Coolidge Blog

The Mellon Plan: The Legislative Fight for the First Supply-Side Tax Reforms

By The Honorable French Hill Tax reform isn’t easy, but it is possible. Even dramatic tax reform. Today, when many doubt that proposition, it’s useful to look back at another […]

Calvin Coolidge and the Post-Armistice Chlorine Gas Campaign

By Robert M. Klein, M.D., Columbia University Irving Medical Center On May 18, 1924, First Congregational Church in Washington held its regular service. But this Sunday, one important congregant was […]

GRACE: ON THE AIR

GRACE COOLIDGE’S RADIO DEBUT OVER STATION NAA ON DECEMBER 4, 1922 By Jerry L. Wallace Next year is a centennial year for President Calvin Coolidge. But this year marks a […]

The Great 1928 Budget Debate

We tend to project our own assumptions about party positions onto events long past. For example, we assume that Democrats always advocated for increased government spending, at least more so […]

85 Years of the Coolidge Dam!

March 4, 2015

10671224_1484985465119653_4546901173202931588_nBy Rushad Thomas

The Southwestern United States is a stunningly beautiful corner of the world. With desert as far as the eye can see, cacti taller than your head, and an ancient heritage of indigenous peoples who pioneered in technology long before the first European settlers arrived, this region of our country holds tremendous treasures that I encourage you all to explore.

I had the pleasure October 3 – 5 of exploring a southwestern treasure directly related to President Calvin Coolidge, the dam on the Gila River in Arizona that is eponymously named for him. Dedicated by Coolidge on March 4, 1930, the Coolidge Dam is a massive edifice, composed of three large domes, approximately 250 feet in height, anchored by two buttresses. The Dam impounds the Gila River for 23 miles when full.

Coolidge played an integral part in the construction of the dam. On June 7, 1924 President Coolidge signed the legislation authorizing the dam, which was passed unanimously by the Senate and House of Representatives, and presented to him by the Arizona Congressional Delegation. He presided at the dedication ceremony, attended by more than 3,000 people, with First Lady Grace Coolidge at his side. Satirist Will Rogers, also in attendance, looked down from the dam at the grass in the lake bed, and quipped “If this were my dam, I’d mow it!” You can view footage of the dedication by clicking here.

In addition to exploring the wonders of the Coolidge Dam, I also had the privilege of staying in the City of Coolidge, Arizona, about an hour southeast of Phoenix, which was named for President Coolidge in 1925. Nearly 90 years later, the City of Coolidge is a wonderful, vibrant community. While there, I spoke to the town historical society about President Coolidge and the work of the Foundation, and invited them all to join us here at the Notch for our Worldwide Coolidge Reunion to be held next summer. I was also privileged to be able to ride in the Coolidge Days Parade as the representative of the Coolidge Foundation. That was quite a ride!

85 years later the Coolidge Dam still stands as a monument to the wonders of modern engineering, providing needed water to residents of Southeastern Arizona.

1959509_1484996785118521_4336000261606833636_n

One Response to “85 Years of the Coolidge Dam!”

  1. John Berray

    There are warm water springs below the dam off Government Rd. My future farther in law took me and others there around 1960. Just springs between boulders. Sorta a stand up sauna. I don’t remember the actual location but they are there. Ask someone.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>