Hoover Dam
This 726-foot arch-gravity dam reveals the Colorado River through engineering, electricity, labor, water policy, Art Deco design, and a shrinking reservoir.
Artwork inspired by Oskar J. W. Hansen
Built from 1931 to 1936, Hoover Dam uses a curved concrete wall to transfer part of Lake Mead’s force into Black Canyon while its enormous weight resists the water. A Powerplant Tour connects intake towers and penstocks with turbines and generators; the longer Dam Tour adds interior inspection passages and is sold only on site. Outside, Lake Mead’s pale bathtub ring makes changing reservoir conditions impossible to ignore.
Thousands built the dam in severe heat and dangerous conditions while Boulder City operated as a controlled federal town. The project brought water storage, flood control, and power, but also transformed the Colorado River’s ecology and reinforced allocations now stressed by drought. On the Nevada side, pause for Oskar Hansen’s Winged Figures, star map, memorial, and elevator reliefs—the details that turn infrastructure into an Art Deco civic monument.
- Height
- 726 feet
- Completed
- 1936
- Allow
- Two to four hours
Quick guide
- Crest views
- Crest views before the visitor-center exhibits
- Look for
- Winged Figures and the star map
Test the history at Hoover Dam
- Opening question
- Walk the crest and compare both faces.
- Crest views
- Choose power machinery or the longer interior Dam Tour.
- Evidence to test
- Trace find Hansen’s bronzes, star map, and elevator reliefs.
- Conditions check
- Treat the reservoir ring as operating evidence
Good to know
Vehicles pass a checkpoint and tour areas use airport-style screening; weapons, knives, oversized bags, and many tools are prohibited. Dam Tour tickets are sold on site and can sell out early.
Notice these
- Curved concrete face
- Powerplant galleries
- Art Deco monument program