JoDo Chasing Rainbows
Exploring the US and Canada from our RV
First Black family in Boulder City, NV
Boulder City, NV was created to house workers who worked on the Hoover Dam. What might not be widely known is that this was also created as a segregated city. Non-whites where not allowed to live within the city limits. There were approximately 21,000 person who worked on the building of the Hoover Dam. None of the documented 44 (or 61)** Black men who worked on this project lived in Boulder City. They had to commute 20 miles further from Las Vegas.
Henry and Ocie Bradley were the first Black family to live in Boulder City. What got me interested in this subject was a local access television program discussing Black history events around Nevada. This program referenced that they used to live at 618 Arizona St. The family moved to the city in 1939. This greatly upset the city manager, Sims Ely. He wanted to keep Boulder city ‘clean, green and white.’ The family stayed in Boulder City for a few years before moving to to Los Angeles, CA in the mid-1940s. This house now is part of the Clark County Museum. The home has been restored to its original purpose, a ticket taking office for the Grand Canyon Airline. However, in the back room it has the history for the city to include how Blacks and Native Americans were impacted by the building of Hoover Dam.
We spent the rest of the day at the Clark County Museum. This is a wonderful place. The inside exhibit starts with Ice Age fossils to the earliest inhabitants of the area to early Las Vegas gambling. The outside is a living museum. There are railroad cars, farming equipment and examples of types of housing in the area. It was a fascinating day. I highly recommend this museum. The price is $2 for adults and $1 for seniors and children. You cannot beat that price. I would have paid much more to visit this well maintained and curated living museum.
Here is the article in the newspaper that I found that helped kick off the research for this post. **I reviewed a few sources for the number of Blacks who worked at Hoover Dam. 44 or 61 was the number that kept coming up. I could not find a definitive source to get the most accurate number.
Laughlin, NV
We ended up in Laughlin, NV due to my need for packages from Amazon. Laughlin was in the general direction of Las Vegas which will be our destination for March 2020. Neither of us has been to this area. We learned that town is named after Don Laughlin in the mid 1960s. We are actually staying in the RV park attached to the casino that he owns.
We drove near the Davis Dam as we came into town. I quickly added that to our places to visit once we got settled. Davis Dam was the first place we visited. There is a scenic park on the Nevada side. The play ground and picnic areas are covered for year round use. You can access the Dam from the Nevada and the Arizona side. The Arizona side is lake behind the dam. If you want to walk the dam, I recommend you do it from the Arizona side. There is parking near the entrance to the top of the dam. The Nevada side is the dam and the water beneath. This is where the best walking trails are located.
This is an area where we both constantly wore hats and sunglasses. I had a difficult time keeping my lips from burning. It did not seem to matter how much sunscreen I used.
Gambling is Laughlin’s industry. We are parked above the strip. It is surprisingly quiet. Across the river is Bullhead, AZ. There are homes, shopping and services on the Bullhead side of the river. The one issue we had to get used to is that Laughlin is in the Pacific time zone and Bullhead is in the Mountain time zone. During our time we got used to going places early after our first day showing up too late for certain businesses because they close at 7 pm MST. Besides that this is a great place to visit. We are at an low elevation (less than 1,000 feet). It is much warmer here than at the Mojave National Preserve or Las Legas, NV due to elevation.
There are interesting trails that lead from the strip to the Davis Dam. There is plenty to do if you are not a gambler. We tried one of the buffets for lunch. It was inexpensive and very tasty. We are in the desert so we got to see rock art. One of the most interesting is the Laughlin Labyrinths. Donna and I spent time walking a few of the Labyrinth to find our zen space.
Have you been to Laughlin, NV?