LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Women were not a major force in politics in the 1950s. Yet, on this day in 1954, North Las Vegas elected the state of Nevada’s very first female mayor.
Prior to her election, Dorothy Porter was a showgirl in the Ziegfeld Follies. She and her husband moved to North Las Vegas in 1949 and opened a hotel near the new Nellis Air Force Base.
After his death, Porter found herself under increasing pressure to turn the property into a brothel. Rather than concede, Porter fought back by running for the city council, and she won.
Within a year, the mayor and three council members were indicted on malfeasance charges. Mayor Dorothy, as she was called, started work on a water system, a post office, paved and lighted streets and playgrounds for the kids.
She also oversaw the building of a modern city hall, a fire station, and a police department.
Porter retired in May of 1956.
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