A 7th Avenue Parade

Source: The LeGate family. No caption on back. This photo is undated.

Last Friday I posted a photo looking down 7th Avenue (Lake Powell BLVD). You can see it HERE. Here’s another one looking up 7th Avenue from a vantage point near The Bottle Stop. The Bottle Stop was located where STIX Market is today. If you click on this image, you can zoom in on it to see more detail. Check out the “Page Club Cafe” painted on the side of the cafe, as well as the sign. You can see the Richfield, Shell, and Enco gas station signs as well. The Empire House and Toga Room Lounge signs are visible. On the right side of the street in the way back, the Manson Mesa Pool sign is clearly visible on the pool fence. The First National Bank sign looms large.

Are you in this photo or do you have more specific info you can share about this day? If so, please leave a comment. I recognize some of the vehicles in this picture, particularly the pickup truck with the camper shell near the far right of the photo. I don’t know who owned it but I’m pretty sure he lived in Chapman’s Trailer Park.

The Page Park Six

Source: Terry Edwards. Undated.

I respect the privacy of others, so I’m always a little hesitant to tag anyone of social media. But sometimes a picture screams to be posted and this is one of those times. If you’re in this, you know who you are and so do I. If you want to tag yourself or let others know you’re in it, go for it. This photo is at the Page Park and the Manson Mesa Pool is in the background behind the fence.

Video: Glen Canyon Dam Construction

I came across this video showing some good footage of the Glen Canyon Dam construction as well as some great shots of early Page Arizona. Some of the narration gets a little cheesy but the footage is amazing. You may even recognize some of the faces. I was surprised to see Chet Huntley narrating it. After the first minute and half to two minutes in, it picks up and gets good. The total length is only 27 minutes.

Enjoy!

1960s Aerial View of Page Arizona

Source: Terry Edwards. Date and photographer unknown. Most likely USBR.

Here’s a 1960-ish shot of Page and the surrounding area from the seat of a plane. If you click on it, it will open it up in a new tab and enable you to zoom in closer. All of my pictures work that way. You’re welcome. 🙂  Enlarge it and let’s talk about some of the detail.

Starting on the bottom left, you’ll see the original radio station (KPGE) just off the old Coppermine road. I don’t remember what the building between it and the water treatment plant was. If you do, please leave a comment and let me know. I posted pictures of the water treatment plant already in a post I called Got Water? You can check it out >HERE<. Next to the water treatment plant is the go-cart track and the Little League baseball field. If you look at that area on Google Earth, you can still see remnants of the go-cart track. That’s actually the second location of the baseball field. The first one was behind Keisling’s gas station and The Bottle Stop (now Stix Market). The outline of it is still visible in this picture. You can see that original field better >HERE<.

Moving up from the water treatment plant, you’ll notice that Chapman’s trailer park isn’t there yet. Several church buildings are dotting the landscape along church row (7th Avenue – now Lake Powell BLVD). The long buildings on the inside loop of church row were the teacher’s apartments. They may have been under

Got Water?

A couple of years ago I did a post on the lower water treatment plant. It was a temporary treatment plant located in the canyon that was in operation until the new one was up and operational. Here’s a link to it to stir your memory:

https://mikesdamphotoblog.com/2014/01/21/the-lower-water-treatment-plant/

In this post I want to share some pictures of the construction of the upper water treatment plant. This is the water treatment facility that is still in operation behind Chapman’s Trailer Court. What you won’t see in these pics is the go-cart track that was built next to it a couple of years later. But if you look at a Google Earth image (or drive over there if you’re local), you can still see remnants of the asphalt track.

Enjoy!

Image Source: The LeGate Family

Keep going…there’s more to see —>

Operation Glen Canyon

This is a pretty cool  28 minute video documentary on the first four years of construction of Glen Canyon Bridge and Dam. Thank you Donna for posting this link on our Facebook page!

Enjoy!

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

Swim Meet

Undated. Photographer unknown.
Source: Terry Edwards

Here’s a cool shot of a swimming competition in the Manson Mesa Pool. This is undated, but I’m guessing very early 60s. Earlier, I posted a blog and a sweet picture of the Manson Mesa pool under construction. If you want to check out that post, click here.

Are you in this crowd? Do you remember this day? I spent many hours in this pool, but I don’t remember being there for this. This pool was on the corner of South Navajo Drive and 7th Avenue. The football field would have been behind the photographer and the Pink Sans/7th Avenue was to the right of the picture. You can see the Mountain Bell building on the left side of the picture and the hospital and USBR offices are in the background. I wrote a blog about the USBR building HERE if you want to take a look. I think the long building in the background on the right side of the picture is the old Vostron Building, which is now the Page city offices. The Manson Mesa pool is long gone.

-Mike

7th Avenue From The Air

Here’s an aerial shot of Page giving us a good look at 7th Avenue (now Lake Powell BLVD) and some of the early town construction. It’s undated, but 1960-61 is a good guess. I’ve had this photo for a long time and I don’t remember where I got it for sure (maybe Brian Keisling) and I’ve never known who took it or who marked up the different locations. But those are helpful, so let’s run through them.

LPB is Lake Powell BLVD (7th Ave). HAIR was the barber shop. I’m assuming the barber was Hank. Does anybody remember him? The barber shop eventually moved to the plaza near the theatre. That plaza isn’t built yet in this picture. K is the present location of the Circle K and NAV is North Navajo Drive. The unmarked building on the corner above North Navajo was a Gulf gas station. We used to ride our bikes there and fill up gas cans for my friend’s mini bike and our golf cart. The building marked BS isn’t a reference to a crappy building, but is referring to Redd’s Bottle Stop. It’s now the location of Stix Market. BAB is referring to Babbitt’s. First National Bank was also in that building. I’m putting a picture of that building below to give you a better look. LL was the Little League field.  M is referring to the outdoor movie screen. K is a reference to Keisling’s gas station. You can see that Elm Street hasn’t been built yet on the right side of LPB. E is referring to the old Empire House. The last time I was in Page, that had become something else but I don’t remember now what it is. My first job as a teenager was as a busboy at the Empire House and my mom was one of the cashiers there for years. MCS is referring to the MCS apartments. PS is the Pink Sans. FB is the future site of the football field. It looks like it’s not there yet in this picture. The buildings just below FB must be the Manson Mesa pool.  You’ll notice South Navajo isn’t there yet either, but you can see part of the park to the right if the pool.  I think the dark line below the pool and the park is a fence. When I first saw this picture, I thought it was a road that is no longer there. But looking closer, I don’t see a break in the curb along LPB, so I’m pretty sure it was one of the many fences put up all over the place to stop blowing sand. They didn’t work too good. Looking along church row, you can see a few churches springing up, along with the teacher’s apartments on the opposite side of the road.

The picture below is a closer look at Babbitt’s and First National Bank, located in the building in the above picture behind The Bottle Stop (Stix Market).

-Mike