LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Sept. 10, 1957, was a big day for higher education in Southern Nevada.
On this day, Nevada Southern University, now known as UNLV, held its very first on-campus classes.
After the end of World War II, the Las Vegas Valley’s population swelled to more than 50,000. And those residents, many of the returning veterans, were hungry to learn.
In 1951, the University of Nevada, Reno established an extension program in Las Vegas and 28 students began taking classes in the dressing rooms of Las Vegas high school’s auditorium.
Three years later, regents founded the Southern Regional Division of the University of Nevada which became known as Nevada Southern. Students adopted the Rebel mascot as a sign of their desire to break free from UNR.
Finally, in 1957, the first classes were held in a brand-new building named for Maude Frazier, a state assembly member and the founding force behind the university.
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