Wilbur Clark opened the Desert Inn

Entrepreneur Wilbur Clark opened the Desert Inn on April 24, 1950, establishing one of the Las Vegas Strip's early luxury resorts. Clark promoted the property's golf course and high‑end entertainment, helping position the Strip as a tourist destination in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1967 Howard Hughes purchased the Desert Inn, a transaction often cited as part of the shift toward corporate ownership of major Las Vegas resorts.