Las Vegas was established in 1835 by a group of settlers though a land grant from the Spanish government. It was the last Spanish colony established in North America, and originally called Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes (our Lady of Sorrows of the Great Meadows) by the Spanish settlers, whose roots went back to the early 1600s. Las Vegas “Old Town” was established in the Spanish Colonial style, with a central plaza surrounded by buildings and an outward radiating road system. The true sense of this history remains, with more than 900 buildings in Las Vegas on the National Register of Historic Places. But soon this sleepy Spanish village would become one of the more interesting outposts in the American West.

When Billy the Kid was killed, his index finger was sent in a jar to the Las Vegas Optic, the local newspaper that operates to this day. The Optic reported, "It is well-preserved in alcohol and has been viewed by many in our office today. If the rush continues we shall purchase a small tent and open a side show to which complimentary tickets will be issued to our personal friends."

Las Vegas was a stop on the Santa Fe Trail, and to the travelers along the trail Las Vegas was a welcome sight, since it was the first town of any size after 600 miles of travel from Kansas. But on July 4, 1879, everything changed in Las Vegas - the railroad arrived. The six trains that stopped each day brought wealth and varied business interests to Las Vegas, but they also brought some very interesting and well-known western characters: the dentist Doc Holliday and his girl friend Big-Nose Kate, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Mysterious Dave Mather, Hoodoo Brown, Rattlesnake Sam, Cock-Eyed Frank, Web-Fingered Billy, Hook Nose Jim, Stuttering Tom, Debonair Denison, Durango Kid, and Handsome Harry the Dancehall Rustler. In fact the coward Robert Ford, who killed Jesse James, once owned a saloon in Las Vegas.

Pat Garrett once caused a commotion transporting a shackled Billy the Kid by wagon across the Plaza toward the Las Vegas jail for a temporary stay. Not as well known as Dodge City, Deadwood, or Tombstone, Las Vegas is said to have been one of the most dangerous of the Old West Towns. During the year following the arrival of the railroad, twenty-nine men were killed in and around Las Vegas: murdered, shot in self-defense, or hung by the vigilance committee. In fact, Las Vegas held the first public hanging of a woman, Paula Angel, who stabbed her lover to death. Townspeople soon tired of this lawlessness, and took matters into their own hands. The Las Vegas Optic posted this notice on April 8, 1880:

TO MURDERERS, CONFIDENCE MEN, THIEVES: "The citizens of Las Vegas have tired of robbery, murder, and other crimes that have made this town a byword in every civilized community. They have resolved to put a stop to crime, if in attaining that end they have to forget the law and resort to a speedier justice than it will afford. All such characters are therefore, hereby notified, that they must either leave this town or conform themselves to the requirements of law, or they will be summarily dealt with. The flow of blood must and shall be stopped in this community, and the good citizens of both the old and new towns have determined to stop it, if they have to HANG by the strong arm of FORCE every violator of the law in this country." - Vigilantes

By 1882, Las Vegas was rapidly becoming one of the West's leading commercial centers, and the Old Town Plaza was the center of the town's commercial activity for Santa Fe Trail mercantile pioneers like Charles Ilfeld and Don Benigno Romero. To meet the demands of the town's growing business activity, Romero and Jean Pendaries raised the $25,000 needed to build the Plaza Hotel, the "Belle of the Southwest". New management took over the hotel in 1886 and business was brisk, and many prominent political and business organizations made the Plaza Hotel their meeting place, including such groups as the New Mexico Medical Society, the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association, and the Territorial Democrats and Territorial Republicans. The year 1900 brought the Plaza Hotel's Victorian era to a close, as a railroad strike coupled with depressed economic conditions curtailed many of the local and territorial activities that made the Plaza Hotel famous.

Soon, however, the silent film era of the early 20th century brought another wave of prosperity to Las Vegas and the Plaza Hotel. In 1913, the popular film director/actor Romaine Fielding leased the entire Plaza Hotel for use as the Lubin Film Company filming and studio headquarters, and the Plaza Hotel was renamed "Hotel Romaine" during his five month stay. Though the paint is now faded on the brick, then name "Hotel Romaine" is still visible on the hotel's west facade.

Beginning in 1915, Tom Mix, one of the country's most famous cowboy actors, enjoyed the hospitality of the Plaza, and took full advantage of the remaining vestiges of the Wild West found nearby. Many scenes from Mix's movies were filmed in and around Las Vegas, and shots of the Plaza were incorporated into several episodes.

Near the middle of the twentieth-century, one owner of the Plaza Hotel, Byron T. Mills, was apparently ambivalent about the property, and he announced a plan to demolish the hotel, going so far as to sell some of its furnishings and fixtures. For unknown reasons, Mills did not carry through with the demolition. Today the hotel's saloon bears his name, and it's reported that the long-departed, guilt-ridden owner occasionally revisits the hotel in spirit after nightfall.

In 1982, led by General Partner Wid Slick, eighteen partners joined forces to restore the Plaza Hotel. Careful research, architectural documentation, and historical and cultural studies were conducted to assure the accuracy of the project. The reconstruction took thirteen months and approximately two million dollars to complete, and the renovated Plaza Hotel reopened on December 31, 1982, one hundred years after it was built.

A stroll through town nowadays offers a unique experience, with absolutely unique architecture on display: from adobe style homes along the Santa Fe Trail to Victorian buildings authentic in every detail. Las Vegas has more than 900 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, and notable buildings include Dr. H.J. Mueller House, an 1881 Victorian with an octagonal tower; the old City Hall, in 1892 New Mexico’s first municipal building; the La Castaneda Hotel, a 1898 Spanish Mission-style Harvey House; the Carnegie Library, build in 1903 and modeled after Monticello; and of course the historic Plaza Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders first met in 1899.

Today, the Plaza Hotel is listed on the State Register of Cultural Properties and on the National Register of Historic Places, and is part of the Las Vegas Plaza Historical District. It is also the home of José Albino Baca's renown 19th century piano. Continuously since 1882, local residents, tourists, architects, historians and film makers have been fascinated by the glimpse of Old West elegance this stately hotel affords. The Plaza Hotel is proud of its role as an accessible landmark of Las Vegas and New Mexico history, and we welcome you to our lovely property.