The New Town of Boulder City: City Planning and Infrastructure Engineering for Hoover Dam Workers

Abstract

In 1930, the Bureau of Reclamation selected Saco Reink DeBoer as the city planner for the company town of Boulder City for the residences of workers on Hoover (Boulder) Dam. Over 1,500 buildings were constructed to house the 5,000 plus dam workers, making Boulder City the third largest city in Nevada. DeBoer gained experience with the Denver Parks and Parkway System and other towns throughout Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The Radburn, New Jersey superblocks around central park spaces were utilized in the Boulder City plan. In American city planning history, Boulder City was the first fully developed new town during the Community Planning Movement. Named after the dam general superintendent in 1981, the Frank T. Crowe Memorial Park was a large neighborhood park. The civic center of public buildings was the center of a triangular-shaped city plan with the Bureau of Reclamation administration building at the apex. The engineering basic support infrastructure of water, sewer, electricity and roadways was constructed. In 1931, the water for Boulder City came six miles from the Colorado River in a twelve-inch water main pumped up 2,000 feet in elevation. A pre-sedimentation basin, filtration system, water softening, and chlorination were needed. Four pumping stations and five water storage tanks were required. The town was administered by city manager, Sims Ely, who reported only to the Construction Engineer for the dam: Walker R. Young. The winning construction was by Six Companies Inc. Six Companies Inc. set up a separate subsidiary: the Boulder City Company to complete workers' lodging, boarding, recreation, transportation to and from the dam and other services. Six Companies Inc. agreed to finance the operation of the grade school and pay the twelve teachers' salaries with Congress paying $70,000 for the school building.