Hoover Dam Facts for Kids

A Picture of the Hoover Dam
  • Name: Hoover Dam
  • Location: Clark County, Nevada, USA and Mohave County, Arizona, USA
  • GPS Cordinates: 36°0’56″N 114°44’16″W
  • Building Type: Concrete Arch-Gravity Dam
  • Built: Between 1931 and 1936
  • Annual Electricity Generation: 4.2 TWh (15 PJ)
  • Maximum Capacity: 2,080 MW

27 Hoover Dam Facts for Kids

  1. The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Colorado River.
  2. The Hoover Dam is in two different counties, both in different U.S. States.
  3. The Hoover Dam is in Clark County, Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona, USA.
  4. The Hoover Dam is used to generate electricity for people in Arizona, Nevada and California.
  5. The Hoover Damn provides power to more than 1.3 million homes.
  6. The Hoover Dam has 17 main turbines for generating electricity. Nine of the main turbines are in the Arizona wing and eight are in the Nevada wing.
  7. The Hoover Dam generates 4.2 TWh (15 PJ) of electricity every year.
  8. The Hoover Dam can generate up to 2,080 MW of electricity every year at maximum capacity.
  9. The United States federal government owns the Hoover Dam.
  10. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation operates and manages the Hoover Dam.
  11. The idea for the Hoover Dam project was created in the early 1900s by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
  12. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation wanted to provide water and electricity to the growing Southwest United States.
  13. Many of the U.S. States involved were worried most of the water would go to California.
  14. To eliminate these worries, then Secretary of Commerce and future U.S. President Herbert Hoover brokered the 1922 Colorado River Compact.
  15. The 1922 Colorado River Compact ensured water would be proportionally distributed among seven U.S. States.
  16. Secretary of the Interior Ray L. Wilbur announced in 1930 that the Dam would be named after U.S. President Herbert Hoover for all his contributions to the project, notably the 1922 Colorado River Compact.
  17. The original proposed name for the Hoover Dam was the Boulder Dam.
  18. Construction of the Hoover Dam took place during the Great Depression between 1931 and 1936.
  19. The total construction cost for the Hoover Dam was $49 million (1931) or $664 million in 2018 dollars.
  20. The Hoover Dam has a height of 726.4 feet and a length of 1,244 feet.
  21. The Hoover Dam eliminated natural flooding. However, this had a negative affect on animals and plants that had adapted to flooding. Fish populations downstream were devastated by the dam.
  22. Lake Mead is the reservoir created and used by the Hoover Dam and the largest reservoir, by capacity, in the USA.
  23. In 1937, the Hoover Dam was open to the public for tours.
  24. In 1981, the Hoover Dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  25. In 1984, the Hoover Dam was recognized as a National Civil Engineering Landmark.
  26. In 1985, the Hoover Dam was designated a National Historic Landmark.
  27. In 2003, the Hoover Dam was designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World by Deborah Cadbury.

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