Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park: Difference between revisions

| map = United States Downtown Las Vegas#USA Nevada

| map_sizemap_caption = Location in =Las 180Vegas

| map_captionmap_width = Location in= Nevada280

| location = [[Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], [[United States]]

| coordinatescoords = {{coord|36|10|50|N|115|08|01|W|display=inline,title}}

| named_for free_label = Named for

{{Infobox NRHP |embed=yes

| name = Las Vegas Mormon Fort

| nrhp_type =
| image = Bureau of Reclamation Lab - Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park - 28 October 2020.jpg

| caption = Part of the original fort, later remodeled and used as a testing laboratory by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

| image_size = 280

| location = 500 E. Washington Ave. <br>[[Las Vegas, Nevada]]

| coordinates = =

| locmapin = =

| area = 0.699 acres

| built = 1855

| architect =

| architecture = =

| added = February 1, 1972

| refnum = 72000764

| increase = December 12, 1978

| increase_refnum = 78003379

| mpsub = =

| designated_other1_color = #ffc94b

'''Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park''' is a [[state park]] of [[Nevada]],. USA,It containingcontains the Old Mormon Fort (completed 1855), the first permanent structure built by people of European heritage in what would become [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]] fifty years later.<ref name=nsp/> In present-day Las Vegas, the site is at the southeast corner of [[Las Vegas Boulevard]] and Washington Avenue, less than one mile north of the [[downtown]] area and [[Fremont Street]]. This is the only U.S. state park located in a city that houses the first building ever built in that city.<ref name=smithsonian/> The fort was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on February 1, 1972.<ref name="nrhpinv1"/> The site is memorialized with a tablet erected by [[Thethe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] in 1997,<ref name=histmarker/>, along with [[Nevada Historical Markers|Nevada Historical Marker]] #35,<ref name=markers/>, and two markers placed by the [[Daughters of Utah Pioneers]].

[[Mormon]] [[missionaries]] led by [[Las Vegas Mission#William Bringhurst|William Bringhurst]] arrived on June 14, 1855, and selected a site, along one of the creeks that flowed from the [[Las Vegas Springs]], on which they would build the fort. The fort served as the midpoint on the trail between [[Salt Lake City, Utah]] and [[Los Angeles, California]]. As a result of the beginning of the [[Utah War]], the Mormons abandoned the fort.

The fort was called Fort Baker during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], named after [[Edward Dickinson Baker]]. In a letter from Col. [[James Henry Carleton]] written to Pacific Department headquarters, December 23, 1861, Carleton mentions his plan to send an advance party of seven companies from [[Fort Yuma]] to reoccupy [[Fort Mojave]] and reestablish the ferry there.<ref>Carleton calls it Fort Navajo, but by referring to the ferry and Major [[William Hoffman (U.S. Army)|Hoffman]]'s route up the Colorado in his campaign against the [[Mohave people|Mohave]] Indians it clearly indicates he means Fort Mojave. He also indicates it will then draw supplies from [[Los Angeles]]. Fort Mojave was the terminus of the supply route known as the [[Mojave Road]] from [[San Bernardino]] and Los Angeles.</ref> Carleton then intended to send on from there three cavalry companies and one of infantry to the Mormon fort at Las Vegas, and establish a post called Fort Baker. This was in preparation for an advance to Salt Lake City the following year.<ref name=adjutant/> The move to reoccupy Fort Mojave never occurred as planned because Carleton's [[California Column]] at Fort Yuma were sent instead into [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]] to evict the Confederates there the next year. However, Fort Mojave was later reoccupied in 1863 by Union troops from California. In 1864, a road survey party led by Captain Price, Company M, [[2nd California Cavalry Regiment]] traveled on the route from Fort Douglas to Fort Mojave passing through Las Vegas, stopping for water there on June 10. No mention is made of any garrison there.<ref name=hunt/> Presumably the post was never garrisoned during the Civil War.

In 1865, [[Octavius Gass]] re-occupied the fort and started the irrigation works, renaming the area to Los Vegas Rancho (later renamed Las Vegas in 1902). Gass defaulted on a loan to Archibald Stewart in 1881 and lost the ranch, with Stewart and his wife Helen becoming the new caretakers. In 1902, William A. Clark's [[Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad|San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad]] acquired the property from Helen Stewart along with most of what is now downtown Las Vegas, transferring most of the company's land to the now defunct [[Las Vegas Land and Water Company]].<ref name=brochure/>

Ownership of the fort and the land around it changed hands many times and it had several close calls with destruction. In 1955, the land was acquired by the Las Vegas [[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks|Elks]]. With support of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, the city of Las Vegas acquired the fort in 1989. Long-term protection was gained when the state acquired the site as a state park in 1991.<ref name=parkhistory/> A $4.5 million renovation and visitor center, designed by assemblageSTUDIO, was completed in 2005.<ref name=unlv/>

<ref name=nsp>{{cite web |url=http://parks.nv.gov/parks/old-las-vegas-mormon-fort |title=Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park |work=Nevada State Parks |publisher=Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |accessdateaccess-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=statelands>{{cite web |url=http://lands.nv.gov/uploads/documents/PORTFOLIO_Master_List_LATEST_ONE_-_PUBLIC_POSTING_NRS_331.110A.pdf |title=Inventory of State Lands |publisher=Nevada Division of State Lands |date= April 27, 2018 |accessdateaccess-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name=unlv>{{cite web |url=https://www.library.unlv.edu/speccol/archdb2/index.php/projects/view/157 |title=Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Visitors Center |work=Special Collections and Archives |publisher=University of Nevada, Las Vegas |accessdateaccess-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name=parkhistory>{{cite web |url=http://parks.nv.gov/learn/park-histories/old-las-vegas-mormon-fort-history |title=History of Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park |work=Nevada State Parks |publisher=Department of Conservation and Natural Resources |accessdateaccess-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="nrhpinv1">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=72000764}} |title=Las Vegas Mormon Fort |work=National Register of Historic Place Inventory Nomination |author=Gene Amberg, Supervisor of Federal Aid Programs, Planning Dept. |date=November 8, 1971 |publisher=National Park Service |accessdateaccess-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=markers>{{cite web |url=http://shpo.nv.gov/nevadas-historical-markers/historical-markers/las-vegas-morman-fort |title=Las Vegas Old Mormon Fort |work=Nevada’s State Historical Markers |publisher=State Historic Preservation Office |accessdateaccess-date=January 30, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=histmarker>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=1419 |title=The Las Vegas Mormon Fort |publisher=Historical Marker Database |date=June 16, 2016 |accessdateaccess-date=January 31, 2018}}</ref>

<ref name=adjutant>{{cite book |title=Records of California Men in the War of the Rebellion 1861 to 1867 |url=https://archive.org/details/recordscaliforn00ortogoog |author=Brig.-Gen. Richard H. Orton |location=Sacramento, Cal. |accessdateaccess-date=December 29, 2009 |year=1890 |publisher=State Office |page=[https://archive.org/details/recordscaliforn00ortogoog/page/n25 21]}}</ref>

<ref name=brochure>{{cite web |url=http://parks.nv.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/MormonFort2011-screen.pdf |title=Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Historic State Park Brochure |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120819194118/http://parks.nv.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/MormonFort2011-screen.pdf |archivedatearchive-date=August 19, 2012 |accessdateaccess-date=January 30, 2011}}</ref>

[[Category:LatterThe DayChurch Saintof Jesus Christ of Latter-day movementSaints in Nevada]]