Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/66-years-on-harrison-house-ignites-cultural-revival-after-moulin-rouge-milestone/
Spotlight on a Pioneering Casino (Image Credits: Unsplash)
Las Vegas – A modest stage in front of the Harrison House on F Street became a platform for history last week. Katherine Duncan-Reed, the site’s owner, read aloud a proclamation commemorating the 66th anniversary of the Moulin Rouge Agreement.[1][2] Signed in 1960, this pact ended segregation on the Las Vegas Strip and opened doors long barred to Black residents and performers. The gathering underscored the site’s enduring role in preserving civil rights gains while charting ambitious paths forward.
Spotlight on a Pioneering Casino
Heavyweight champion Joe Louis greeted guests at the door of the Moulin Rouge, the nation’s first racially integrated hotel-casino. Opened on May 24, 1955, in the Historic Westside, the venue featured Black staff in frontline roles just three miles from the segregated Strip.[1] Performers and patrons mingled freely there, a stark contrast to the exclusion elsewhere.
Though it operated only about five months, the Moulin Rouge sparked development in the neighborhood. Investors spent $3.5 million on the project, drawing stars denied Strip accommodations. Historians credit it with laying groundwork for broader change in Las Vegas.[1]
The Agreement That Broke Barriers
Dr. James McMillan, president of the Las Vegas NAACP branch, rallied leaders for talks at the Moulin Rouge site. On March 26, 1960, casino owners, Mayor Oran Gragson, Governor Grant Sawyer, and mediator Hank Greenspun…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-03-29 12:39:00
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