Henderson sits at the southern rim of the Las Vegas Valley. At an elevation of 1,940 feet above sea level, the city is only 7 miles southeast of Las Vegas and about midway between Las Vegas and Boulder City (home of the Hoover Dam).
   Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Henderson remained a relatively small factory town. In the early 1980s, the first master planned community, Green Valley, was plotted. Henderson's population in 1980 was 24,363; by 1990 it had more than doubled, and by the end of the twentieth century Henderson had reached 175,381. Local estimates project the 2010 population will reach 310,000 as a steady stream of new residents and businesses continue to be attracted to the area. By 1999 Henderson overtook Reno as Nevada's second largest city. The city celebrated its 50 year birthday in 2003. Henderson's unparalleled growth in the past two decades shows little signs of slowing. It's no wonder that Nevada's second largest city, with a thriving economy, master-planned communities, world-class recreation, and proximity to several of the country's national and man-made treasures, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation.