Airing Their Laundry

Photo: USBR. Undated. Source: Terry Edwards

This is a fantastic photo! It captures a true moment in the pioneering life of early Page. I’ve closely studied the details in this picture and I’ve concluded that this was taken from behind the transit homes, near South Navajo Drive and Aspen Street. If you click on the pic and open it, you can zoom in and take a look at some of the detail with me. Do you see the tanks on the right side of the image? You can get another look at them in THIS EARLIER POST of the transit homes to see what I’m referring to. In the picture above, the building to the left of the silver tank may be one of the Butler Buildings that housed the first school. Once zoomed in, you can see the canyon in the distance under the laundry. Also notice the second person hanging up clothes and what may be a little girl sitting by the car.

If you know who this woman is, please let me know.

-Mike

Butler Buildings

Source: Lonnie Carl DeArmond via Donna Bloxton Petersen. Photo was originally a 35mm color slide. 1958-1959

Here’s a great shot of the Butler Buildings that housed Page Schools in the early years of the town. These sat on the rim where North and South Navajo Drives meet. A few of the pink transa homes are visible on the left side of the photo. The sidewalk and curb on the far side of the road haven’t been poured yet. Click on the image to open it in a new tab. You can see more detail that way. I have an aerial view of these buildings in another post called A Color Aerial View of Page. Does anyone remember what the black-sided building to the right of the Butler buildings was?

A Day in the Life 10-30-1958

Source: The LeGate Family
Page Signal: 10-30-1958

Gene LeGate loaned me a box of old Page Signal newspapers that I’ve been scanning as I have time. The Page Signal was Page’s first newspaper and pre-runner to The Lake Powell Chronicle. I’m scanning these old newspaper stories and pictures and will be posting them from time to time in a new category called A Day in the Life. Catchy, I know. 🙂 This first one is dated October 30, 1958.

Do you remember a post I did a while back called School Daze? I didn’t know it then, but the first two pictures in that post appeared in the Page Signal. To see that School Daze post, just click —>here<—. Here are the two pictures from the Signal. The captions gives us names. Pretty cool!

If you still have that School Daze post open, look at the second picture of the kids lined up by the old X and Y school buildings. Here it is again as it appeared in the Page Signal, complete with names. 

Easy Does It!

Photo Courtesy of the LeGate Family. Undated.

Hey all, we’re on a road trip for the month of July but I wanted to stop long enough to get this amazing picture posted. This is my first post via email, so I hope it looks ok when posted. If not, I’ll tweak it later. Gene LeGate sent this pic to me a few days ago (thanks Gene!). I don’t know who took it, what building it was (it looks like one of the Butler Buildings used for the first school), where it was being moved to, or why. But here’s what I do know: it’s being moved away from town and it was a rainy day.

If you have some info about this picture and what was going on, please leave a comment. It seems like something like this would have drawn some attention.

1959 Aerial Photo of Page, Arizona

1959 Aerial View of Page, Arizona. Photo Courtesy of Terry Edwards.

Some of my favorite early pics of Page and the surrounding area are these old black and white aerial shots. You can see a lot of detail and they always bring back memories of what it was like. One of the reasons I’m posting this one is because in my next post or two, I’ll be highlighting some early businesses and I want you to have a reference point for their location if you’re not familiar with it.

We have a lot to talk about in this photo. Click on it to open it up and you’ll be able to zoom in. Let’s start on the right side, as you come into town on 7th Avenue. The Glen Canyon Steak House and Motel aren’t there yet, but it looks like the ground is being cleared for their construction. To the right, along Vista Ave., you get a good look at the Page Hospital and what was at that time, the USBR offices. You can see a close-up of that building and read more about it HERE. You can also see/read more about the hospital HERE. Okay, back to our journey up 7th Avenue. The next building on the left is the Page Boy Motel. The building across the street was the Vostron building and now houses the City of Page offices.

The building across from Vostron on this side of 7th Avenue is the bowling alley. The big rectangle building just this side of the bowling alley is the USBR warehouse. The white rectangle building to the left of the bowling alley in this photo was (is?) the fire station. The smaller building that’s attached to the right end of the fire station was the USBR Ranger station. The only thing I remember being in the

Page Schools 1958-1960

The 3 Butler Buildings that housed Page schools in the late 1950s

These are the Butler buildings that served as the Page schools from 1958-1959 or 60. The permanent school was under construction and completed about 1960. These three buildings were located on the curve of South Navajo Drive. You can get a better feel for where they were located by looking at the bottom center of the aerial picture I posted [here].

The permanent school buildings were completed in 1959-60 and are located on South Navajo Drive, across from the Date Street intersection. These were originally called the A, B, C (Gym), and D buildings.

-Mike