FDR presses key to start Boulder Dam’s first hydroelectric generator 80 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 11 1936)

U.S. Presidents


Video: 'Boulder Dam (1936)'

(Friday, September 11, 1936, 3:20 p.m. EDT; during the Great Depression) — Boulder Dam (now Hoover Dam) began operation today as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a key today in Washington to signal the startup of the dam’s first hydroelectric generator.