Reno, of course, is Nevada's original big (little) city.
Starting in 1906, in an age when divorce of any kind was barely legal, Nevada's straightforward and fairly expedient (a six-month waiting period) marriage-dissolution process put the Silver State in the spotlight as a loose and libertine outpost on the western frontier. For the next 25 years, Reno, in particular, led the land as the reigning Sin City.
In 1931, when gambling was legalized in Nevada, Reno was the first choice for casino operators. It was on one of the main routes across the country, both by rail (Union Pacific) and road (US 40, the Victory Highway; and US 50, the Lincoln Highway). It was close to the state capital, Carson City. And it was Nevada's banking and financial center. Indeed, by 1933 or so, Harold’s Club on Virginia Street in downtown Reno was the world’s reigning casino, the Caesars Palace of its time, and it introduced numerous innovations that remain standard operating procedure in casinos around the globe to this day. In addition, Harrah's, the largest casino company in the world today, got started in Reno around that time.
Las Vegas, meanwhile, was just a dusty whistlestop on a minor railroad from Los Angeles to nowhere.
On the other hand, Reno was a tough town to break into. It was well-controlled by big banking, mining, ranching, and political interests. It also had its own home-grown gangsters. Also, because of its decades-long national notoriety as a divorce colony, it was ambivalent about retaining its infamy. And it occupied a small valley between the vastness of the northern Great Basin Desert and the mighty Sierra Nevada, with often-rough winters that limited accessibility for up to six months a year.
For 15 years, from the early '30s to the late '40s, Reno and Las Vegas ran neck and neck in terms of casino development. Las Vegas had the edge, certainly, thanks to the size of its valley, seemingly unlimited water and power thanks to the completion of Hoover Dam, the wide-open business opportunities, and the salubrious winter climate. But both Reno and Las Vegas focused primarily on developing their downtowns, with some expansion out to the respective counties.
In 1947, all that changed. The Las Vegas Strip was growing by leaps and bounds. The El Rancho Vegas and Last Frontier were the most popular resorts in the state. The Flamingo had just opened. The Thunderbird was nearing completion. The Desert Inn was breaking ground. The Sahara and Sands were on the drawing boards.
Northern Nevadans, meanwhile, watched what was happening to their sister city down south and made a conscious decision to let Las Vegas become Las Vegas and to keep Reno as Reno. That year, the Reno City Council passed "redline" legislation that restricted the proliferation of casinos beyond the downtown core. Thus, Reno actively limited the expansion of gambling, while Las Vegas was embracing it. The redline remained in place for a full 32 years; it wasn't removed till 1979. (Reno's big casino boom happened all at once at that time, with seven major casinos and three minor ones opening between 1979 and 1981. The biggest casino to be built from scratch in Reno between 1982 and today -- 28 years -- was the 1,700-room Silver Legacy downtown.)
To say that Reno's economy "swooned" is accurate, but only in terms of its casino revenues. Reno's economy is much more diversified than Las Vegas's. Again, limiting its dependence on casinos has broadened Reno's economic vistas. Nevada's major mining-company headquarters are in Reno. Warehousing has long been a mainstay of the area's employment base. Light industry is another; IGT, with the largest two-story building in the state, measured in acres rather than square feet, is a major employer. Microsoft's legal and licensing divisions are domiciled in Reno. Tourism interests tout the enormous year-round recreational opportunities centered on Reno-Tahoe as much as, if not more than, the casinos.
Yes, Reno's casino-revenue, unemployment, and foreclosure numbers are almost as ugly as Las Vegas'. But they might be much much worse if Reno were as dependent on the casinos as Las Vegas.
