Travels and Trails

Las Vegas, New Mexico was officially settled along the Gallinas River in 1835. This guide, a companion to Travels and Trails, A Historical Tour Guide to West Las Vegas and Montezuma, New Mexico, explores the development and growth of East Las Vegas. In 1879 the railroad laid tracks a mile away from the original settlement and a new community, East Las Vegas, City of Las Vegas, or New Town popped up. New Town brought a strong Anglo influence to the area. Large mercantile houses Otero, Sellar & Company, Chick, Browne & Manzanares and others drew in business from hundreds of miles away. Learn about these enterprising people and some that followed them. View some of the 900 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Las Vegas had many firsts in the territory: the first community organized fire department, the first school built with public funds, the first trolley car system, the first telephone and many more. For decades Las Vegas was the political, economic, cultural, and medical center of the northern part of the territory. It was larger than Santa Fe or Albuquerque. The two communities joined in 1970. Learn about the rise and fall of the city which is now in the process of reinventing itself.