Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about 16 miles (26 km) southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is portion of the Las Vegas Valley. Henderson occupies the southeastern terminate of the valley, at an height of 1,864 feet (568 m).

Henderson is known for its supply of magnesium during World War II. With the decline of magnesium production, the Nevada legislature certified a tally that gave Nevada’s Colorado River Commission the authority to buy the industrial plants, and Henderson was incorporated in 1953. Henderson is the location of Lake Las Vegas.

The township of Henderson first emerged in the 1940s during World War II when the building of the Basic Magnesium Plant. Henderson speedily became the main supplier of magnesium in the United States, which was called the “miracle metal” of World War II. The reforest supplied the US War Department subsequent to magnesium for incendiary munition casings and airplane engines, frames, and other parts. A quarter of everything US wartime magnesium came from the Henderson Plant to add to aluminum, using 25% of Hoover Dam’s capability to remove the metal from its ore by electrolysis. Mayor Jim Gibson’s grandfather, Fred D. Gibson, was one of the native engineers sent to Great Britain to learn the nameless of creating the “miracle metal” which would back the United States and its allies win the war. The British liaison commissioner sent to Henderson, Major Charles Ball, had a main thoroughfare named after him. Because of concerns just about having a street named “Ball Avenue”, the reveal was future changed to “Major Avenue”.

Although “born in America’s defense”, Henderson’s innovative after World War II was uncertain. In 1947, magnesium production was no longer indispensable for defense, and most of the Black Mountain Industrial (BMI) Complex’s 14,000 employees moved away. Enrollment in the educational system was shortened by two thirds, and capably over half the townsite houses, built to house plant workers, became vacant. In 1947, the United States War Asset Administration offered Henderson for sale as dogfight surplus property.