We have to admit this question made us smile when we first opened the email, since Boulder City is—along with Panaca—a rare example of a Nevada town where gambling is not permitted, although the reasons for this distinction are entirely unrelated in the two cases.
In the instance of Boulder City, the fact that its original name was, briefly, the Boulder Canyon Federal Reservation is something of a clue, in that it was an entirely custom-built entity, constructed solely to house the construction workers building the Hoover Dam. And at first it came as a blow to Las Vegas when Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur broke the news, during a visit to the site in 1929, that there wasn't about to be a big population boom for Las Vegas.
But what would soon be known as Boulder City Wilbur explained, would not only be conveniently located, but it would also be a way of attempting to keep the valuable workforce away from the temptations of gambling and drink. The government's vision was for "a wholesome American community" of "flowers, schools and playgrounds," as opposed to a "boisterous frontier town" like Las Vegas. And that was his euphemistic description of the place before Nevada voted to re-legalize gambling again in 1931, a year after the $175 million Hoover Dam Project broke ground.
In contrast to the "flowers and playgrounds" of idyllic Boulder City, Las Vegas at that time was a Gomorrah of saloons (Prohibition was pretty laxly enforced out in the desert) and illegal, later legal gambling dens and casinos, not to mention the brothels of the notorious Block 16 district. And while containing the workers by forcing them to reside virtually on site, under the government's watchful eye, doubtless contributed to sobriety levels on this dangerous project, there was little the bosses could do control the men come payday, or on rare days off, when many would descend down into the valley to blow off some steam.
It took a crew of some 5,000 to build Hoover Dam and the total payroll for the project was a monumental $500,000 per month; while initially all pay was to be in company scrip, good for use only in the stores of Boulder City, Las Vegas successfully lobbied the federal government to require that the workers be paid in regular U.S. currency -- much of which went into the coffers of Las Vegas' less salubrious (but much more fun) business enterprises.
It wasn't until 1969, even, that the ban on the sale of hard liquor was finally lifted in Boulder City; the strict no-gambling rule remains in place to this day, however, and is something for which the location is both well known and proud.
