page_title: Las Vegas Mission
section_title: Origin
hierarchical_section_title: Las Vegas Mission / Origin
caption_attribution_description: English: A portion of the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park. The adobe tower and walls have been rebuilt on the original site to appear as they were in 1855.
context_page_description: The Las Vegas Mission was one of the earliest European settlements in the Las Vegas Valley. It was established by missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. In May 1855, at the direction of then Church President Brigham Young, thirty-two missionaries were sent to evangelize among Native Americans and establish a mission outpost in the Las Vegas Valley. The mission was abandoned in December 1857 due to growing political issues revolving Mormons and the threat of Native American attacks.
context_section_description: Between the years 1847 and 1869, over 60,000 Mormon immigrants came and settled in the Salt Lake Valley.  With the influx of population came many settlements throughout Utah making Brigham Young more inclined to expand the Church's geographical area outside of the Salt Lake Valley. Young directed many members of the Church to settle in areas surrounding Utah, such as the Cache Valley, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
  Mormons hoped that their expansion would result in both a larger geographical area for the Church as well as providing new missionary opportunities.  Missionary opportunities came with an increase of interaction with Native Americans. Some of the initial interactions resulted in Mormons being able to gain influence among different Native American groups and this gained influence opened up greater missionary efforts among Native Americans. Mormons had a unique perspective toward evangelizing among Native Americans. Their belief was that Native Americans came from Israelite descent who at one point migrated to America around 600 BCE, but fell into transgression which caused them to lose favor in the sight of God. Mormons saw Native Americans as people who had gone astray and believed it to be their duty to reintroduce them to the faith they had lost over many centuries.  For this reason many Mormon mission outposts were established in the west.
  The Las Vegas Valley was one of the areas chosen to establish a mission based on its geographical location as a midway point between Cedar City, Utah and San Bernardino, California. The exact site selected was the Las Vegas springs because its small stream created the only oasis for miles.  Shortly after settling in May 1855, construction of the Las Vegas Mormon Fort and houses surrounding it began to take place.
caption: The Las Vegas Mormon Fort is still standing today and is open to visitors.
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