there, it’s been— I’ve never been there. Well, the big Old Fort is still there—it’s one of the things (unintelligible) Centennial is taking care of. It’s just a square adobe building. (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 11 I didn’t realize it was adobe; I thought it was (unintelligible) No, it was (unintelligible) adobe. You know what adobe is, right? Yeah, I know what adobe is. What name do you know it by the best, the Mormon Fort or the Mormon Settlement? Well, that’s it, Mormon Fort. It seems here I don’t know anything about this. It says, “What do you remember of the use of the property as a gravel testing laboratory for Boulder Dam?” I guess it’s referring to the Mormon Fort. Do you know anything about that at all? There was never any testing done there. It says— That was—even when I first came here, it was just known as the old Mormon Fort. There was nothing—it wasn’t even being used or anything. Well it says—I don’t know, maybe it’s a mistake or something. See, that was—and then later that was where they had the Helldorado grounds. Did you go to Helldorado every year? Do I go? Did you? Not the last two or three years I haven’t—they’ve made it too commercial. To begin with, the first was held right at Seventh and Fremont. That was off the street, or? Well, they had a block there where they later built (unintelligible). They had parades, I guess, (unintelligible). It was all, at that time—I have a trophy for the first one for skinning mules down Fremont Street. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 12 Skinning mules? Now I knew you wouldn’t know what that means. That means driving mules. I got a picture someplace. Skinning mules, no, people don’t—I have to explain that every time I say it. No, that’s driving a mule team, and the big Borax team was right back of it in the parade. Did you wear a costume, or? Oh yeah, (unintelligible). They all did. They didn’t dress like they do today for it. It was bonnets, sunbonnets—you know what a sunbonnet is? Yes. All right. And then it was full skirt, full length, with ruffles. [Audio cuts out] You remembered them? Well, I’ve got a memory as far as that— You do, you’ve got quite a memory. I’ve run out of form questions—go back to Mrs. Roosevelt, not still—what was she wearing when she—? She wasn’t dressed in shorts, I think—she wasn’t wearing pants, you know (unintelligible), and he was more of a cripple than people realize. Now, when he started to get up, they had to push these braces down and click ‘em, and then his son Jim was with him, and he took a hold of his arm and raised him up, see, and then he stood—he could stand because he had these braces on his legs. He stood where he spoke to the audience, then? Yes. Do you remember what he said? UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 13 Oh, (unintelligible), well, just dedicated the dam, that was it, for the power and for the use that it would give these states—Arizona, California, Nevada. I believe that that was all that was in that (unintelligible)—if I had that paper (unintelligible). Do you remember any of the floods? I’m sure you must, I know they had ‘em. I’ve seen pictures of the one in ’56. All right, my telephone was over there in the corner—telephone rang, I picked it up, the sun was shining here. And the man up the road, Tommy (unintelligible) said, “Mrs. Habbart, get your stock on high ground, the water’s coming.” I look out that window right there, and there’s three feet of water rolling right across that field out there. It took the people up above me out in amphibious jeeps—the big tanker truck just pulled in here. Just as it hit, as far as it got was right out here, you know, on the (unintelligible). The water was running up into the front end of the—and you know, those big tanker trucks are up high. And he stepped out, and his feet just went—I laughed, I guess, I was—it didn’t touch this house at all because, you see, I’m three feet off the ground to begin with, and this is a higher piece of ground. It went down the barn about three feet, and about three feet went down Pecos, because I dumped a pile of cement one day that I had leftover when we were building this house, and that divided it up. So, part went to the barn, and part went down Pecos—yes, sir, I’ve seen two or three. That was, which year was that one? That, I think, must have been ’56. Well, are we up or down—thought this was lower—? I call it down in the hall. It is down—I thought it was up. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 14 Of course, Duck Creek goes around us here, goes around this place. And, of course, that’s where—and the kids up Red Rock—I call it Niagara Falls, because you can stand on the porch and hear it sometimes. And now, because the Sierra Vista up there, putting all their horse manure from their stables up there into Duck Creek, when it comes down now, it’s gotta spread over down in back of my place here where the (unintelligible) clear out on the (unintelligible). [Audio ends] [Interview resumes midsentence] but, you know, (unintelligible) this time it floats on top. And it (unintelligible) and there’s been nothing done as far as flood control up above to stop it. It’ll happen again, maybe this summer, (unintelligible). It’s been awhile, they say we’re about due for a (unintelligible). Yes, I would say something fierce. It happens just every so many years. Just like (unintelligible) so many years, we get snow. I know. They’re building all those houses in North Las Vegas (unintelligible)— What do you think they’re doing down over the hill there where they were told that the ground was— I can imagine. You know, I’ve been (unintelligible) for twelve years, and (unintelligible) but every one of these builders come in here, but that’s the first thing they come in, they want it rebuilt. And what happens someday, I don’t know. And now, my daughter just bought a home up at (unintelligible) Valley, up on the hill directly back of me here, up on the hill. And you know what, it just went through escrow, and they made her pledge flood insurance—there is no way in the God’s green world it could touch them. They only give flood insurance to people who are not gonna be flooded out. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 15 And I’m sure that these people down here don’t have it. Well, our house, my father’s house, is up in Tule Springs, and it’s high too, but it was flooded out in ’63, so I guess you can have a flood almost anywhere. Well, not particularly there, because down at the bottom of that hill is Duck Creek, and that’s where the water comes. It can’t go—if it went up to their house, it would be 2- or 300 feet up— That’s true. There wouldn’t be any of it flooded. That’s for sure. Were you active in Governors O’Callaghan and any of the other governors’ campaign? No. I’m particular what I do, and people know I’m particular. How about senators, other presidents? Well, I was (unintelligible) Kennedy, but not really, you know. No, my job has been right here in the Valley in the zoning and the roads and the power and health, and believe me, that’s enough. That’s a lot. What about city officials? Do you remember any city officials? Yes, I think (unintelligible) down the line. You’ll have to help me because I’m not familiar with any names past about five or ten years ago. What do you remember, some of the ones you really remember that might be interesting? Well, I think the ones they got in there right now are pretty interesting in what they’re doing. And after reading the paper this morning, if they can print it, I can say it, that they’re all tied up in the massage parlors to the point that that’s where they’re getting a lot of money. And now, you know, we’re working on the county taking over the whole thing and doing away with the City of Las Vegas—there’ll be none of it incorporated. And of course, that’s been one of my big fights, not being annexed to the City of Las Vegas. And that’s about a ten-year fight so far. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 16 Well, why do you feel that way? Well, I think that the county government we have is, even though maybe there’s some of that that’s not quite according to—well, anyway, not up to par—the City of Las Vegas is a lot worse. I think I kinda agree with you. Most everybody does. And you see, this is what I’ve been going through here right now, just (unintelligible). There is what I have to fill out, each one of those, for the next planning commission, as the ones we’re for and the ones we’re against. I (unintelligible). Of course, I have a few more medals, but I don’t keep them. Paradise City Citizens— Paradise Valley Advisory Board. I’ve been chairman of it for twelve years. This isn’t in Paradise Township, isn’t it? Yes, it is. Oh. Surely is. It starts the middle of Sahara through Desert Inn—that’s Winchester—and from middle of Desert Inn, the rest of it is Paradise. All those big hotels and all the big money is in Paradise. There’s only three, four hotels in Winchester, and the rest are all Paradise. That’s what the City of Las Vegas wants; that’s the reason they want to annex us is to get that money. There’s no argument about that. Well, they really kinda duplicate each other. There’s (unintelligible)— We have—listen, the half-cent sales tax, the cigarette tax, the liquor tax all goes to the four cities—it’s collected here, most of it, but it’s divided up between the four cities according to population. That doesn’t (unintelligible)? UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 17 No. But the county has to take care of that hospital and all the welfare— (Unintelligible) No, I know you don’t, you’re like everybody else don’t. Okay, that’s great to know. And we’re the ones that have to take care of all this. If we’re next to the City of Las Vegas, what these other poor people are going to do, I don’t know. Back to history— Well, that’s history because that goes back quite a ways, too. The begin— When did they first incorporate Las Vegas? About the time that the power company started. North Las Vegas used to be called something else, didn’t it? No, they were a part of—no, they weren’t, they were county. Just county? Yes. And when the Strip started, they wanted them to go in the City of Las Vegas, but the City of Las Vegas wouldn’t have any part of it because they had to have services put in for them, and the county did that. So, all county money did that. Now, they want to turn it around, and they want to take it. They’re in the red, and we’re in the black. Do you remember Bugsy Siegel? Yes. When he first came to town? Flamingo. Did you ever see him? Oh, I’ve seen him, but as far as known him, no. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 18 Do you remember any of the talk or remember thinking anything about it at the time? Well, just one of those murderers, that’s all. See, Virginia Hill was—that’s (unintelligible)—she (unintelligible) her window in California. And there’s one other person that was involved in that. I can’t (unintelligible). We had to have a murder every day—it gets so you can’t remember. That’s what gambling brings. That’s just been since the day (unintelligible). Well, it really is mostly—that’s what, it’s the type of people that that brings and causes all this. We didn’t used to have that kind of a town here. You talk to the wrong (unintelligible) build them up that that’s the only way to— No, I kind of agree with you in a way. What about the schools? Do you remember what the schools were like when you first came to town? Your kids would have gone to school here. (Unintelligible) Harvey Dondero, (unintelligible), was married at my house. So, yes, I think that the school here—I know this much—you took a (unintelligible) from California to Nevada and they (unintelligible). (Unintelligible) I know that from experience. Were they a big school—the only old school I know if is Las Vegas High School, and I don’t even know that that’s that old. Well, you know where the planning is on, between Fourth and Fifth? Where what is? You know where the federal building is, the new one? Yes. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 19 All right. In that same are there is the old high school that they’ve turned into offices for the county now. That is the old high school. I never knew that. It burned down once, and they rebuilt it. And then, when they built the high school on Seventh, that was turned into a grade school, and there was two other schools there of first grade, second, third, fourth—they were all right there. In fact, all the schools were right there at that time in the early days, all in that one block—two blocks—between Fourth and Fifth. And there was two whole blocks where the federal building is. Did they use the school for other activities? Well, not too much, no. It was for the senior ball and all those things. [Audio cuts out] The new road that was built between here and Boulder City, see, and washes out completely, and there was four lives lost that day, too. That would have been ’30 or around then? No, that was, yes about the time that they started to build the dam, and they finished it in ’36, a year or two ahead (unintelligible). It really was a monumental thing that they did. I never realized it till I took the tour out there (unintelligible)—they can bring a freeway from Los Angeles to New York. Well, there was (unintelligible). [Phone rings, audio cuts out] Big Bertha was the, oh, I don’t know what you’d call it, the bus that hauled it in back and forth to work at the dam. And Harold Anderson was the one who fed all the men, and they mostly lived in dormitories out there. There was a few houses built, and for the top men, and outside of that, they either lived in the dormitories down in Hoover City. And of course, that was in Las Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 20 And another thing that they had at that time was, they were given stamps to—they could only buy at company stores. That’s what not too many people remember. They had to get that okayed through the legislature. So, they were hired by the federal government, and they were given stamps by whom? By the Six Companies to buy in the Six Companies stores. Oh, I see. Turn it off a minute. [Audio cuts out] Today, their massage parlors are a little different from what it was in the earlier days. When they had Block 16, where all the girls were and had to go every two weeks for examinations, and then that way, I think it kept the disease down much better than the way they’re doing things today. Was it legal in Clark County back then or—? (Unintelligible) Well, when did they legalized in certain?—it is legal in most counties. Not here. I know, but when did the state—did the state ever have a law against prostitution? Later, they moved it to the Meadows, which is right off the Boulder Highway, at Four Mile, and then at Four Mile, they also had it, but at that time, they all had to go for examinations every two weeks. So, that’s the way they handled it then; now, it’s massage parlors, without any— Examination. Examination to keep it under control. It was in one area—not spread all over. When did they finally get rid of it? (Unintelligible) UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 21 I’ve heard of (unintelligible). In fact, he was the boss. So, how they’re going to get rid of it now, I don’t know. I think the best thing to do, put it all in one spot, make them go for examinations, and hold it to that. Do you remember anything about the Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital going up? Yes. The old part of the hospital, was it the only hospital in town at the time? Did they have one before that? No, they had one on Eighth Street, the Las Vegas Hospital. Oh, that’s right. Which is now closed. Oh, not that big three-story one, there’s another one? The one on Eighth Street. I lived on Seventh, and it was almost directly behind me on Eighth. That’s closed? I believe they did just recently. That was—I used to live on Fifteenth for a while, I had an apartment over on 422 North Fifteenth, so I used to live in that area, too. No, that wouldn’t be in that area. It was on the other side of Fremont—North Eighth Street. Yeah, I lived on North Fifteenth. You lived on North Fifteenth? Yes. Well, this on North Eighth. I know where— UNLV University Libraries Mary Habbart 22 Well, then there was one down on Fourth Street; that was a railroad hospital. Then there was the county hospital, but it was just one row on Charleston of, I would say, maybe ten rooms. Really small then? It was small. And then to build, when they got money from the government, they enlarged it. I owned the whole block, back of it, and I had to sell the roadway into it before the government could go ahead with their plans, which was 300 feet that I got $300 for. One day in one of the meetings, they were paying over $100,000 for a place for parking cars—that gives you an idea of what—but it was 300 feet that I had to let them have, that was on Shadow, the