In 1965, the Stardust International Raceway was built by the Stardust Resort and Casino. In 1969, the Stardust was sold to the Parvin-Dohrmann Corporation, which had little interest in the raceway and then leased it until in 1970, when Pardee Homes purchased the land. They began developing a master-planned housing community called Spring Valley. The community was named by Doug Pardee and sales manager Jack Whiteman, in reference to its views of the Spring Mountains and its location in the Las Vegas Valley. In 1981, residents grouped together to solicit the Clark County Commission to create an unincorporated town, which it did that May. The residents wanted to create the town due to hypothetical annexations into other communities in the Las Vegas Valley, and because they claimed they did not pay their taxes fairly for county services. The town originally encompassed , but now occupies much of the southwest quarter of the Las Vegas Valley, totaling .