Las vegas

Literally. "Las vegas" means "the meadows" in Spanish, and the site was originally named for the fields of vegetation surrounding a large spring on the Old Spanish Trail connecting Santa Fe, now in New Mexico, with Los Angeles. When the Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad (now part of the Union Pacific) was built thru the Las Vegas valley in 1905, the springs were attractive to the railroad as a water source, and so they established a settlement there. The City of Las Vegas now celebrates this as its founding. The springs were acquired by the city and were the main water source for many years. (They are now considerably supplemented by Lake Mead on the Colorado River.) This pic shows a tiny remnant of the original "vegas" at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. They're on the grounds of the property that was acquired by the water district and so (by complete happenstance!) preserved from development. The wall, light standards, and palm trees visible beyond are in suburban Las Vegas. The old chimney (IIRC) was from a cabin occupied by a watermaster who worked for the railroad in the early years.