Pittman, Nevada
December 11th, 2024 at 9:52:14 AM
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Before there was Henderson, there was Pittman.
As Boulder City didn't allow gambling, workers on the dam had to travel to a ramshackle hamlet on a dirt road that would eventually become Boulder Highway.
Henderson, as we know it, grew out of a single company. Basic Industries was a wartime boomtown that employed and temporarily housed over 10,000 people during 2. For those workers, the closest place for entertainment and gambling was the same hamlet. Some called it Jericho, some called it Midway, but when they got their hard-fought Post Office, it was named Pittman in honor of Nevada's long-time Senator.
When Basic shut down, the tax base was decimated, and Clark County's services were poor, so the residents wanted to incorporate. They offered to merge with Pittman because they didn't meet the population requirements. Pittman-Henderson was incorporated in the early 1950s, And zoning laws required all the casinos and bars to be located within the old boundaries of Pittmn. Nothing much happened until the Green Valley development caused a change in the zoning, opening up all of Henderson for gambling, drinking, and gambling.
Little remains of Pittman and what survives is in danger of undergoing development.
The town was named after Key Pittman, a US senator first elected with Teddy Roosevelt and a strong FDR ally. He was well-known for being a loud, boisterous drunk, but leading up to the election of 1940, he was no longer a functioning alcoholic, known for pissing himself in public. He did no campaigning and just ran off his record of bringing federal resources to the state. The week before the election, he suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors said he had a near-zero chance of survival, but the news wasn't made public.
Five days after the election, it was announced he was dead. To this day, rumors that he died before the election persist.
As Boulder City didn't allow gambling, workers on the dam had to travel to a ramshackle hamlet on a dirt road that would eventually become Boulder Highway.
Henderson, as we know it, grew out of a single company. Basic Industries was a wartime boomtown that employed and temporarily housed over 10,000 people during 2. For those workers, the closest place for entertainment and gambling was the same hamlet. Some called it Jericho, some called it Midway, but when they got their hard-fought Post Office, it was named Pittman in honor of Nevada's long-time Senator.
When Basic shut down, the tax base was decimated, and Clark County's services were poor, so the residents wanted to incorporate. They offered to merge with Pittman because they didn't meet the population requirements. Pittman-Henderson was incorporated in the early 1950s, And zoning laws required all the casinos and bars to be located within the old boundaries of Pittmn. Nothing much happened until the Green Valley development caused a change in the zoning, opening up all of Henderson for gambling, drinking, and gambling.
Little remains of Pittman and what survives is in danger of undergoing development.
The town was named after Key Pittman, a US senator first elected with Teddy Roosevelt and a strong FDR ally. He was well-known for being a loud, boisterous drunk, but leading up to the election of 1940, he was no longer a functioning alcoholic, known for pissing himself in public. He did no campaigning and just ran off his record of bringing federal resources to the state. The week before the election, he suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors said he had a near-zero chance of survival, but the news wasn't made public.
Five days after the election, it was announced he was dead. To this day, rumors that he died before the election persist.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
