West Wendover

History

West Wendover began to develop in the 1930s and 1940s with the introduction of legalized gambling in the state of Nevada. William "Bill" Smith founded a small cobblestone service station for travelers crossing the desert terrain of western Utah and eastern Nevada. Today this facility is known as the Wendover Nugget. It held the record as the oldest continually operated gaming license for a casino in the state of Nevada for over 66 years, until December 2001, when the former State Line Casino and Hotel came under new ownership. Through the 1970s and 1980s, West Wendover began to emerge as a destination resort. Additional business arrived constructing more casinos, hotels and other service establishments, as well as recreational venues, such as the Toana Vista Golf Course. As growth continued to spiral up, the citizens of West Wendover, Nevada, then a township of Elko County, elected to incorporate under self-rule. On July 1, 1991, the city of West Wendover, Nevada came into existence. Amber S Holt named the city seal of West Wendover encouraging people to "Come Grow With Us." In October 1999, the U.S. Department of Transportation moved West Wendover out of the Pacific Time Zone due to the strong economic ties between West Wendover and neighboring Utah. This made the city of West Wendover the only portion of Nevada legally in the Mountain Time Zone. The communities of Jackpot, Jarbidge, Mountain City, and Owyhee in northern Elko County also observe Mountain Time, but only on an unofficial basis. West Wendover extensively uses generated tax revenue from the gambling industry in Nevada to fund city services and improve schools. Residents in both cities have voted to annex Wendover into Nevada, saying they are one community that has been divided for too long. Some…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Wendover and West Wendover have a cool arid climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers, freezing winters, and substantial diurnal temperature ranges. The cities’ location east of the Ruby Mountains makes them the driest in the Great Basin, averaging only of precipitation per year, or about half that of nearby Ely or Elko. It affects snowfall even more dramatically: Wendover and West Wendover average only of snow, one-eighth to one-tenth the snowfall of the two nearby county seats.

Race & ethnicity