Last updated on .
West Wendover, Nevada, is a town along I-80 on the Utah border. It features a few casinos and not much else.
Introduction to West Wendover, Nevada
West Wendover began to develop in the 1930s and 1940s after legalized gambling was introduced to Nevada. More casinos, hotels, and other services popped up through the 1970s and 1980s, converting the town into a resort destination. The citizens decided to officially incorporate on July 1, 1991.
One interesting fact is that West Wendover is the only town in Nevada that observes the Mountain Time Zone. It moved out of the Pacific Time Zone in October 1999 due to its strong economic ties to Utah.
There have also been attempts to annex neighboring Wendover, Utah, with support from residents of both cities. According to the U.S. Constitution, any change in state borders would have to be approved by Congress. The House of Representatives passed a resolution permitting Wendover to leave Utah and join Nevada, but it stalled in the Senate in 2002. Local politicians in Wendover placed a permanent halt on annexation through a vote on November 15, 2006.
Wendover Will
Why stop in West Wendover? To pay a visit to Wendover Will, the “world’s largest mechanical cowboy”. He’s been greeting visitors to West Wendover since 1952. Will stands 63 feet tall and was originally meant to draw people in to the Stateline Casino (now the Wendover Nugget).
Will was named after William Smith, the founder of Stateline Casino. His business actually started out as a service station in 1926. When gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931, Smith “hit the jackpot” by transforming the service station into a casino.
Stateline Casino held the record as the oldest continually operated gaming license for a casino in Nevada for over 66 years, until it came under new ownership in December 2001. It reopened the following month as the Stateline Nugget.
The casino was sold again in 2004 and became the Wendover Nugget. They donated Will to the city, who restored and erected him the city center.
