Las Vegas Grammar School

"The first school in West Las Vegas opened with two rooms and two teachers for four grades.

From 1904 until 1923, children from McWilliams' Townsite crossed the railroad tracks to get to school in Clark's Townsite. This dangerous situation lasted until the Las Vegas School District built this two-room school on land in the new Valley View addition, adjoining McWillams' Townsite on the east.

The school quickly expanded with two more rooms in 1928 when news of the construction of Hoover Dam brought families from the south searching for work. A kindergarten was added in 1938, and in 1942 a small building from the Civilian Conservation Corps camp was moved to the site to house third and fourth grades. Fifth grade was added in 1947. Finally, in 1948, a concrete block addition with eight classrooms was built next to the original school building to house sixth, seventh and eight grades. In May 1949, twenty-seven students graduated in the first eighth grade commencement class.

New neighborhoods and schools to serve them came quickly in the 1950s. The Westside School, was phased out for school use in 1967, and became city property in 1974. Shortly thereafter, the city leased the building to the Economic Opportunity Board (EOB) as a community center and radio station."

(Las Vegas Pioneer Trail Marker 12)

"Built in 1922, Las Vegas Grammar School Branch No.1 was opened to serve the young school-age population west of the railroad tracks, which was primarily Black, Indigenous, Mexican and the few remaining White children. In 1948, Las Vegas Grammar School Branch No.1 was expanded to accommodate a Great Migration from small southern towns as Black people came seeking wartime jobs, many among them at Basic Magnesium Incorporated. Today Las Vegas Grammar School Branch No.1 is the oldest remaining schoolhouse in Las Vegas, and is now known as the Historic Westside School (on the corner of D Street and Washington Avenue)."

(Westside Legacy Park)