Las Vegas Centennial: May babies to get special recognition

Thursday, May 12, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

Even the newest and smallest Las Vegans are being honored during the Las Vegas Centennial Celebration.

All babies born in the Las Vegas Valley this month are slated to receive gifts as part of the recognition promotions for the city's 100th birthday.

The gifts from local retailers include a Centennial teddy bear, a commemorative Centennial birth certificate signed by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and a bottle bag and product samples from Burlington Coat Factory Baby Depot.

Babies born on the city's birthday on Sunday will receive, in addition to the regular package, a certificate for a free class offered through the Las Vegas Department of Leisure Services and a bottle bag from Babies R Us.

One baby born on Sunday will receive special recognition from KB Home.

Centennial gift packages are being dispersed by area hospitals, including Mountain View, North Vista, Southern Hills, Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center, St. Rose Dominican Hospitals' Rose de Lima and Siena campuses, Summerlin Hospital Medical Center, Sunrise, University Medical Center, Valley Hospital Medical Center and Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital.

Although the city is honoring all babies born in May, the city's first pioneer baby was not born until three months and three days after the city's founding.

But when Genevieve Lytle was born Aug. 18, 1905, to John and Mary Lytle in a tent in Las Vegas -- there were no hospitals in Las Vegas at the time -- she too was honored by community business leaders.

Mary Lytle recounted in her diary that Genevieve's birth was a big event in the fledgling town. Officials, including Chamber of Commerce President Ed W. Clark, were among those to visit the historic newborn and award her with a small locket, commemorating the milestone birth, Mary Lytle wrote.

Genevieve's birth was announced in a short story in the Aug. 26, 1905, edition of the Las Vegas Age newspaper.

But while Las Vegas would survive for 100 years, Genevieve did not live to see her second birthday. She died of whooping cough on June 25, 1907, in Overton, according to the July 6, 1907, edition of the Age.

Centennial officials say the Centennial Babies and their parents will be invited to participate in a group photo in September that will be placed in a time capsule.