Boulder City was originally built by the Bureau of Reclamation and Six Companies, Inc. as housing for workers who were building the Boulder Dam. The Dam was originally planned to span the Boulder Canyon portion of the Colorado River, approximately 20 miles north of where the Dam is today. The existing site in the Black Canyon was finally chosen because it was a bit wider and would allow for better construction access, and would create a much larger reservoir.
During the years leading up to the passage of legislation authorizing the dam, the press generally referred to the dam as "Boulder Dam" or as "Boulder Canyon Dam", even though the proposed site had shifted to Black Canyon.
Secretary Wilbur named the dam "Hoover Dam", citing a tradition of naming dams after Presidents, though none had been so honored during their terms of office. After Hoover's election defeat and the accession of the Roosevelt administration, Secretary Ickes ordered that the dam be referred to as "Boulder Dam". Ickes stated that Wilbur had been imprudent in naming the dam after a sitting president, that Congress had never ratified his choice, and that it had long been referred to as Boulder Dam.
In the following years, the name "Boulder Dam" failed to fully take hold, with many Americans using both names interchangeably and mapmakers divided as to which name should be printed. More than 10 years after the completion of the dam, a bill passed both Houses of Congress unanimously registering the name: "Hoover Dam".
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