Arden, Nevada was an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, acros ...

. The area is now part of the town of

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

. Located about southwest of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, the area is experiencing rapid growth in housing development on land formerly owned by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

History

The

San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California), via L ...

(later part of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

) began operating through the area in 1905. The railroad's Arden station, located about south of Las Vegas, was named for Arden, the New York estate of E. H. Harriman, the railroad's co-owner. By 1906, Arden was serving as a shipping point for the Potosi mine. The Arden post office was established in 1907. Around that time, William K. Moore, who has been credited as Arden's founder, discovered

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...

deposits in the nearby mountains. With financing from Southern California businessmen, Moore started the Arden Plaster Company, which opened a mill at the site in 1908. It was reported to be the second largest gypsum plant in the country. A

narrow-gauge railroad A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

was constructed to connect the plant to the gypsum mine, away. The plaster plant burned down in 1912, but was quickly rebuilt. In 1919, it was purchased by the United States Gypsum Company. The plant was closed and dismantled in 1930 due to a decline in the construction industry. A railroad

spur line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

was built in 1925 to connect Arden to the Blue Diamond Mine, to the northwest. A gravel pit was established at Arden in the mid-1950s, and operated until 1978, growing to in size. A commercial operation has since resumed operations at the site. Clark County built a

fallout shelter A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. During ...

at Arden in the 1950s or 1960s to house regional government leaders in case of an attack on Las Vegas. The shelter was maintained at least until the 1980s. On April 21, 1958,

United Airlines Flight 736 United Air Lines Flight 736 was a scheduled transcontinental passenger service flown daily by United Airlines between Los Angeles and New York City. On April21, 1958, the airliner assigned to the flight, a Douglas DC-7 with 47 on board, was fl ...

, a

Douglas DC-7 The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earl ...

passenger aircraft with 47 aboard. crashed onto then-empty desert two miles SE of Arden after a mid-air collision with a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

F-100 jet fighter flown by two pilots. All 49 aboard the two aircraft were killed. The Arden post office was closed in 1971. In 1981, Arden was reported to have around 40 residents.

References

1905 establishments in Nevada Populated places established in 1905 Unincorporated communities in Clark County, Nevada Unincorporated towns in Nevada Unincorporated communities in Nevada {{ClarkCountyNV-geo-stub