Las Vegas has many attractions to lure people to the city, as you could imagine, but one of their most notable attractions has nothing to do with gambling or the other activities you’ll find in Sin City. The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park is one of the city’s only remaining relics of the pre-gambling era.

The Mormon State Historic Park gets its name from the actual Old Mormon Fort located on the property. 50 years before Las Vegas received its name and long before it was known as the gambling center of the world, Mormon missionaries built a fort on the property and it was eventually declared a historic landmark and has remained untouched over the years.

Mormons are sure to stay clear of Las Vegas these days, as their religion strictly prohibits 99% of what Vegas has to offer, but back in 1855, the natural springs flowing through Las Vegas provided the Mormon settlers with a prime location for living.

The Mormons never planned on making Vegas their permanent home. Other than the springs and a few sporadic patches of land, Nevada was still basically a desert and offered no real opportunity for the flourishing migrant communities. Instead, the Vegas spot was used as an in-between stop separating Los Angeles, California and Salt Lake City, Utah.

It took the name “fort” not because any soldiers were stationed in it, but because certain Native American (Indian) tribes of the time would slaughter the Mormons and other settlers, or at the least kidnap and steal from them. The fort was surrounded by 14-foot-high walls that encircled the structure.

The Mormon fort got to live up to its name in 1860, however. When the Civil War broke out, it wasn’t only the North and South citizens in danger, but those of the West as well. A small troop of US Army soldiers were assigned to protect the Mormons at the fort, and it would eventually take on the name Fort Baker, after Edward Dickinson Baker.

By 1865, the fort has been all but abandoned and was eventually claimed by Octavius Gass. Although it was a well built structure, the fort had almost collapsed due to the attacks and various owners over the years.

In the 1950s, the Las Vegas Elks took over the fort and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1978, Las Vegas declared the land surrounding the fort would be protected, too, and the state park arose.

It had still belonged to the Elks organization until the city of Las Vegas attempted to claim ownership in 1989. The city had the support of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers organization, and the Elks were out. Vegas expanded the state park in the 1990s and it underwent a multi-million-dollar restoration in 2005.