The weathered train tracks behind the Plaza Hotel & Casino are generally viewed with indifference, if they’re noticed at all, even though almost a dozen freight trains chug through Las Vegas on any given day. The tracks were laid and a depot built in that spot Downtown in 1905, connecting the new city to California and Utah.
“I think people forget Las Vegas was originally a railroad community until the ’40s, when … we switched over from mining to gambling,” says Paige Figanbaum. As executive director of the Nevada Preservation Foundation, or NPF for short, she aims to spread awareness of the city’s roots and advocates for the preservation of historic homes, buildings, and communities throughout the state.
Her mission is especially challenging in a city of rapid reinvention and development, where iconic casinos are imploded with fanfare. Las Vegas isn’t widely regarded for its cultural history and heritage.
“We’re continually trying to work with city officials and fight for historic preservation,” she says. “When it comes to what should be saved and how it should be saved … that’s where the local community is so crucial because … what they find is important and historic — it’s different for every community.”
NPF is currently hosting the 10th annual Home + History Las Vegas festival, but the nonprofit stages events, cocktail parties, pub crawls, and tours throughout the year, sharing stories of vintage houses and places, iconic architects, and the city’s ongoing transformation. While this year’s festival includes a rare tour of the famous Cold War-era underground house, built 25 feet below the desert floor near the Boulevard Mall, there are many homes and neighborhoods in Las Vegas — McNeil Estates, the Scotch 80s, and old Henderson are also on this year’s schedule — with unique character and personality.
Built in 1960, the midcentury modern neighborhood of Paradise Palms was Las Vegas’ first master-planned community. Designed by renowned architects Palmer and Krisel, it was home to mobsters and politicians, as well as celebrities such as Dean Martin, Johnny Carson, Debbie Reynolds, Buddy Hackett, and Rip Taylor. NPF helped the neighborhood achieve its designation as a historic overlay district in 2021 — the first such designation in the county, but not the last.
The 18b Arts District is another NPF pride point. Many buildings in this neighborhood are historic, some dating back to the railroad days, since that’s where businesses and tract homes first cropped up when passengers started coming and going. The multicolored Arts Factory building, at 107 E. Charleston Blvd., was originally an air-conditioning business; it’s now a thriving arts space.
“One of the things we really try to push is adaptive reuse,” Figanbaum says, “using historic buildings and sites for contemporary use.”
A couple blocks away from the Arts Factory the railway tracks remain, though the city demolished the original Union Pacific train station in 1940 to make way for a modern depot. That one was torn down in 1970 to accommodate the Union Plaza Hotel and Casino (still standing minus the “Union”). Las Vegas saw its last passenger train in 1997; a mural near the hotel’s food court pays tribute to its history.
Stories like those shared at NPF events and on tours can lead to aha! moments for visitors and locals alike, even those who have driven across the tracks for years, stopped for a freight train, or occasionally hear the horn.
“You may live here and know the history and the connections,” Figanbaum says. “It’s not just about those connections. It’s how you make those connections.”
For more: Visit the Nevada Preservation Foundation, nevadapreservation.org