DID YOU KNOW?: Five things that make North Las Vegas uniqueFive things that make North Las Vegas unique

VIEW File PhotoAirplanes and helicopters stand on display at the North Las Vegas Airport during its open house Dec. 6. Jim Miller/VIEWGus Sabo Memorial Park is the viewing area built to watch the air traffic in and out of the North Las Vegas Airport, 2730 Airport Drive. Special to ViewNorth Las Vegas mayor Dorothy Porter was the first female mayor in Nevada. In the photos, printed in the Nevadan in August 1982, Porter is shown left as a Ziegfeld girl and right as an actress in the 1920s. Special to ViewNorth Las Vegas mayor Dorothy Porter was the first female mayor in Nevada. In the photos, printed in the Nevadan in August 1982, Porter is shown left as a Ziegfeld girl and right as an actress in the 1920s. photo courtesy of UNLV Special CollectionsThomas Williams, "Father of North Las Vegas," stands in front of his campground store. Williams claimed 160 acres of land in what is now North Las Vegas. Advertisement

North Las Vegas is nothing if not diverse.

The area is a peculiar fusion of rich western history, landmark casinos and a culturally varied latticework.

Perhaps, it is that unique character that contributed to the odd mixture of entertaining North Las Vegas-oriented updates, facts and details you will find herein.

The North Las Vegas Airport

The North Las Vegas Airport, 2730 Airport Drive, may have been a topic of controversy in 2008, but drama is not new to this airfield.

The facility, which was originally named Sky Haven Airport, opened its runways the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, and closed just one hour later.

"The celebration had to be put on hold because that was the day that Pearl Harbor happened," Clark County Aviation Association president David Lerner said.

As news of the attack poured in, scheduled flying demonstrations were canceled, and the airport closed with no tentative date for reopening.

"It was open for such a short time, and nobody was sure what was happening yet, so there was no date for reopening even considered," Lerner said.

During the war, the airport was used as an off-duty flying space for pilots from the Las Vegas Army Air Base.

Owners and aviation enthusiasts John Barrett and J.M. and Florence Murphy had planned to run the facility together, but J.M. Murphy and Barrett enlisted their services as instructors in the Army Air Corps, with Florence Murphy remaining in North Las Vegas to attend to airport business alone until the end of World War II in 1945.

According to Lerner, eccentric businessman and aviator Howard Hughes used the facility during its early years.

"Hughes had his hands in everything back then," Lerner said. "The airport was no different. It was on his radar."

The property was sold to Wes Durston in the 1950s, who made various improvements, including the construction of a new administration building and restaurant, the Sky Rider Motel, with an airplane-shaped pool, and paved runways.

Durston renamed the facility Thunderbird Field.

Ralph Englestad purchased the airport in 1965 and then sold the property to the city, where it was again renamed.

"City officials called it the North Las Vegas Air Terminal," Lerner said.

The property was sold to Howard Hughes' Summa Corp. in 1967. It became a reliever airport for McCarran International almost seven years later.

The property was purchased by Clark County in 1987.

County officials made various improvements to the property, including the addition of a new terminal building in 1992.

"Relatively little of what was originally built is still here," Lerner said. "There have been decades of renovations and upgrades."

The North Las Vegas Airport now houses more than 700 private aircraft and 25 businesses.

According to Lerner, the facility is one of the busiest airports in the state.

"You have a lot of private pilots and aviation enthusiasts flying, operating and taking lessons," he said. "It's a huge part of the history of North Las Vegas that is still operating today."

Nevada's First Female Mayor

It's a tale of political corruption, a town inundated by crime and prostitution and one ordinary woman who wanted to make a difference -- the stuff great movies are made from.

It was more than 70 years ago when North Las Vegas business owner Dorothy Porter made history by becoming Nevada's first female mayor.

Porter, a 1920s billboard model and former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, went down in Nevada history as the first female mayor in the state.

Porter moved to North Las Vegas with her first husband, who later died, in the late 1940s. The couple owned and ran the Airway Court Motel near Nellis Air Force Base.

"Because of the proximity of the motel, brothel owners were trying very hard to force them out so that they could use the space," College of Southern Nevada history professor Michael Green said.

According to Green, it was that experience that led Porter to run for the North Las Vegas City Council in the early 1950s.

"She really wanted to clean up the city," he said. "That was her mission."

Porter was elected to the North Las Vegas City Council in 1953. Later that year, three city councilmen and the previous North Las Vegas mayor were indicted by the county on charges of malfeasance.

Porter was appointed mayor by a newly elected board of council members in 1954.

"She was the only one left standing when the indictments occurred," Green said. "While she wasn't elected to the mayoral seat, she was an elected council person."

During that time, Green said, there was an unsuccessful attempt to recall Porter, who resigned in 1956.

Green said that the reasons for her resignation are not well documented.

"People have their opinions about why she was only in office a few years," he said. "Many historians believe that Porter was up against a block wall as the first female mayor. She probably had to deal with a lot simply because she was a woman. Many men at that time did not take kindly to women being involved in business matters."

During her tenure, Porter is credited with implementing a city water system and other various other public works and recreational improvements, including playgrounds, paved roadways, a municipal swimming pool and a recreation center.

By this time, Porter had remarried.

While her husband's state job did not allow the couple to remain in North Las Vegas, Porter spent many years in Nevada after her resignation, according to Green.

She died at a rehabilitation center in 1996 at age 89.

Bootlegging In North Las Vegas

The bedroom community now known as North Las Vegas was created May 1946, but in a prior incarnation almost 30 years earlier, the now booming section of town served as a haven for bootleggers during Prohibition.

In 1919, a man named Thomas Williams moved to the vicinity from Eureka, Utah, with his family.

Williams, a sternly pious man, allegedly had an affinity for locales where an anti-government mindset reigned supreme.

He and his family settled on a slab of land near what today is Las Vegas Boulevard North.

The county or the city had not yet annexed the area and, therefore, probable residents needed not abide any legal jurisdictions. Williams claimed 160 acres and decided to sell the rest of the land in the area, Green said.

"This is no question that North Las Vegas had more than its fair share of stills," historian Bob Stoldal said. "To be correct, North Las Vegas was called Vegas Verde at that point. On July 23, 1932, the Vegas Verde Post Office became the North Las Vegas post office."

Moonshine distillers bought more than a quarter of the lots, according to Green.

"North Las Vegas became a haven for bootleggers during Prohibition," Green said. "Williams believed in being left alone, and that appealed to bootleggers."

Park Updates

According to city parks and planning development manager Jon Jainga, construction on Phase I of the Craig Ranch Regional Park, 628 W. Craig Road, project will begin in the spring after the conclusion of public bid proceedings, which are scheduled to begin in February.

Phase I construction will include a ranch-themed playground with a water feature, multi-use trails, an off-leash dog park and new parking lot.

"We're anticipating that this will be a very popular facility with amenities you haven't seen anywhere else," he said. "The playground will be particularly impressive."

City officials displayed concern that construction might interfere with the 2009 BalloonaPallooza celebration, leading to its ultimate cancellation.

A special city council meeting was held Dec. 17 to decide the fate of the festival.

Council members elected that work on the park should continue as scheduled until the last few weeks of September 2009, when construction efforts will be halted for 10 days.

"It's enough time to set up and have the event," Jainga said. "So that we're not too far off of our schedule for construction and we don't have to cancel or move the event. Neither one will be dramatically affected."

Jainga said the project is slated for completion in Summer 2010.

Jainga said that the Sky View Multi-Generation Center, planned for Centennial Parkway and Statz Street, would begin construction of an indoor pool, lockers, offices, multi-purpose and art rooms for seniors and teens, a fitness area and a kitchen in the spring. The facility is slated for completion in fall 2010.

Jainga said that he anticipates construction on the new playground, soccer fields, walking path and parking lot slated for Tropical Breeze Community Park will begin in the spring, as well.

The project is projected to be complete in summer 2010.

Aliens Among Us?

The city's proximity to Nellis Air Force Base has created no shortage of stories and rumors in connection with UFO sightings over the years, according to Ronald Mecklosky, assistant organizer of Las Vegas UFO Hunters. The group is dedicated to ferreting out eyewitness accounts and investigating reported incidents and sightings.

Mecklosky said that sightings have been reported near Las Vegas Boulevard North, West Lake Mead Boulevard and Ann Road, some in broad daylight.

"We get all kinds of stories and reports," he said. "And it's not just at night. People are seeing UFOs all the time. We think that the number of sightings in North Las Vegas are representative of the closeness to Nellis."

One of the most recent sightings was reported by an anonymous women who said as she drove along an all but deserted Ann Road at dusk one November evening, she witnessed a glowing orb shape hover just above the power lines as she drove.

She said that the aircraft made no sound and pulsated with blue and yellow lights. The woman said that she drove toward civilization at a dangerous speed, and when she looked in her rear-view mirror to make sure that she wasn't being followed, the aircraft had disappeared.

Contact North Las Vegas and Downtown View reporter Amanda Llewellyn at allewellyn@viewnews.com or 380-4535.