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Las Vegas has never been the kind of community to let a new idea lie dormant. Within months of the first  airplane flight to the area, Clark County had its first airfield. Named Anderson Field for the land owners, its opening on Thanksgiving Day, 1920 was a celebration in aviation. Renowned fliers of the era like Clarence Prest and Emery Rodgers took part in the fly in.
The field was designed by Robert Hausler. As an army pilot Hausler had flown over Las Vegas in 1918 en route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City while scouting new air mail routes.
Hausler designed the airport to Army Service and Aero Club in Southern California standards, and strongly advocated establishing a local air mail route. The fields was located about where the Sahara Hotel Band Casino parking lot is today, at the corner of Sahara and Paradise. It was operated by Hausler, who leased the land until 1925.
In those first years, both Clarence Prets and Emery Rogers returned to Las Vegas to try to start aviation businesses. Neither was successful. Walter Varney, who later founded Varney Air in northern Nevada, started a flying school at Anderson Field in 1923, but it too failed.
In 1925, Earl and Leon Rockwell bought the field. This proved fortuitous. Later that year, Harris Hanshue began negotiations with the Rockwells to bring his new airline, Western Air Express, to the field. The contract was signed, and Western Air Express started flying to Las Vegas on April 17, 1926.
The first flights brought out the town, and put Las Vegas and Clark County on the commercial airline map. Clark County has continued to be served by commercial air transportation ever since.
Those first flights carried airmail only. Not until May 23 were the first passengers, Ben Redmen and J.A. Thompson, carried. They were given coveralls, and rode perched on the mailbags in the forward compartment of the Douglas M-2 biplane. Only 2 weeks later, the first woman to fly to Las Vegas arrived June 10. Maude Campbell paid $160 for round-trip passage from Salt Lake to Los Angeles via Las Vegas.
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