This is the fifth in a series of quizzes to test your knowledge of the Silver State. This time, the category is Henderson history, and this one comes to you courtesy of Sean DeFrank, a board member of the Henderson Historical Society. Good luck!
1. In what year was Henderson incorporated?
a. 1943
b. 1947
b. 1950
d. 1953
2. Who was the first mayor of Henderson?
a. Jim French
b. Fred Gibson
c. Charles Henderson
d. Lou La Porta
3. What is the oldest casino in Henderson?
a. Eldorado
b. Railroad Pass
c. Rainbow Club
d. Skyline
4. How much did the Adrian Dominican Sisters pay to purchase St. Rose Dominican Hospital in 1947?
a. $100
b. $1 a year for 25 years
c. $100 a year for 25 years
d. $1,000
5. Green Valley was the first masterplanned community in Southern Nevada. When was it first developed?
a. 1974
b. 1976
c. 1978
d. 1980
6. What was the original proposed name for Lake Las Vegas?
a. Lake Adair
b. Henderson Estates
c. The Mirage
d. Vegas Desert Oasis
7. What year was the PEPCON disaster that caused two deaths, more than 370 injuries and an estimated $100 million in damage?
a. 1980
b. 1984
c. 1988
d. 1992
8. What female country music singer lived in Henderson before striking it big as a teenager?
a. Marie Osmond
b. Tanya Tucker
c. Lynn Anderson
d. LeAnn Rimes
9. Basic High School graduates Glen and Les Charles co-created what classic TV sitcom?
a. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
b. M*A*S*H
c. The Bob Newhart Show
d. Cheers
10. What 1980s movie sequel had a scene filmed at St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church?
a. Caddyshack II
b. Rocky III
c. Smokey and the Bandit II
d. Oh, God! Book II
11. What was the name of the short-lived greyhound racetrack that opened in Henderson in 1981?
a. Las Vegas Downs
b. Boulder Gaming and Racing
c. Henderson Greyhound Park
d. Mojave Desert Downs
ANSWERS:
1. D. While the township of Henderson was created in the early 1940s with the building of the Basic Magnesium Plant, it wasn't incorporated as a city until April 16, 1953. At the time, it was 13 square miles.
2. A. On May 23, 1953, Dr. Jim French was elected as mayor of Henderson, which had a population of 7,410. He served until 1957. Fred Gibson, the grandfather of Clark County Commissioner and former Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson, was one of the engineers sent to England during World War II to learn how to create magnesium for production at the BMI plant. Charles Henderson (1873-1954), the city’s namesake, was a Nevada senator, assemblyman and regent. Lou La Porta, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 96, served on the original Henderson City Council and founded the Henderson Historical Society in 2011.
3. B. Opening on August 1, 1931, the Railroad Pass is not only the oldest casino in Henderson, it is the oldest operating casino in Nevada.
4. B. In June 1947, the Adrian Dominican Sisters bought what was then Basic Magnesium Hospital from the U.S. government for $1 a year for 25 years, with the stipulation that the Sisters assumed all debts and had to operate the hospital for those 25 years.
5. C. Developer Hank Greenspun purchased 4,720 acres of land for $1,321,890 in November 1971 and presented a master plan for the “Green Valley” development in January 1972, which called for the purchase of an additional 8,000 acres. Greenspun’s American Nevada Corporation broke ground on the development in 1978.
6. A. Actor and businessman J. Carlton Adair purchased the land and water rights in 1967 to what would become Lake Las Vegas. Funding for the project wasn’t secured until the late 1980s, when Ronald Boeddeker bought and helped develop the resort community.
7. C. On May 4, 1988, several explosions occurred at the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada, which produced ammonium perchlorate, a chemical found in solid rocket fuel. It was the largest domestic non-nuclear explosion in recorded history, according to a November 2012 NASA study, affecting structures in a 10-mile radius.
8. B. Not long after the Tucker family moved to Henderson in 1969, Tanya signed with Epic Records and scored a top-10 country hit at the age of 13 in 1972 with “Delta Dawn.”
9. D. The Charles brothers co-created Cheers, which ran on NBC from September 1982 to May 1993, with James Burrows after working as head writers and producers of the TV sitcom Taxi. They began their television careers together in 1975 as writers for M*A*S*H before also writing for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show, among others.
10. C. The exterior and interior church scenes at the beginning of the 1980 sequel to Smokey and the Bandit feature Jackie Gleason and Sally Field.
11. A. Las Vegas Downs opened for greyhound racing in January 1981 and was intended to add horse racing in its second year, but it closed just 11 months later. Its former site off of Boulder Highway in southeast Henderson is commemorated by nearby roadways such as Racetrack Road and Greyhound Lane.
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