HENDERSON HISTORY: City's roots date back to 1930s

The history of Henderson is a rags to riches story. It was born of industry and war.

In June 1953 a smattering of houses, apartments, community services and an industrial complex, in the Basic and Pittman townsites, became a city called Henderson, but the real story starts much earlier during the construction of Hoover Dam in the '30s and in the 1940s during World War II.

The Pittman townsite was developed during the construction of Hoover Dam but was on its way to becoming a ghost town after the project's completion. The townsite was generally bordered by the modern streets of Sunset Road, Moser Drive, Merlayne Drive and Ward Drive. It was originally called Midway City because it was in between Las Vegas and what is now Boulder City.

Basic townsite's history is entwined with the that of BMI. The processing company, which can be credited with bringing many of the city's first residents, was originally known as Basic Magnesium Inc., later changed to Basic Management Inc. and is now a part of the LandWell Company. That townsite originally included the area bordered by Boulder Highway, Lake Mead Drive, Victory Avenue, Van Wagenen, Tin Street and Ocean Avenue. Even the name "Basic" refers to the type of process used to make magnesium.

"It's been interesting to see what people have brought to Henderson," said Lou LaPorta who moved to Henderson in 1946 from what would later be called Nellis Air Force Base. "I didn't anticipate staying in Henderson. We liked the area -- there's just something about it."

Years earlier, in 1935, Harry Springer had staked a claim on huge deposits of brucite and magnesite near Gabbs, but at that time, no one had a use for it and no one was thinking about a substance called magnesium. Springer's claim turned out to be the largest in the world, 70 million tons, and it would eventually be used at BMI to create ingots, or bricks, of magnesium from a top secret recipe smuggled into America by British scientists. The ingots were shipped to factories in other parts of the United States to be forged into lightweight parts for planes and incendiary bombs and bullets.

"It was incredibly important to turning the tide of the war," said Jan Seagrave who is working on a documentary of the history of BMI.

In 1941, Las Vegas had roughly 10,000 residents and the areas that would eventually merge to form Henderson, the Basic and Pittman townsites, were hardly a blip on any map. The U.S. and British governments built the largely underground BMI complex in a cooperative effort. Construction of the plant started only two months before the December 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The 2,800-acre site took approximately two years to complete, employing more labor than the construction of Hoover Dam. At the height of the war effort, BMI employed 13,000 workers. People were brought in to work from all over the country (all 48 states at the time) and nearly 60 percent of those workers were blacks recruited from the South, Seagrave said. Much of the work force were also women.

In fact, the existence of Hoover Dam was a crucial reason the plant was built in the area. Las Vegas was not yet using its full allotment of water from the Colorado River Compact and the water supply was still 20 miles away from Las Vegas. BMI created a water transit system especially for the manufacture of war supplies, including a water treatment facility still in downtown Henderson. The 14-mile, 40-inch-wide water pipeline, under what is now Water Street, brought Lake Mead water into Nevada for the first time in 1942.

"This was critical for the growth of the valley," Seagrave said.

According to the city of Henderson's Web site, the U.S. War Asset Administration put the entire city up for sale after the war ended. A brochure titled "Townsite, Plancor 201-H" provided this description of Henderson: "This development constitutes what can be considered a complete community establishment, providing housing and recreation for approximately 3,500 persons. (T)he community development consists of a well-conceived town plan layout of hard-surfaced streets, graded service alleys, complete utilities such as sewer, water and electrical services, 703 two-bedroom houses, 297 three-bedroom houses, all constructed on a standard plan of shiplap on wood frame ... electric heating, evaporative cooling, full sanitary plumbing, hot and cold water, open garage and driveway. Also included are school buildings, two 'bachelor type' apartment buildings of 29 apartments each; theater building, (a) recreation building housing a drug store, cafe, barber shop and bowling alley; general store and market building; nursery-school building; post-office building, maintenance shop; paint shop; fire station; small shops building; Protestant Church; Catholic Church; Red Cross building; Boy Scout building; library building; athletic field and field house; asphalt-surfaced tennis court, baseball diamond; and complete hospital (the future St. Rose Dominican Hospital) serving the area."

The town was sold to the state of Nevada for $24 million, which later sold off parts to private industry. In 1952, BMI became Basic Management Inc. as a landlord for the town.

Many of the people who moved there to work on the dam and at BMI decided to remain. It was from the united efforts of those who lived in the townsite that the committee to incorporate Henderson was created. Locals such as former state senator Hal Smith and LaPorta, who was on the first city council, were two of the many who lobbied BMI and the state for a chance to be the first residents of Henderson.

When the federal government put the townsite up for sale after the war, LaPorta said many who lived there got upset. "They didn't want to go." Many of the former plant workers were offered a chance to buy their home for a price between $2,500 and $3,500.

The initiative to incorporate into a town came from the people who lived there.

"It got to the point where it didn't feel like we were governing ourselves," LaPorta said. "We had to get a mayor -- the whole works right away. There wasn't much in the way of business. There wasn't any gambling -- accept in Pittman. The beginnings were humble."

Life in the early days surrounded the functions of BMI, but the industry also affected residents in other ways. Emissions from BMI caused the air to smell bad sometimes and particles in the air were known to coat windows and furniture.

"The air was so bad that it etched my mother's windows like stained glass," said Tina Smith, wife of Hal Smith. In the 1950s, she and their children lived with her mother, Ruth Ball, while Hal was still on active Naval duty in the Korean war.

Tina Smith was a charter member of the Clark County (Heritage) Museum, located at 1830 S. Boulder Highway. Her mother's house at 27 Nevada Way, was just down the road from where the museum is today. The museum has created an "original" townsite house built with parts taken from five original houses before they were demolished. Artifacts include an original water heater, fixtures and paneling. Tours are available throughout the year.