While the railroad was the first step in legitimizing Las Vegas, it was the arrival of the mob-and all of its money-in the 1940s that made the city the glamorous destination we know today. When the railroad arrived in 1905, the small settlement quickly went from a dusty outpost to the gambling capital of the world. Unlike New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles (which were all booming metropolises well before the Civil War), Las Vegas wasn’t officially founded until the 20th century.
As far as major American cities go, Las Vegas is by far the newest.
