Original Home of “Pop” Squires (1865-1958)

Some towns are made by their boosters, and Charles Squires made Las Vegas. Known to everyone as "Pop," he arrived in the railroad town's earliest days and became its tireless promoter—businessman, civic organizer, and longtime publisher of the Las Vegas Age, the voice of the young community. He pushed for the dam, the roads, and the growth that turned a dusty division point into a city, and was remembered as the Father of Las Vegas. Squires lived in the home that once stood here from 1931 until his death in 1958, as the town he championed grew beyond imagining.

What the plaque says

Charles “Pop” Squires, often referred to as “the Father of Las Vegas,” lived at this location, with his wife Delphine, from 1931 until his death in 1958. Squires first arrived in the Las Vegas Valley in February 1905. He and his partners established a lumberyard, a tent hotel, a real estate firm, and the First State Bank. In March 1906, “Pop” assisted in the formation of the Consolidated Power & Telephone Company, bringing electricity and phone service to the new town. In 1908, Squires and his wife purchased the community’s only newspaper, the Las Vegas Age. Squires campaigned for the creation of Clark County in 1909. He subsequently worked on incorporating Las Vegas into a city. With his wife and the voice of their newspaper, the couple became advocates for women’s suffrage. As a member of the League of the Southwest and the Colorado River Commission, Squires helped advance plans that eventually led to the construction of Hoover Dam. Upon “Pop’s” passing, Las Vegas Sun reporter Bob Faiss wrote, “It seems strange that Las Vegas, a modern boomtown … should owe so much to the foresight of one man. But there is little we have today that wasn’t given an initial shove by ‘Pop’ Squires.”

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fremont Street — 0.4 mi
  Glitter Gulch — the neon canyon where Las Vegas actually began
• The Mob Museum — 0.6 mi
  Organized crime, told in the downtown courtroom that first exposed it
• Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park — 0.8 mi
  The 1855 adobe fort where Las Vegas began — a mile and a world away from the neon
• The Neon Museum — 0.9 mi
  The Neon Boneyard — where the Strip''s discarded signs are rescued and lit again

More markers nearby

• The Morelli House — steps away
• Las Vegas Mormon Fort (Nevada’s Oldest Building) — 1.2 mi
• Old Spanish Trail — 1.2 mi
• Kyle (Kiel) Ranch — 2.7 mi