History

• As the Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover served on a commission that was charged with the task of finding a way to distribute the water of the Colorado river to the basin states, which resulted in the Colorado River Compact of 1922.
  
  

Location

• When Hoover took office in 1930 he cited engineering problems with Boulder Canyon where the dam was to built originally, and moved the dam to Black Canyon, after which the dam became known as Hoover Dam. The project included the need to redirect the Colorado river during the dam's construction.
  
  

Great Depression

• More than 20,000 people flocked to Nevada to work on the construction of the Hoover Dam during the Great Depression. The project offered steady yet dangerous employment.
  
  

Construction

• Six companies were assigned to construct the Hoover Dam with a seven year deadline. The dam was finished in just five years, two years ahead of schedule.
  
  

Dedication

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the name back from from Hoover Dam to Boulder Dam before it was dedicated and opened on September 30, 1935. President Harry Truman renamed the dam the Hoover Dam yet again in 1947.