Editing Winchester, Nevada (section)

==History==
{{main|Paradise, Nevada#History}}

The southern part of the [[Las Vegas Valley]] was referred to as Paradise Valley as early as 1910, owing to a high [[water table]] that made the land particularly fertile for farming.<ref>{{cite news|title=Origin of many Clark County township names is a mystery|newspaper=Anthem View|location=Las Vegas|author=F. Andrew Taylor|date=August 3, 2010|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:VNNL&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=1316569E1E17B088&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=1028A39C75C2B899|via=NewsBank}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Paradise Valley well named|newspaper=Las Vegas Age|date=May 28, 1910|url=http://digital.lvccld.org/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/lvccg&CISOPTR=25577&CISOSHOW=25578&CISOSHOW2=25595}}</ref> County commissioners established a Paradise school district in 1914.<ref>{{cite news|title=County board met Monday|newspaper=Las Vegas Age|date=November 7, 1914|url=http://digital.lvccld.org/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/lvccg&CISOPTR=46658&CISOSHOW=46659&CISOSHOW2=46678}}</ref>

In 1950, mayor Ernie Cragin of Las Vegas sought to annex the [[Las Vegas Strip]], which was unincorporated territory, in order to expand the city's tax base to fund his ambitious building agenda and pay down the city's rising debt.<ref name=moehring>{{cite book|last=Moehring|first=Eugene P.|title=Resort City in the Sunbelt: Las Vegas, 1930-2000|year=2000|publisher=University of Nevada Press|isbn=0-87417-356-6|pages=87|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jojgQ2zz50EC&pg=PA87}}</ref> A group of casino executives, led by [[Gus Greenbaum]] of the [[Flamingo Las Vegas|Flamingo]], lobbied the county commissioners for town status, which would prevent the city from annexing the land without the commission's approval.<ref name=moehring /> The commission voted to create the unincorporated town of Paradise on December 8, 1950.<ref>{{cite news |title=Las Vegas: Bright lights, but not a big city |author=Steve Kanigher |url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2003/jul/18/las-vegas-bright-lights-but-not-a-big-city/ |newspaper=Las Vegas Sun |date=July 18, 2003 |access-date=2017-10-28}}</ref><ref name=luxury>{{cite news|title=Luxury hotel 'Strip' in Clark becomes town|newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal|date=December 11, 1950|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14739517/luxury_hotel_strip_in_clark_becomes/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> A month after its establishment, the town was expanded to include the residential areas of Paradise Valley.<ref name=newboundary>{{cite news|title=New boundary for Paradise|newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal|date=January 16, 1951|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14739612/new_boundary_for_paradise/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Months later, however, it was reported that county officials had determined that the town had not been properly established, because the petition for the town's formation had an insufficient number of signatures and because it had violated a state law forbidding formation of a town spanning multiple school districts.<ref name=hoggatt>{{cite news|title=Paradise revealed as town that never was|newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal|author=John Hoggatt|date=April 27, 1951|page=3}}</ref> On August 20, 1951, county commissioners accepted petitions to create two new towns covering the area of the putative town.<ref>{{cite news|title=New town 'richest' in state|newspaper=Las Vegas Review-Journal|date=August 21, 1951|page=1}}</ref> Town "A" of Paradise included the areas that lay within a Las Vegas school district, extending from the city limits to a point one mile south, while Town "B" included the areas within the Paradise school district.<ref name=hoggatt /> In 1953, Town A was renamed as Winchester, and Town B became known simply as [[Paradise, Nevada|Paradise]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Rich new Nevada town of Winchester founded|newspaper=Reno Gazette-Journal|date=October 8, 1953|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14740652/rich_new_nevada_town_of_winchester/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Ultimately, in 1956 state law consolidated all local school districts into a countywide school district, which in the Las Vegas Valley's case is the [[Clark County School District]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Education's Past|url=http://nv150education.weebly.com/educations-past.html|access-date=2021-11-22|website=Nevada 150 Education}}</ref>