Boulder City is a city in

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, across ...

, United States. It is approximately southeast of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population of Boulder City was 14,885. The city took its name from Boulder Canyon. Boulder City is one of only two places in Nevada that prohibits

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

, the other being the town of

Panaca Panaca may refer to: ;In the United States * Panaca, Nevada, an unincorporated town in Lincoln County ** Panaca Summit Archeological District, near the above community * Panaca Formation, a geologic formation in Nevada ;Elsewhere * PANACA, or (Span ...

History

Beginnings as federal company town

The land upon which Boulder City was founded was a harsh, desert environment. Its sole reason for existence was the need to house workers contracted to build the

Hoover Dam Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on Se ...

on the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

(known commonly as Boulder Dam from 1933 to 1947, when it was officially renamed Hoover Dam by a joint resolution of Congress). Men hoping for work on the dam project had begun settling along the river in tents soon after the precise site for the dam had been chosen by the

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

in 1930. Their ramshackle edifices were collectively known as "Ragtown". Boulder City was originally built in 1931 by the Bureau of Reclamation and

Six Companies, Inc. Six Companies, Inc. was a joint venture of construction companies that was formed to build the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in Nevada and Arizona. They later built Parker Dam, a portion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the Colorado River Aqueduct ...

as housing for workers who were building the Hoover Dam. The sheer scale of the dam and duration of the project required the Bureau of Reclamation to consider the construction of a semi-permanent town rather than a temporary arrangement. Boulder City was exceptionally rare as an example of a town fully planned under government supervision. This is unlike 19th century privately funded

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

examples found in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, such as

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village and suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in it ...

, or in the United States, such as

Pullman, Chicago Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 defined community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent to Lake Calumet. The area known as Pullman encompasses a much wider ...

Early years: 1930–1934

Boulder City was carefully planned through federal supervision as a model community, with Dutch-born urban architect

Saco Rienk de Boer Saco Rienk DeBoer was born on September 7, 1883, in Ureterp, Opsterland, Friesland, Netherlands to architect Rienk Kornelius De Boer and avid gardener Antje Dictus Benedictus. He studied engineering and passed the Junior Engineer (surveyor) exa ...

contracted to plan it. DeBoer had been a

planner Planner may refer to: * A personal organizer (book) for planning * Microsoft Planner * Planner programming language * Planner (PIM for Emacs) * Urban planner * Route planner * Meeting and convention planner * Japanese term for video game designer ...

for

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, and was to design many towns and suburbs around the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

region. Because the Hoover Dam project itself represented a focus for optimism for a country suffering from the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the town itself was to be an additional manifestation of this optimism. There was to be an emphasis on a clean-living environment for dam workers. The plan submitted by DeBoer in 1930 was formal and symmetrical with a park and the Bureau of Reclamation building at the termination of the two main axes. The plan was deemed too expensive to carry out in its original form and was modified to allow for more regular block sizes. Nevertheless, its allowance for public space and copious amounts of landscaping earned it the moniker "Nevada's Garden City". The provision of green landscape was another expression of the

's "mission to reclaim and 'green' the American West." The town was designed to house approximately 5,000 workers. The status of the workers on the Hoover Dam was reflected in their house sizes and locations. The most important employees had their residences on top of the hill nearer the apex. Managers were housed further down the hill, and dwellings for manual laborers were located furthest away from the public buildings and parks. The most radically modified portions of DeBoer's plan were in these lower-class residential blocks, where open space and parks were largely eliminated. Commercial development was restricted and severely regulated under Sims Ely, the city manager. There were limits to the number of different types of stores allowed in the city, and all who wished to begin a business were screened for character and financial viability. On the other hand, there was no provision for schools in the burgeoning city, probably because the

expected that single male workers would populate the town. The town made do with makeshift schoolrooms until the city won the right for state-funded schools to be established on the federal reservation upon which Boulder City was situated. No hospitals were provided in the city either. Injured workers had to travel to Las Vegas Hospital, and when a hospital was established in the city, females were not admitted for a number of years.

Similarity to earlier company towns

Like early model

, the workers of Boulder City were under strict monitoring: alcohol was prohibited in the town until 1969 and gambling has been prohibited since the city's outset. The city was founded during the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

era. Boulder Theatre, established in 1931, meant that workers were not obliged to travel to Las Vegas for amusements. Such measures were common for company towns dating back to the 19th century, since sober workers surrounded by their own gardens and provided with appropriate entertainment would be more productive during their working days. In the case of Boulder City, the prohibition of alcohol and gambling was at least partly due to the proximity of Las Vegas, which had a notoriously rowdy vice district. Visitors to Boulder City were admitted by permit, and by 1932, there was a gatehouse through which all visitors had to pass.

Trendsetter for decentralization

While the establishment of Boulder City occurred while Las Vegas was modest in size with approximately 5,000 inhabitants, it was effectively the beginning of the fragmentation of cities in the region of Clark County. This move to disperse to multiple centers predated the

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

movement of the 1970s. The nearby city of

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

, founded in 1943 and based around the

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

industry, was another early example of decentralization before Clark County had a significant population: "...the region began to decentralize and regroup as a multi-centered area early in its history." The independent governments of Henderson,

North Las Vegas North Las Vegas is a suburban city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, in the Las Vegas Valley. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 216,961, with an estimated population of 251,974 in 2019. The city was incorporated on May 1, 19 ...

, Las Vegas, and Boulder City have perpetuated the fragmented nature of the region, giving each city its individual character, as well as generally stymieing the outward growth of these cities.

1960s onwards

The government did not relinquish control of Boulder City until 1959, when the town was incorporated. Boulder City's incorporation ceremony took place on January 4, 1960. The city council selected pharmacist Robert N. Broadbent as the city's first mayor. The city charter, approved by the residents, prohibited gambling within the city limits. This provision still exists, making Boulder City one of only two locations in Nevada where gambling is illegal (the other is the town of

). The

Hoover Dam Lodge Hoover Dam Lodge is a hotel and casino near Boulder City, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Richard Craig Estey ( Nevada Restaurant Services). It was previously the Gold Strike until it was largely destroyed by an accidental fire on June 16, 1 ...

hotel-casino permits gambling and has a Boulder City mailing address, but it is located on a parcel of private land within the boundaries of the

Lake Mead National Recreation Area Lake Mead National Recreation Area is a U.S. national recreation area in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. Operated by the National Park Service, Lake Mead NRA follows the Colorado River corridor from the westernmost boundary of Gran ...

and thus not within city limits. Another casino on the other end of town is the Railroad Pass Hotel and Casino, which has a Boulder City telephone prefix, but is within the boundary of the neighboring city of Henderson. Alcohol sales were first permitted in 1969. On August 9, 2018, the Boulder City Bypass opened to the public as part of the

Interstate 11 Interstate 11 (I-11) is an Interstate Highway that currently runs for on a predominantly northwest–southeast alignment in the US state of Nevada, running concurrently with US Route 93 (US 93) between the Arizona state line ...

project. The bypass is still within Boulder City's city limit, but bypasses the populated area. Initially, businesses and the populace were concerned that the bypass would have a negative effect on the local economy, though it seems that the opposite was true for some businesses.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the city has a total area of , of which , or 0.02%, is water. This ranks Boulder City as the largest city in Nevada by land area and 35th in the country, but gives it a low density rate of only about 72 people per square mile. Boulder City maintains strict controls on growth, limited to 120 single- or

multi-family residential Multifamily residential (also known as multidwelling unit or MDU) is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units ca ...

building permits for new construction per year. Hotels are also restricted to no more than 35 rooms. These restrictions are defined in the city code of Boulder City.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Boulder City has a

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(Köppen type

BWh Bust/waist/hip measurements (informally called 'body measurements' or ′vital statistics′) are a common method of specifying clothing sizes. They match the three inflection points of the female body shape. In human body measurement, these th ...

)

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, there were 14,966 people, 6,385 households, and 4,277 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 73.9 people per square mile (28.5/km²). There were 6,979 housing units at an average density of 34.4 per square mile (13.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.5%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, 0.7% African American, 0.7% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.3% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.3% of the population. There were 6,385 households, out of which 23.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. Of all households 27.6% were made up of individuals, and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.79. In the city, the population was spread out, with 20.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 23.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $50,523, and the median income for a family was $60,641. Males had a median income of $42,041 versus $30,385 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,770. About 4.7% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Hoover Dam in marketing

The proximity of Hoover Dam to Boulder City is reflected in many of the businesses in the historic Downtown district, which is home to the Boulder Dam Hotel, home of the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum. (The hotel is named after the dam's former name.) Making a pun on the word "damn" is also popular. The Boulder City Chamber of Commerce has used the slogan "Best City By A Dam Site" in promotions, and the city hosts an annual festival of short subject films dubbed "

The Dam Short Film Festival The Dam Short Film Festival is a film festival held annually in Boulder City, Nevada, typically in early February. Lee Lanier and Anita Lanier are the original co-founders of the festival. The festival is organized by the Dam Short Film Society, a ...

". Boulder City also hosts a number of Hoover Dam related events such as "That Dam Guy Stole My Dam Car" car race and "Get Off My Dam Lawn" gardening festival.

Points of interest

Alan Bible Botanical Garden The Alan Bible Visitor Center is a visitor center located at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The visitor center features a 20-minute movie about the recreation area. There is also an array of exhibits, a gift shop, and a desert botanical garden ...

Bootleg Canyon Mountain Bike Park Bootleg Canyon Mountain Bike Park is an internationally renowned venue located in Bootleg Canyon within the northern section of Boulder City, Nevada, in the desert near Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. Consisting of a variety of different types of trails ...

* Hoover Dam Museum *

* Lake Mead * Nevada Southern Railroad Museum

Sports

In 1975, a team from Boulder City won the '' Almost Anything Goes!'' national championship, broadcast on ABC television. The following year, they won a "Supergames" playoff against the 1976 champions from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and a celebrity all-star team. However, the show was cancelled soon after.

Parks and recreation

Boulder City has two municipal golf courses (Boulder City Municipal Golf Course and Boulder Creek Golf Course), one private golf course, a city pool, racquetball complex, lit tennis courts, athletic fields, BMX bicycle track, ample mountain hiking trails, and is only a few miles away from Lake Mead. Nevada's first airport, Boulder City Municipal Airport, is still in operation today, accommodating private planes, skydiving trips, and scenic aerial tours of Hoover Dam and the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

Government

The city of Boulder City is a special charter municipality which operates under the council-manager form of government. The city council comprises five members, including the mayor, who acts as presiding officer for city council meetings. The city manager is appointed by the city council and executes the policies and directives of the city council. Boulder City is one of two locations within the State of Nevada where military veterans and their spouses can be interred. The

Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery The Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery is located in Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada. Established in 1990, the 79-acre cemetery is approximately 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. This is one of two state operated Veterans C ...

is located in Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada. The cemetery was established in 1990. The State of Nevada has more than 300,000 veterans and is among the fastest growing region in the Western United States of people age 65 or older with the demographic of military veterans.^{/sup> the cemetery is approximately 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Education

Boulder City's four public schools fall under the jurisdiction of the Clark County School District. Boulder City High School serves grades nine through twelve and has an average enrollment of 700–750 students. It was one of fourteen Clark County schools to become a five-star school in 2012. Elton & Madeline Garrett Junior High School serves grades six through eight. Martha P. King Elementary School serves grades three through five. Andrew J. Mitchell Elementary School serves grades K through two. Boulder City is also home of one non-profit private religious elementary school, Grace Christian Academy, which offers a Christian education for grades kindergarten through five. The school is part of Grace Community Church.

Boulder City also houses a small satellite campus of the College of Southern Nevada.

Boulder City has a public library

A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants.

There are ...
, the Boulder City Library. The Boulder City Library featured in the plot of the Oscar-winning 2016 film La La Land as the landmark across the street from the childhood home of the film's fictional heroine, aspiring actress Mia Dolan. However, La La Land's scenes of Mia's neighborhood in Boulder City (including the library) were actually filmed in Santa Clarita, CA.

Media

Stephens Media

Stephens Media LLC was a Las Vegas, Nevada, diversified media investment company. It owned stakes in the California Newspapers Partnership and the ''Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette''.

The company had been expanding its interactive Internet b ...
publishes the ''Boulder City Review''. Until it ceased publication in 2009, the '' Boulder City News'' was the local newspaper.

The game Fallout: New Vegas features Boulder City in game.

Infrastructure

The northern Eldorado Valley
Eldorado Valley, or El Dorado Valley, is a Great Basin valley in the Mojave Desert southeast of Las Vegas and southwest of Boulder City, Nevada. The valley is endorheic, containing the Eldorado Dry Lake. The Great Basin Divide, transects ridgelines ...
contains Boulder City's "Eldorado Energy Zone" which is home to the 480 MW El Dorado natural gas power plant, as well as several other projects. In 2019, the city announced plans to lease up to in Black Hills South as a utility-scale solar facility. The city hopes to generate $1.65 million annually from the lease.

* Boulder City Hospital
* Boulder Dam Hotel
* Copper Mountain Solar Facility

The Copper Mountain Solar Facility is a 802 megawatt (MW AC) solar photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, Nevada, United States. The plant was developed by Sempra Generation. When the first unit of the facility entered service on Dece ...

Transportation

Highways in Boulder City are listed here.
* Interstate 11

Interstate 11 (I-11) is an Interstate Highway that currently runs for on a predominantly northwest–southeast alignment in the US state of Nevada, running concurrently with US Route 93 (US 93) between the Arizona state line ...

* U.S. Route 93

U.S. Route 93 (US 93) is a major north–south United States highway, numbered highway in the western United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 60 in Arizona, US 60 in Wickenburg, Arizona. The northern terminus is at the ...

*
U.S. Route 93 Business (Boulder City, Nevada)

U.S. Route 93 Business (US 93 Bus.) is a business route of U.S. Route 93 (US 93) in Clark County, Nevada. The route provides access to Lake Mead and downtown Boulder City from Interstate 11 (I-11). The route was originally part of m ...

* U.S. Route 95
* State Route 165
* State Route 173

Notable people

* Desi Arnaz, Jr. (born 1953), actor-musician who, with his wife, Amy, owns the Boulder Theatre, a former cinema converted into a live theatre, which is home to the Boulder City Ballet Company (originally from Los Angeles).
* Deanna Brooks (born 1974 in Boulder City), May 1998 Playboy Playmate
*Paul C. Fisher

Paul C. Fisher (October 10, 1913 – October 20, 2006) was an American inventor and politician. He invented the Fisher Space Pen.DeBartolo, Anthony (1991-04-28''Chicago Tribune''. Retrieved 2007-06-27.

Fisher was born in Lebanon, Kansas, the s ...
(1913–2006), inventor, politician and founder of the Fisher Spacepen Co.

Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral.

Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to:

Places
Australia
*Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland
*Elect ...
, located in Boulder City (originally from Lebanon, Kansas).
* Terry Goodkind (1948–2020), writer known for the epic fantasy series '' The Sword of Truth'' as well as the contemporary suspense novel ''The Law of Nines
''The Law of Nines'' is a thriller/speculative fiction novel by American author Terry Goodkind. The book was released on August 18, 2009. It debuted at #10 on the Times bestseller list.

The book, though at essence a thriller, contains numerous ...
'' (2009), which has ties to his fantasy series (originally from Omaha, Nebraska).

In popular culture

* A scaled-down version of Boulder City is featured in the 2010 roleplaying game '' Fallout: New Vegas''.
* Boulder City is the hometown of one of the protagonists in the 2016 musical film

Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
, '' La La Land''. It is the hometown of Amelia "Mia" Dolan (played by Emma Stone

Emily Jean Stone (born November 6, 1988), known professionally as Emma Stone, is an American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award. In 2017, she ...
), the female protagonist of the movie and is where she lives before moving to Los Angeles, California in pursuit of her dream of becoming a movie star.
* Boulder City is mentioned in S1E6 of ''Milo Murthy’s Law''.
* The novel '' Lords of St. Thomas'' (GWP, 2018) by Jackson Ellis tells the story of the last family to vacate nearby St. Thomas, Nevada

St. Thomas, Nevada is a ghost town in Clark County, Nevada, near where the Muddy River flows into the Colorado River. St. Thomas was purchased by the US Federal Government and abandoned as the waters of Lake Mead submerged the town in the 1930 ...
in 1938 following construction of the Boulder Dam. The book is set partly in Boulder City, and is where the Lord family patriarch, Thomas, lives and works upon taking a job with Six Companies.Robison, Vernon
New Historical Novel Tells Story Of Evacuation Of St. Thomas
'

References

External links

Official Boulder City website

Boulder City / Hoover Dam Museum

{{authority control

1931 establishments in Nevada
Cities in Clark County, Nevada
Company towns in Nevada
Populated places established in 1931
Cities in Nevada}