A Short History of the Wendover Nugget Resort & Casino

Did you know the Wendover Nugget Resort & Casino stands on the property of the first ever

casino in West Wendover? Things have changed quite a lot since that first casino was built back

in the early 1930s, but we still celebrate our casino’s rich heritage here at the Nugget.

The story of the Wendover Nugget goes all the way back to the late 1920s just before the Great

Depression of the 1930s. Nevada legalized gambling in 1931 and one of the very first gaming

licenses to be issued for this brand new enterprize was to William Smith.

As legend has it, Smith was hitching free rides

on trains to travel across the country (known

as “riding the rails”) some time in the late

1920s. On his way from San Francisco, he

was caught riding the rails and booted off a

train just outside Wendover, Nevada.

The Wendover Nugget

Eventually, the Smith family sold the historic

Stateline and their other properties. The

Stateline became the Wendover Nugget

Resort & Casino in 2002 and Wendover Will

was donated to the city of West Wendover to

place in the city center as a landmark.

The Stateline

Smith and Eckstein soon added a 15-room

hotel onto their station along with a gambling

parlor in 1931 when gambling became legal in Nevada. They called the hotel The Stateline

because it straddled the actual state border between Utah and Nevada and it is said that the

hotel and casino used to have a line painted on the floor demarking the state border. You could

eat in Utah, where gambling was prohibited, and then walk over the border to Nevada and play

casino games all inside the comfort of the Stateline.

Eckstein died shortly after the opening of the hotel and after a small legal squabble with

Eckstein’s son, Smith was left as the sole owner of The Stateline. He married Anna Sorensen, a

waitress in the coffee shop of the hotel, in 1935 and in 1938 the couple decided to build a brand

new hotel that would boast air conditioning, which was a real luxury back in those days.

At first, the couple had trouble procuring financing for their air conditioned hotel, but after the

bankers they were trying to get funding from sat through the stifling heat of the drive from Reno

to Wendover, the couple’s loan was approved.

While the hotel continued to do good business, it was during the Second World War that the

new and improved Stateline saw a boom, as 19,000 soldiers who were stationed at the nearby

Wendover Air Force Base (now the Wendover Airport) and who had money to spend made the

Stateline their go-to hangout destination.

Wendover Will

The Stateline was rebuilt and expanded again

in 1952 by the Smiths. This is when they

introduced the now-famous “Wendover Will”

cowboy sign; a 63-foot tall, mechanical, neon

cowboy sign that welcomed visitors to

Wendover.

A few more gambling parlors opened in

Wendover and it became the premier

gambling destination for Salt Lake City

residents throughout the ‘50s. Sadly, William

Smith died in 1958, but Anna Smith continued

to run The Stateline and she even expanded

the business by purchasing and building other

casinos in the city. Throughout the ‘60s and

‘70s, Wendover’s reputation as a premier

gambling destination continued to grow.

The year 1981 saw yet another expansion for the Stateline, this time by having a convention

center added along with more hotel rooms and more casino space.

The Cobble Stone

Being booted off the train in that spot proved to be fortuitous for Smith because he was able to

find a job in a nearby potash mine. After working in the mine for a while, Smith and a partner

named Herman Eckstein managed to open a small service station in 1926 called the Cobble

Stone for travelers who were following the Victory Highway between Salt Lake City and Reno.

When you’re ready to take a break from winning at the Wendover Resort & Casino or the Red

Garter Resort & Casino, give our little piece of history, Wendover Will, a visit. He’ll be glad to

see you.