VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: The Scout Who Named Las Vegas

Rafael Rivera is credited with bestowing Las Vegas with its name. In return, Las Vegas named Rafael Rivera Park in his honor. The 10-acre park features the Rafael Rivera Community Center, in front of which stands an 11-foot fiberglass statue of Rivera on horseback, sculpted by Jim Casey in 1978 and originally erected at the Old Vegas amusement park in Henderson, Nev. Except that there is zero evidence that Rivera named Las Vegas.