This is the history of Blue Diamond Village. Blue Diamond is located 26 miles southwest of Las Vegas. The village, originally known as Cottonwood Springs, changed its name when the Blue Diamond Company took ownership of the Gypsum mine and built corporate housing for the workers in the early '20s. Near the base of the Red Rock canyon, Blue Diamond Village was originally a stop on the Old Spanish Trail for traders from Santa Fe, N.M., to California between 1830 and 1848, according to the history committee's findings.
JMA (Jack Miller & Associates) was established by Jack Miller (1914-1999) in 1945 and is one of the oldest architectural firms in Las Vegas. Jack Miller came to Las Vegas in 1942 to assist in the design of the Basic Magnesium Plant in Henderson. As one of only a few architects working in Las Vegas after the war, Miller was able to establish a thriving practice designing all types of buildings: schools, residences, commercial and government buildings, hospitals and the original Stardust Hotel.
Talk show host and columnist Dick Maurice was born on November 5, 1946 in Connecticut where he spent his formative years. In 1965, he enrolled at Northeast Broadcasting School in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduation he moved to New York City, New York where he stayed until the fall of 1975 when an agreement was reached with Red Gilson, general manager of KSHO-TV, an ABC affiliate, to give Maurice his own morning TV talk show in Las Vegas, Nevada.