The world has once again discovered Las Vegas. Everyone from the History Channel, to the Public Broadcasting System, to the dozens of books that have been written about the history of our community are full of major mistakes.
The mistakes get repeated over and over again because many of them start with the “official” history on government websites.
Today we begin a review of these sites, and will point out those that should be eliminated from the history disinformation food chain.
With a new Clark County Sheriff, we selected the Las Vegas Metropolitan police Department’s website for our first review.
What I found was an official history that would flunk a polygraph test.
Here’s the link to the metro site, http://www.lvmpd.com/about/history.html, before you check it out, please read the information linked here.
Submitted by: Robert Stoldal
Thanks Bob for clarifying what may seem like small details. Unless dedicated historians take time to locate original source information, the same inaccurate details about early Las Vegas keep getting recycled.
Comment by Corinne Escobar — November 17, 2006 @ 10:52 pm
Metro is not the only place where Las Vegas History gets jumbled up. In the recently published book about the Stardust Hotel I noticed on page 44 a grievous mistake of monumental proportion! It stated that Missourian Roberta May Simon was the first woman to hold a Nevada Gaming License. She owned a 10% stake in the Royal Nevada. As most local historians are aware the truth of the matter is that Mayme Stocker held Nevada Gaming License #1 in 1931. Not just was she the first woman to hold a Nevada Gaming License but the first individual to hold the honor.
Comment by Brian Paco Alvarez — December 2, 2006 @ 6:31 am