Boulder Dam Hotel

The Boulder Dam Hotel is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places because of the unique role it played in the Hoover Dam construction project.

The bill authorizing the funds for the construction of Hoover Dam was signed by then-President Calvin Coolidge in 1928. Actual construction, however, did not begin until 1931. Thousands of workers were attracted to the area and most chose to live near the dam site in tents or other temporary buildings. In 1931, the Bureau of Reclamation spent some two million dollars to build a town on a high plateau seven miles southwest of the dam site. The new town of Boulder City was a "government town". It reached a peak population of around 8,000 at the height of dam-building activities but declined rapidly after the dam was completed (1935).

The construction of Hoover Dam was the largest undertaking the U.S. Government had undertaken since the Panama Canal. As a result, it became an instant tourist attraction, drawing hundreds of prominent visitors and government bureaucrats. Unfortunately, there was no place for these people to stay that was fitting their station in life. Recognizing this, a frequent visitor to the area, W.F. Grey, proposed to build a hotel in Boulder City. He applied for and was granted a building permit by the Bureau of Reclamation on April 1, 1932. P.S. Webb began construction of the Boulder City Hotel in 1932 and completed it in 1933. The hotel's grand opening was in December of that year.

In 1935, with the dam nearing completion, P.S. Webb (the builder of the hotel) recognized the tourist potential of the dam and the newly created Lake Mead. He founded Grand Canyon-Boulder Dam, Inc. a multi-faceted tourist agency based in Boulder City. One of Webb's first actions was to purchase the Boulder Dam Hotel. Heavy advertising by this tourist agency brought ever-increasing numbers of people to the Boulder Dam Hotel. The hotel was a popular, elegant, and prestigious resort up and into the 1940s.

The onset of World War II, however, changed this pleasant and economically prosperous picture. With the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, security at Hoover Dam and other strategic facilities along the west coast was greatly increased. Tours were forbidden and civilian traffic over the dam was closely monitored. These restrictions, gas rationing, and the general tone of the times greatly reduced the tourist trade. The hotel business in Boulder City plummeted.

The Grand Canyon-Boulder Dam Tourist Company began selling off its concessions. One victim was the Boulder City Hotel. Since then the hotel has gone through a series of owners and uses. Its condition deteriorated, although its integrity was never seriously jeopardized. The property came into the hands of its present owner in January 1980. He has rehabilitated the lobby and restaurant and has begun on the rooms.

in 1982 the hotel was only 49 years of age. Boulder City, however, was 51 years old. Therefore, the hotel does date to the earliest years of the community and draws its historical significance from the 1933 to 1941 period when it was a "kingpin" in the tourist industry of the southwest. Given this context, the building does have exceptional significance as a reminder of Boulder City's early history.