LV 101: Beyond the Strip

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005 | 7:06 a.m.

Pop Quiz: Test your LV Histoy knowledge

Six questions from UNLV adjunct professor Jonathan Peters, who has a doctorate in American studies and is authoring the "Las Vegas Children's History Book."

Q. For whom is Fremont Street named and what is that person's significance?

A. The major Las Vegas downtown artery is named for American explorer John C. Fremont (1813-1890). In addition to drawing the first maps that included Las Vegas, he set up camp in 1844 at the Springs, near where Valley View Boulevard and Alta Drive intersect today.

Q. What activity was outlawed in Nevada in 1910?

A. Gambling. In Las Vegas the law was enforced for three weeks, then generally ignored as the activity resumed in back rooms of bars and other adult establishments. Gambling was legalized statewide on March 19, 1931.

Q. What Southern Nevada company at one point in the first half of the 20th century employed 13,600 people, which at the time represented 10 percent of Nevada's population?

A. The Basic Magnesium Inc. plant in Henderson during World War II.

Q. Why was Las Vegas called the Mississippi of the West?

A. Because blacks were treated as second-class citizens on the Strip until 1960, when an accord ended segregration at most of the resorts.

Q. What is Mayme V. Stocker's claim to fame in Las Vegas?

A. The wife of a railroad worker, she was the first person -- in 1931 -- to receive from Clark County a license to operate a casino in Las Vegas -- the Northern Club, at 15 E. Fremont St., where the La Bayou casino is today.

Q. What occurred for the first time in Las Vegas on May 7, 1920?

A. The landing and taking off of a plane. Randall Henderson, a World War I barnstormer, flew into Las Vegas.

Ten-year-old Mike Ayala says he knows "just a little" Las Vegas history, but would like to learn a lot more.

Asked if he knows who pioneer Helen J. Stewart was, he shook his head, no.

Elvis Presley? A wide grin beamed across the face of the Robert Lunt Elementary School fourth grader as he clenched a fist and shouted: "Oh yeah!"

Ayala's teacher, Andrea Rojas, is not too concerned that Ayala's appreciation of his city's history is limited to the king of rock 'n' roll. After all, the only things many Las Vegas adults know about the history of the city are Elvis, the Rat Pack and the myth that gangster Bugsy Siegel had a vision that became the Las Vegas Strip.

Still, Rojas, who grew up in Southern Nevada and graduated from Basic High School, shares the frustration of local teachers who are required to teach Las Vegas history starting in the fourth grade. There is no textbook about the city that is designed for children of that age group.

That situation, however, is expected to change next fall with the publishing and distribution of the "Las Vegas Children's History Book."

The Clark County School District plans to circulate it to 25,000 fourth graders in classrooms and school libraries, as well as make the textbooks available to charter, private and home schools.

"It is extremely difficult to teach local history without a good available textbook," said Rojas, who took Ayala and his classmates on a recent field trip to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum on Las Vegas Boulevard North.

"Much of what we now use comes from the Internet," Rojas said.

Ayala, who was born in Las Vegas, said he would like to learn more about transportation, especially how cars got around in the desert in the early 20th century when few roads were paved.

Classmate Nadia Sanchez, 10, a Las Vegas resident of four years, says she is awed by the big casinos and wants to know more about how the megaresorts came about.

Another classmate, Consuelo Cardenas, 9, a Las Vegas resident of five years, says she wants to know more about Lake Mead. She seemed surprised when told that it was man-made as a reservoir to Hoover Dam, which was built more than 60 years before she was born.

The textbook is expected to cover those topics and also will include pioneers such as John C. Fremont and topics such as the influence of the Paiute and Anasazi tribes, the Old Mormon Fort, the Spanish Trail and the mining industry.

Clark County School Board member Sheila Moulton, a driving force behind the planned 200-page, color, hard-cover textbook, is raising the private funds to get it published.

"Several years ago a publisher came to town with his book, 'The Children's History of Los Angeles,' " Moulton said.

She said local educators wanted to have him create a similar book for Las Vegas, "but his company went under and nothing was done about publishing a local book."

Moulton, who also serves on the Las Vegas Centennial Committee, said she revived the textbook idea "as a legacy project that will not only help students learn about Las Vegas history" but also will do the same for their parents.

To date, Moulton said, $220,000 has been raised to pay for the book, including $100,000 from the centennial committee and other large gifts from developer Mountain's Edge, Nevada Power, the customers of Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and Chancellor Jim Rogers of the Higher Education System of Nevada.

Several organizations have come together to support the project, including Communities in Schools of Southern Nevada, the Nevada Community Foundation, the Ronald McDonald House, Newspapers in Education and the Junior League of Las Vegas, but another $130,000 needs to be raised to publish the book, Moulton said.

It was initially hoped that the textbook would be published by next March to be released on the 50th anniversary of the formation of the Clark County School District. Now the projected distribution date is September.

In the meantime, UNLV adjunct professor Jonathan Peters is writing the book. He said he not only has done considerable research but also has interviewed local educators and others about what they believe should be covered in the textbook.

"It has been a challenge because there is so much history that needs not only to be condensed but also written so that fourth graders will understand it," Peters said.

Peters, 39, a Las Vegas resident of six years, said he has talked to industry leaders, particularly those in gaming, transportation and water resources.

Peters said the history of Siegel and Presley "probably will be wrapped up in a page or two because there is so much more to write about."

Also, Peters said, because the book is designed primarily for young children, colorful "Sin City" history such as the infamous Block 16 in downtown Las Vegas, where brothels openly operated in the early 20th century, will not be included.

But, he said, some things you cannot write around.

"Relationships such as Hoover Dam's proximity to the drinking and gambling that was going on in Las Vegas will be in the book," Peters said. "And instead of having to explain racketeering to young students, the term 'crooked investors' will be used to describe part of the mob's role."

That's just fine with parents.

"Our main position is health and safety of all children so if something unsafe or unhealthy is being taught, we would have concerns," said Nevada State Parents and Teachers Association spokeswoman Kimberly Tate, a lifelong Southern Nevadan and graduate of Basic High.

"But if children are taught about issues such as racial segregation that existed in Las Vegas, that's OK because they learn about issues such as slavery in American history. Las Vegas history and American history go hand-in-hand."

"We live in a city that is going through so many changes, and we need to learn about them," she said. "I don't think I know a lot about Las Vegas history, and I love history."

Ed Koch can be reached at 259-4090 or at koch@lasvegassun.com.

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