LV’s past comes alive in quilt

Dan Kulin

Friday, Aug. 26, 2005 | 8:35 a.m.

Images of Las Vegas' past and a few from the present are preserved in an old-fashioned way in the city's Centennial Quilt, which was unveiled Thursday at the Sahara West Library.

Among the images is a Jan. 10, 1930, snowstorm, the first airmail delivery to the city in April 1926, and a postcard from the opening night of the former Moulin Rouge.

"It's all our history," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, whose picture is in the quilt, as is a picture of the city's first mayor, Peter Buol.

Almost all of the 90 images on the quilt came from photographs, most of which quilter Mimi Shimp found in the archives at UNLV.

The Centennial Commission paid Shimp, a professional quilter who lives in Las Vegas, $10,000 for the colorful quilt.

Shimp said the quilt was "a labor of love" and said the quilt shows how Las Vegas, "has always been an exciting boomtown."

At the center of the quilt is a worn-looking image of the 1905 land auction, which laid the groundwork for modern-day Las Vegas. The city's yearlong centennial celebration commemorates that land auction, which has already been recognized with a slew of events, including a re-enactment of the auction.

Shimp's quilt includes several present-day images, including Lake Las Vegas, and pictures of many Strip hotels, and also has a few unusual touches.

A small pocket hidden among the strips of bright and striped and dotted patches holds one of Goodman's signature "Happiest Mayor" poker chips. And a plain looking white piece of cloth near the pictures of the mayors glows in the dark.

"The only one who'll see that will be the janitor cleaning up at night," Shimp said.

The quilt is scheduled to be on display at the County Government Center in September, then move to the Sawyer State Office Building in October, Las Vegas City Hall in November, and then to the Clark County Museum in December.

Eventually, the quilt will be permanently housed in the old downtown post office, once the transformation of that building into a museum is complete.