Why was Hoover Dam once called Boulder Dam? I WAG it is not because some design engineer said “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a dam what you call it!” 
As a kid, I thought this was because it was near Boulder, CO…never bothering to look it up on a map. Knowing better now, I can see that is not the case. So, the question has come back into my mind. Thus, the question posed to the SD.
Could “Boulder” refer to its mammoth size?
General national distaste for Herbert Hoover as President when the great depression struck was the main reason.
Was “boulder” some kind of insult, then? Or have I been verily whooshed?
As examples of that distaste, shantytowns where unemployed and homeless lived were “Hoovervilles.” Newspapers inside clothing for warmth were “Hoover blankets.” Empty pockets turned inside out were “Hoover flags.” Cite.
No. The dam was originally to be named “Hoover Dam.” The name was changed to Boulder Dam so as not to honor Hoover in any way.
Read all about it on Wikipedia.
That’s very odd…because it is best known as “Hoover Dam”, and books on Hoover claim the name was changed from Boulder to Hoover Dam.
Wow, very interesting! I wonder what the whole name changing battle and execution thereof cost the America people in tax dollars! But, that’s all water over the dam now… 
Well, yes. You confused me because the question was “Why was it named Boulder Dam?” not “Why was it not named Hoover Dam?”
I think I saw this on an episode of Futurama, although it was really just their heads in jars.
It was originally planned to be in Boulder Canyon.
Well actually, the first words out of the box in the OP were, “Why was Hoover Dam once called Boulder Dam?”
Simple as this:
1930 – plans for a new dam on the Colorado, originally scoped to be placed at the head of Boulder Canyon, are formulated. Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur announces that, following precedent, it will be named for the President in office at the time the project is begun, i.e., Herbert Hoover. An act of Congress authorizing construction confirms this name.
1932 – Hoover loses his bid for reelection, FDR elected.
1933 – New Secretary of the Interior Harold “the Old Curmurgeon” Ickes (his self-selected epithet, by the way) announces that it will be the Boulder Canyon Project and the dam when finished will be Boulder Dam.
1946 – Ickes having finally retired, a Republican majority in Congress has been elected, and a new law renaming Boulder Dam to Hoover Dam in honor of former Pres. Hoover is passed.
So technically the renaming went both ways.
Well that’s OK, so did Hoover.
Oh wait, I’m thinking of J Edgar Hoover, never mind.
When I visited Hoover Dam - well worth the trip from Las Vegas - I picked up a copy of Hoover Dam: An American Adventure, by Joseph E. Stevens. It’s a tad academic in spots, but overall it’s one of the best books on a major industrial project. The history of the area, the Depression era workforce, the ruthlessness of the builders, and the innovations needed to build something the world had never seen are fascinatingly presented. And of course he goes into detail on the plans for siting and naming the dam, and the reality that ensued. Highly recommended.
In his youth, my father worked on the dam and for the rest of his life unless it was a formal occasion, he called it Boulder Dam. As did most of his generation (at least in the Southwest). He never disliked Hoover. It was just that, for him the name was “Boulder” Dam. The nearby town was Boulder so it remained Boulder Dam for him.
I imagine it was somewhat similar with Cape Kennedy and Cape Canaveral.
J Edgar had hetero flings too? Clyde must have been intensely jealous!
Read the history of Hoover Dam at this link: