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Newsletter issued by the Las Vegas Rotary Club

Attendees of the International Exposition of Flight and General Aviation Conference. Pictured are: Front row, L-R: U. S. Nevada Senator Alan Bible, Las Vegas Mayor Oran K. Gragson, U. S. Nevada Senator Howard Cannon. Some of the men have a ribbon attached to their badge that reads "IEF." The location where the photograph was taken is unknown. Oran Kenneth Gragson (February 14, 1911 – October 7, 2002) was an American businessman and politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada, from 1959 to 1975. Gragson, a member of the Republican Party, was a small business owner who was elected Mayor on a reform platform against police corruption and for equal opportunity for people of all socio-economic and racial categories. Gragson died in a Las Vegas hospice on October 7, 2002, at the age of 91. The Oran K. Gragson Elementary School located at 555 N. Honolulu Street, Las Vegas, NV 89110 was named in his honor. Howard Walter Cannon (January 26, 1912 – March 5, 2002) was an American politician. He served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1959 until 1983 as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1956, Cannon ran for the United States House of Representatives to succeed Republican incumbent Clarence Clifton Young, who ran for the U.S. Senate, but lost the Democratic primary to former Congressman Walter Baring, who then won the general election. In 1958, he was elected to the United States Senate, unseating Republican Senator George W. Malone with 58% of the vote.. Cannon was nearly defeated in his first re-election bid in 1964, holding off Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt in one of the closest Senate elections ever. Alan Harvey Bible (November 20, 1909 – September 12, 1988) was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1954 to 1974. He previously served as Attorney General of Nevada from 1942 to 1950. In 1952, Bible was narrowly defeated for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate, losing to political newcomer Thomas B. Mechling by 475 votes. However, after the death of Senator McCarran in September 1954, Bible was elected to the Senate the following November to fill the remainder of McCarran's term. He defeated Republican Ernest S. Brown, who had been appointed to McCarran's seat by Governor Charles H. Russell, by a margin of 58%-42%. He was reelected in 1956, 1962, and again in 1968 and represented Nevada in the United States Senate from December 2, 1954, until his resignation on December 17, 1974. During his time in the United States Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on the District of Columbia (Eighty-fifth through Ninetieth Congresses), the Joint Committee on Washington Metropolitan Problems (Eighty-fifth and Eighty-sixth Congresses), and the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Small Business (Ninety-first through Ninety-third Congresses). He is buried in Reno, Nevada.

Daytime views of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the Strip. Information about the sign is available in the Southern Nevada Neon Survey Data Sheet.
Site name: Welcome to Las Vegas neon sign
Site address: 5200 S Las Vegas Blvd
Sign owner: YESCO
Sign details: The sign sits as a welcome to travelers entering the Las Vegas experience via Las Vegas Blvd The sign itself resides in the middle of traffic median directly in the middle of the road.
Sign condition: Structure 5 Surface 5 Lighting 5
Sign form: Pylon
Sign-specific description: The sign itself is a classic roadside pole design which faces North/South. It is double backed, internally lit with a border of yellow incandescent bulbs along the flat edge of its width. Across the top of the sign seven white neon circles house separate red neon letters which form the word welcome. Crowning the sign at the very peak, above the word welcome, is a seven pointed neon star comprised of orange and yellow neon. The cabinet itself is faced with translucent white plastic and treated with blue and red painted text. The South side of the sign reads with the Neon welcome word then in blue painted text "To Fabulous" in a 50's style text reminiscent of that used in the Last Frontier property, and cursive. The Words "Las Vegas" are spelled in all caps, in red block text. And below that in smaller blue text the word "Nevada" are spelled in all caps block text.
Sign - type of display: Neon; Incandescent; Backlit
Sign - media: Steel; Plastic
Sign - non-neon treatments: Graphics; Paint
Sign animation: chasing, flashing
Sign environment: The famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign sits alone at the South end of the strip and is often the very first sign a traveler encounters when entering the strip. It casts a surprisingly powerful glow over the barren median which it stands. It stands as a gateway to the extravaganza that is Las Vegas. When leaving the main drag headed south the sign has an equal effect of being a lone gateway in and out of the Strip.
Sign manufacturer: YESCO
Sign designer: Betty Willis
Sign - date of installation: 1959
Sign - thematic influences: Although it has no specific theme, it is from a specific period in Las Vegas History. It is the quintessential roadside pylon design. With an exposed steel center pole double backed marquee it is reminiscent of the common design of the roadside motor inn.
Sign - artistic significance: This sign has become perhaps the most copied icon of Las Vegas, as it was never copyrighted. It is a ubiquitous symbol of the city.
Surveyor: Joshua Cannaday
Survey - date completed: 2002
Sign keywords: Chasing; Flashing; Pylon; Neon; Incandescent; Backlit; Steel; Plastic; Paint; Graphics

Evaline Stewart Stay estate legal documents and notes