West Wendover is a small city in Elko County,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, United States. The population was 4,512 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Elko micropolitan area. West Wendover is located on the eastern border of Nevada and the western edge of the

Great Salt Lake Desert The Great Salt Lake Desert (colloquially referred to as the West Desert) is a large dry lake in northern Utah, United States, between the Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the ei ...

and is contiguous with

Wendover Wendover is a town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road along t ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, with which it is sometimes confused. It is home to five

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

s and a cannabis dispensary which attract many visitors from neighboring Utah,Deep in Trump country, Nevada's first openly gay, Latino mayor leads a blue-leaning city
nbcnews.com, 29-11-2020 where both casino gambling and non-medical cannabis are illegal.

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

runs just north of the cities, while Interstate 80 Business (Wendover Boulevard) runs through the two cities.

History

West Wendover began to develop in the 1930s and 1940s with the introduction of legalized gambling in the state of Nevada. William "Bill" Smith founded a small cobblestone service station for travelers crossing the desert terrain of western Utah and eastern Nevada. Today this facility is known as the Wendover Nugget. It held the record as the oldest continually operated gaming license for a casino in the State of Nevada for over 66 years, until December 2001, when the former State Line Casino and Hotel came under new ownership. Through the 1970s and 1980s, West Wendover began to emerge as a destination resort. Additional business arrived constructing more casinos, hotels and other service establishments, as well as recreational venues, such as the Toana Vista Golf Course. As growth continued to spiral up, the citizens of West Wendover, Nevada, then a township of Elko County, elected to incorporate under self-rule. On July 1, 1991, the city of West Wendover, Nevada, came into existence. Amber S Holt named the city seal of West Wendover encouraging people to "Come Grow With Us." In October 1999, the

U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

moved West Wendover out of the

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

due to the strong economic ties between West Wendover and neighboring Utah. This made the city of West Wendover the only portion of Nevada legally in the

Mountain Time Zone The Mountain Time Zone of North America keeps time by subtracting seven hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when standard time ( UTC−07:00) is in effect, and by subtracting six hours during daylight saving time ( UTC−06:00). The ...

. The communities of Jackpot, Jarbidge, Mountain City, and Owyhee in northern Elko County also observe Mountain Time, but only on an unofficial basis. West Wendover has thrived under a lucrative

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

industry in Nevada, which has generated tax revenue for city services and better schools. Residents in both cities have voted to annex Wendover into Nevada, saying they are one community that has been divided for too long. Some politicians in both the State of Utah and the State of Nevada have endorsed the idea, but the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

resolution permitting Wendover to leave Utah and join Nevada was stalled in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

in 2002 and did not become law. However, the politicians in Wendover, Utah, placed a permanent halt to the annexation process through a vote on November 15, 2006. The motion made was to halt the annexation process. The vote was a tie, with two Council Members voting to halt the process and two Council Members supporting the continuation of the process. The tie vote was broken up by a vote of Wendover, Utah, Mayor Brett Shelton who voted to discontinue the annexation process. Previously, West Wendover had decided to halt any further work after Wendover, Utah, indicated they were going to discuss and make a decision as to whether or not they would proceed. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution requires that any change in state boundaries be approved by the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

as well as by the two state legislatures. In December 2019, West Wendover's first recreational

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

dispensary opened. Because non-medical cannabis is illegal in bordering Utah, the dispensary mainly serves Utah residents visiting the town.

Geography

West Wendover is located at (40.739512, -114.069796). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land.

Climate

Wendover and West Wendover have a

cool arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BWk'') with hot summers, freezing winters, and substantial diurnal temperature ranges. The cities’ location east of the

Ruby Mountains The Ruby Mountains (Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: 'Duka Doya', meaning “Snowcapped”) are a mountain range, primarily located within Elko County, Nevada, Elko County with a small extension into White Pine County, Nevada, White Pine County, in ...

makes them the driest in the Great Basin, averaging only of precipitation per year, or about half that of nearby Ely or Elko. It affects snowfall even more dramatically: Wendover and West Wendover average only of snow, one-eighth to one-tenth the snowfall of the two nearby county seats.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census West Wendover had a population of 4,410. The racial and ethnic makeup of the population was 61.7% Hispanic or Latino, 33.8% non-Hispanic white, 0.3% non-Hispanic black, 1.2% non-Hispanic Native American, 1.3% non-Hispanic Asians, 0.7% non-Hispanic Pacific Islanders, 0.2% non-Hispanics reporting some other race and 4.1% reporting two or more races. As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 4,721 people, 1,363 households, and 1,046 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,626 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 70.96%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.68%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 2.27% Native American, 0.59% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 22.75% from other races, and 2.71% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 56.85% of the population. There were 1,363 households, out of which 55.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.2% were non-families. 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.46 and the average family size was 3.97. In the city, the population was spread out, with 39.0% under the age of 18, 12.6% from 18 to 24, 30.3% from 25 to 44, 16.1% from 45 to 64, and 2.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females, there were 109.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $34,116, and the median income for a family was $34,297. Males had a median income of $23,281 versus $18,105 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $12,013. About 17.4% of families and 16.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 19.5% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Its school district is the Elko County School District. West Wendover has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, a branch of the Elko-Lander-Eureka County Library System.

Casino industry

West Wendover has five main

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s: * Red Garter * Wendover Nugget *

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

* Peppermill *

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

References

External links

*
Elko County website

{{authority control Cities in Elko County, Nevada Cities in Nevada Elko, Nevada micropolitan area