Yep! Boulder City, Nevada now has its own flower — it’s officially called the “Boulder City 31ers Heirloom Hollyhock” and it’s a pretty one, too!
The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum, with support from the 31ers and the Historic Preservation Committee, requested that the City adopt the hollyhock as the official flower for Boulder City in Resolution 5914, which was unanimously passed at the May 8th, 2012 City Council Meeting.
Below is an excerpt from the Museum’s official letter that gives a little history about the hollyhock plant and why it’s a recognizable piece of Boulder City history.
And if you would like to purchase seed packets of the Boulder City 31ers Heirloom Hollyhock, you can do that at the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum (located in the Boulder Dam Hotel at 1305 Arizona St.) for $5 per packet!
And a big thanks to Patty Sullivan for the great photos below of our new official flower…check out the whole plant image below!
Ila Clements-Davey and Laura Smith are two women who grew up in early Boulder City during the 1930s. Their father, Tom Godbey, was a Hoover Dam construction worker who built the first privately owned home on Avenue L. Taken from the oral histories of these women is a story about the first hollyhock seeds brought to Boulder City by their neighbor, Grandma Pickett. In the spring of 1932, the first hollyhock plants grew from little sprouts to tall, blossoming plants at Grandma Pickett’s house. The hollyhocks provided protection for the children playing outside in the hot desert sun. Laura Smith specifically remembers the effect the plants had on her as a small child, “As a little one I thought that was my best friend in all the world,” she said, “because it was shade.” Grandma Pickett shared her seeds with her neighbors, and shortly many homes on Avenue L had their very own hollyhocks on display.
Throughout the decades, the seeds from those first Boulder City hollyhock plants have been passed down through the generations of Boulder City families and throughout the community, as they can be seen blooming all throughout town this spring. The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum’s 31ers Educational Outreach Program also uses the hollyhock oral history as a tool to educate children about environment, agriculture, and (through the oral histories) use of primary sources as valuable research material.
