Arco Idaho City Building, Arco Idaho

This unique looking building was historically known as the Arco Recreation Hall. It was constructed in 1937 and 1938 as a gymnasium using local basalt (lava rock). The nature of the rocks required them to be used in their randomly shaped and sized form which, along with the barrel-vaulted roof, give the building it's distinctive look. The sign was added around 1955 when the city earned the honor of being the first city on Earth to be lit entirely by atomic power. For a little over an hour, the city ran on electricity from the nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. In 1948, in preparation for this historic event, President Harry S. Truman addressed the local residents from the front steps of the building. You can see this rare monument to these momentous events on East Grand Avenue in Arco, ID