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Setting the scene
During the Great Depression, the Colorado River's erratic floods threatened California's Imperial Valley and left Las Vegas a dusty railroad stop; the Boulder Canyon Project Act of 1928 authorized a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Nevada-Arizona border, employing thousands in one of the era's largest public-works programs.
What happened
On September 30, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated Hoover Dam—then still often called Boulder Dam—before a crowd on the Arizona rim, praising a structure that stored Lake Mead and generated hydroelectric power for the Southwest.
Why it still matters
The dam powered Las Vegas growth and irrigated California agriculture for generations; its Art Deco intake towers and 726-foot height made it an icon of engineered nature, though debates over water rights and drought continue around Lake Mead today.
Background
It powered Las Vegas growth and California agriculture.