The history of ‘divorce ranches’ in Las Vegas

Before it became a gambling town, Las Vegas used to be known for its “divorce ranches.”

Back in 1931 during the Great Depression, the Nevada Legislature passed two crucial bills designed to spur growth in the state. According to the city of Las Vegas’ website, it was a two-pronged approach to economic development.

“One legalized gambling and the second changed the divorce residency requirements from six months to six weeks while adding nine grounds for divorce including the catchall ‘extreme cruelty entirely mental in nature,’” the city’s website stated. “Most states at this time required a one year wait after filing for divorce and only allowed proven adultery and abandonment as grounds.”

This law helped spur the rise of divorce ranches. They first boomed in Reno, where people could establish a six-week residency and partake in things like horseback riding, swimming and fishing along with accommodations. Because men were the vast majority of the workforce at this time, it was usually the women who would spend the six weeks in Nevada.

Las Vegas (mostly known for being close to the Boulder Dam) was much smaller than Reno during that era, but it would push its way into the scene with a special celebrity endorsement.

“In 1939, Ria Langham, a wealthy socialite, came to town to divorce movie star Clark Gable,” said the city of Las Vegas’ website. “In exchange for privacy for the six weeks she was in town, Ms. Langham agreed to do an exclusive interview and photoshoot with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She was photographed boating on Lake Mead and gambling at the casinos. The paper quoted her as saying her stay in Vegas had been ‘the finest and shortest vacation I ever had in my life’.”

Soon after, according to the city’s website, Las Vegas’ divorce ranch scene was competing with Reno. Following in Langham’s footsteps, other celebrities checked into their own divorce ranches, including “Tarzan” author Edgar Rice Burroughs, the wife of conductor Leopold Stokowski, the sister of actor Errol Flynn and actress Elizabeth Taylor while she waited for Eddie Fisher to get divorced.

Divorce ranches have also made their way into modern entertainment, They were featured in the third season of “Mad Men” when Betty Draper headed to one to get divorced from Don Draper.

“The divorce tourism business flourished for decades in Las Vegas until 1970 when divorced California governor Ronald Reagan signed into law the first no-fault divorce bill,” said the city’s website. “Couples could now divorce without having to prove any wrongdoing. Other states followed and a changing culture destigmatized divorce.”

However, the city moved on from divorce ranches and soon established itself as a gambling town full of casinos, but remnants still remain.

“Two former divorce ranches that can be seen today are now historical parks. Lorenzi Park (known in the divorce ranch days as Twin Lakes) and Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs still have some of those historic structures.”

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.