We’ve chosen to host the first Las Vegas Mini Maker Faire at the Historic Fifth Street School in the heart of downtown Las Vegas. We think that a school is a fantastic venue for an event that is billed as The World’s Greatest Show and Tell and besides being a beautiful building, there is a lot of history behind the Fifth Street School. I guess that’s why the call it the historical Fifth Street School, eh?
The school was built in 1936 during the Great Depression to address the population boom caused in part by the construction of the Hoover Dam, though back then, we’re only talk about approximately 12,000 people. It was originally built as the Las Vegas Grammar School and housed between 150 and 200 students in 1st through 8th grade up until 1966 when it closed its doors. In later incarnations, the building was used as a Clark Count Courthouse Annex and then a Police Substation. In 1988 the school was entered into the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2004 the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency began a reconstruction project to restore the exterior of the building to its original appearance and to update the interiors. In 2008, the “New” “Old” Historic Fifth Street School opened its doors as an event venue. Today the Fifth Street School is host to events like the Vegas Valley Book Festival, Downtown Oktoberfest, DjangoVegas! and many, many weddings! In addition, tenants such as the UNLV Fine Arts Program, the Nevada School of the Arts, and the American Institute of Architects hold office space there.
We’re proud to be hosting Maker Faire at the Historic Fifth Street School in 2013!
- The address of the Fifth Street School is actually 401 S. Fourth St! During one of the reconstruction phases, the rear of the school became the front and now faces Fourth Street. Fifth Street is now better known as Las Vegas Boulevard, home of the famed “Las Vegas Strip”.
- The water fountain in the main outside corridor didn’t really work reliably until after the 2008 reconstruction effort.
- Adjacent to the school’s Centennial plaza is a pedestrian corridor and poet’s bridge where the quotes from 20 local poets are embedded in the concrete.
- The Centennial Plaza is so named because is contains a time capsule to be unearthed in the year 2105.