Helen J. Stewart : First Lady of Las Vegas

by Zanjani, Sally; Porter, Carrie Townley

• ISBN13: 9781935043386
• ISBN10: 1935043382
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-01
• Publisher: Stephens Pr Llc

Summary

Helen J. Stewart learned early that life was full of challenges and adventure. At nine-years-old, with her mother and four younger siblings, Helen Wiser left the bustling city of Springfield, Illinois, to follow her father out west in the clutches of the gold rush fever. She went to college, became a teacher, and just before her nineteenth birthday, married Archibald Stewart, who took her to the ¿land of the wonderful future,¿ the Nevada desert. Though the move was supposed to be temporary, Las Vegas became her home. After the sudden loss of her husband in a gun battle, and though she had never dealt with finances or business, Helen quickly took control of her husband¿s enterprises. She raised her five children there, became a successful rancher and landowner, invested in mining, became active in politics, and was instrumental in bringing education, the railroad ¿ civilization ¿ to the valley. But Helen was not the typical sturdy, rough-edged pioneer woman. Often described as a china doll ¿ soft-spoken, demure, and petite ¿ she was delicate, but determined. She fought for women¿s rights, breaking down barriers long upheld; worked for the protection of Indians; volunteered with the Red Cross during World War I. Through personal interviews, letters, newspaper accounts, and detailed research, Sally Zanjani and Carrie Townley Porter have written a compelling portrait of Helen J. Stewart, from her birth in 1863 until her death in 1926, whose influence on Las Vegas is still being felt today.