In the 1930’s there was no Las Vegas “Strip”. Las Vegas was a railroad town, built to house the railroad workers and their families. The clubs, casinos, stores, schools, hotels, professional offices, and railroad station were all downtown.

Highway 91 (now the Strip) went from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, passing through Las Vegas. Scattered along the highway, leading into Las Vegas, were a few small clubs, but they were few and far between.

As the legend goes…in 1938 Tommy Hull and a friend, were driving along highway 91. They were a few miles outside of Las Vegas when they got a flat tire. Tommy waited with the car while his friend hitchhiked into Las Vegas to get help. While waiting, Tommy counted the cars that passed him on the highway, and began to get an idea. Highway 91 was a long stretch of road through a hot, dusty desert. There were a lot of cars on the highway, and Tommy thought there were plenty of weary travelers, in the cars, who would enjoy a place to stop and relax. Tommy owned hotels in California, so it didn’t take much for him to begin to envision a hotel, a swimming pool, and tall cool drinks…an oasis in the desert.

After months of planning and construction, El Rancho Vegas opened on April 3, 1941.

Most of the article text is omitted, so I can post pictures!

In the wee hours of the morning, on June 17, 1960, three engine companies, a ladder truck and two pumpers with lights flashing and sirens screaming arrived at the El Rancho Vegas. By the time they arrived, the main building, which housed the casino, shops, restaurants and showroom, was engulfed in flames.

It was the end of the first resort on the Strip.

The origin of the fire wasn’t positively determined, though arson was suspected. There were those who said that the fire was fortuitous for Beldon Katelman. Immediately after the fire, it was announced that the El Rancho Vegas would be rebuilt and that it would be bigger and better than ever. That never happened.

In 1970 Howard Hughes bought the property, which remained vacant for many years.

If you’d like to see what the El Rancho Vegas looked like in her heyday, find a copy of the movie “Las Vegas Shakedown”. It was filmed at the resort in 1955, and it’s fun to watch from a “historical Las Vegas” standpoint.

The above is excerpted from CCTN Summer 2007, page 27
https://ccgtcc.com/documents/1181/news/Volume-20-Number-3/index.aspx