El Rancho Vegas: Where the Strip Began
Nevada
Everything that Las Vegas became started here. When Thomas Hull opened El Rancho Vegas on April third, nineteen forty-one, he placed it not downtown but out on a dusty stretch of Highway Ninety-One. The choice was calculated: the land sat outside city limits, was cheaper, and was on the highway that would attract motorists driving in from California.
El Rancho was the first resort on what would become the Las Vegas Strip, offering a swimming pool, casino, steakhouse, and showroom under one roof. Other developers followed Hull's template, and the Strip grew south from this spot. El Rancho burned down in a spectacular fire in June nineteen sixty, and a vacant lot sat for decades where it once stood.
Part of the old grounds now holds a Hilton Grand Vacations resort, and the rest has long stood open.
