Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park

Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park preserves the remains of an 1855 adobe fort at 500 E Washington Ave, in the Cultural Corridor north of Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Built by Mormon missionaries beside Las Vegas Creek, it is the oldest Euro-American structure in Nevada and marks the first non-native settlement in the Las Vegas Valley. The park contains a surviving section of the original adobe wall, a reconstructed fort and a small museum that explains the missionaries, the nearby spring and later ranch and railroad history of the area. Visitors walk the grounds, enter the museum and read the interpretive panels, which cover the fort's use as a mission, a ranch headquarters and a stop on regional routes. Admission is about $3, and the park is open Tuesday to Saturday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with last admittance at 4:00 PM, and closed on Sunday and Monday. A visit takes 45 to 60 minutes. The best photo angles are of the old adobe wall against the sky and of the reconstructed courtyard. The park is quiet most of the day, and mornings are the most pleasant. School groups sometimes visit on weekdays, and summer afternoons are hot, so early visits are preferred. RTC route 113 runs along Las Vegas Boulevard North, and the Neon Museum is a 10-minute walk away. The Las Vegas Natural History Museum is nearby, so the three can be combined into a single half-day on the north side of Downtown.