The Long Way
Clark County
Five people cut a blue ribbon in front of a building.
Plate I. Ribbon cutting ceremony, Hoover Dam Visitor Center. From reviewjournal.com
A view of the intake towers and structures at a large dam next to a reservoir.
Plate II. Visitor Center and intake towers, Hoover Dam. From reviewjournal.com
A large concrete dam stands in front of rocky hills with green water below.
Plate III. Hoover Dam and intake towers. From hooverdam.ticketure.co
An aerial view of a large concrete dam set between rocky canyons with a blue reservoir behind it.
Plate IV. Hoover Dam and surrounding landscape. From hooverdam.ticketure.co
Two men pose while pretending to turn a large wrench exhibit inside a museum.
Plate V. Exhibits, Hoover Dam Visitor Center. From reviewjournal.com
A man looks ahead while walking through a wooden indoor exhibit space with other visitors in the background.
Plate VI. Exhibits, Hoover Dam Visitor Center. From reviewjournal.com
People visit an indoor exhibit featuring a generator model and historic wall graphics.
Plate VII. Interactive exhibit, Hoover Dam Visitor Center. From reviewjournal.com

Hoover Dam Visitor Center and Powerplant Tours

Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada. Visitor center and tours.

Details

Map. Boulder City, Clark County, Nevada. Larger map
Where
81 Hoover Dam Access Road, Boulder City, NV 89005. Directions
When
Visitor Center and Tours open daily 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day; doors close at 4:15 p.m.; last tour departs at 4:10 p.m.
Season
Open daily (except Thanksgiving and Christmas).
Getting there
The dam has no street address - enter "Hoover Dam" in a map app. From Las Vegas: I-11 S/US-93 S/US-95 S through Boulder City, Exit 2, then the 3rd exit onto NV-172 at the traffic circle, right onto NV SR-172/Hoover Dam Access Rd, continue to the dam.
Fees
Visitor center admission $15 per person; children ages 3 and younger free; guided tour tickets include visitor center admission.
Access
Parking garage on the Nevada side near the Visitor Center is $10 per vehicle; oversized vehicles, RVs, and trailers must park on the Arizona side lots #9, #13, and #14; walking across the top of the dam or the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge walkway is free; all vehicles are subject to inspection at the Nevada Security Checkpoint; firearms, explosives, fireworks, drones, and marijuana are prohibited; security screening is required before buying tickets; bottled water permitted; much of the visit is outdoors.
Walk-in or reserve
Online ticket sales list two products: PPT-Power Plant Tour and Exhibits Only.
Phone
(702) 494-2517 or (702) 494-2546; toll free (866) 730-9097
Website
usbr.gov
Managed by
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation - Lower Colorado Dams Office (LCDO), Lower Colorado Basin Region.
Established
1995 (original visitor center).

Narrated exhibits on the history of Hoover Dam with a 360-degree Observation Deck view of the dam, the Colorado River, Lake Mead, and the Hoover Bypass Bridge, plus the Original Exhibit Building's narrated 3D model of the region's dams and power systems.

Notable Events

  1. 1922The compact divided the river basin into upper and lower halves, leaving states within each region to allocate the water. hoover.archives.gov
  2. 1928President Calvin Coolidge signed the act authorizing the Boulder Canyon Project. nps.gov
  3. 1931Six Companies Inc. received the nearly $49 million construction contract. nps.gov
  4. 1932A temporary coffer dam began diverting the Colorado into two completed tunnels. nps.gov
  5. 1935Hoover Dam was dedicated after the last concrete was placed and was completed two years ahead of schedule. npgallery.nps.gov
  6. 1937The dam's hydroelectric generators went online. hoover.archives.gov
  7. 1947Congress officially restored Hoover's name to the dam. hoover.archives.gov
  8. 1987Sales of electricity repaid the dam's construction cost with interest. hoover.archives.gov

People

  • Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce who proposed a Colorado River dam (1921).

Sources

  1. usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/index.html
  2. usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/directions.html
  3. usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/aboutus.html
  4. reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/hoover-dams-renovated-visitor-center-plugs-guests-into-great-depression-3386413
  5. hooverdam.ticketure.co/events?category=Admission
  6. travelnevada.com/hoover-dam/hoover-dam-tours
  7. nps.gov/articles/nevada-and-arizona-hoover-dam.htm
  8. npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NHLS/81000382_text
  9. bchdmuseum.org/about-us
  10. hoover.archives.gov/hoovers/hoover-dam
  11. nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nhls-by-state.htm