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All the United States Nevada Boulder City Hoover Dam Old Exhibit Building

Hoover Dam Old Exhibit Building

Experience a charming 1930s version of "infotainment."

Boulder City, Nevada

Added By
Michelle Enemark
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The Glorious Diorama   Michelle Enemark
The Glorious Diorama   Michelle Enemark
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Watching the show   Michelle Enemark
Tiny Glen Canyon Dam   Michelle Enemark
Tiny Blythe with brightly colored farm crops   Michelle Enemark
Tiny Boulder City with tiny power lines   Michelle Enemark
Tiny Hoover Dam   Michelle Enemark
  Antahny / Atlas Obscura User
Tiny Grand Canyon   Michelle Enemark
Tiny Las Vegas   Michelle Enemark
The old exhibit building   Michelle Enemark
California mountains and a cloudy sky   Michelle Enemark
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About

The Hoover Dam is an awe-inspiring site. It is impossibly large, surprisingly beautiful, and impeccably built over just five years in the 1930s. The dam is a worthwhile place to visit all on its own, but it also happens to be home to a perfectly preserved example of a 1930s-era visitor's center presentation.

Today, the compulsory tour package includes a short film loaded with smooth graphics, and a visit to an exhibit full of sometimes interesting but often silly digital interactive displays and games. The tour of the facility and the observation deck are great, and likely have changed very little in the last 80 years, but the visitor's center certainly has. 

Happily, the Old Exhibit building (originally used as a headquarters for soldiers protecting the dam during World War II) has been preserved and recently restored. To the right of the stunning "Winged Figures of the Republic" statues, this simple building is oft passed over by hot and tired tourists, unaware of the charming (and air-conditioned) display within. 

Through the lobby, a small interior room is packed with old wooden theater seats arranged stadium-style, and directed at a huge topographical map model of a number of southwestern states. Major cities, geological spots, and various dams and reservoirs along the Colorado are meticulously labeled, and places like the Grand Canyon or the Valley of Fire are lovingly depicted in the diorama.

The overheads dim, and the map lights up. A rather dry but pleasant voice-over pipes through the speakers, and proceeds to tell about all of the places that the Hoover Dam has benefited, the map lighting up each place as it is mentioned. Our guide also goes into great detail on every major dam in the area, making this a special treat for dam nerds. 

Related Tags

Power Stations Dams Water Inventions Dioramas Small Worlds And Model Towns

Know Before You Go

If you continue walking toward Lake Mead from the Winged Figures plaza, around the corner, you will see the Old Exhibit Building.

Community Contributors

Added By

michelle

Edited By

hana, Dr Alan P Newman, breaingram, surfintrekie...

  • hana
  • Dr Alan P Newman
  • breaingram
  • surfintrekie
  • Antahny
  • alvarado678
  • 45rpm

Published

June 30, 2013

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  • http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/DamTour.html
Hoover Dam Old Exhibit Building
Hoover Dam Access Road
Boulder City, Nevada, 89005
United States
36.015544, -114.747393
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Nearby Places

Black Canyon National Water Trail

Boulder City, Nevada

miles away

Winged Figures of the Republic

Boulder City, Nevada

miles away

Hoover Dam Geodetic Survey Markers

Boulder City, Nevada

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Boulder City

Boulder City

Nevada

Places 8

Nearby Places

Black Canyon National Water Trail

Boulder City, Nevada

miles away

Winged Figures of the Republic

Boulder City, Nevada

miles away

Hoover Dam Geodetic Survey Markers

Boulder City, Nevada

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Boulder City

Boulder City

Nevada

Places 8

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