Late 1950s Aerial Tour of Page Arizona

I have a couple really cool aerial shots to share with you in this video, along with a “Then and Now” comparison.

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!

Page Signal: Doctor Kazan

Here’s a short article about Dr. Kazan from the Page Signal, dated January 9, 1959. Dr Kazan was the only doctor in Page at the time. I remember him well. I used to fuel his airplane as part of my duties at the Page airport.

Page Signal, January 9, 1959. Source: Tim McDaniels

A Day in the Life: 10-30-1958, Part Two

This is part two of my previous post featuring newspaper clippings from the October 30, 1958 edition of the Page Signal, the forerunner to the Lake Powell Chronicle. Here’s some more happenings that were printed that week:

Photo Courtesy of the LeGate Family. Page Signal: 10-30-1958.

If my compass is correct, this is a look east along North Navajo and Seventh Avenue (now Lake Powell BLVD) is about where the photographer is located. You can see some of the early businesses  and a little of the MCS trailer court in the top right of the photo. I talked about them in some previous posts. You can see a clearer picture of those first buildings —>HERE<—

Doctor Kazan was the happy recipient of Page’s 300th phone! You can see an

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

First Things First

Photo: USBR, date and photographer unknown.
Source: Terry Edwards

It took me a few minutes to figure this one out, but I eventually did. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so that explains a lot. This first pic is an early shot of two of the first buildings that went up in Page, if not THE first two.

There weren’t any landmarks in the picture to go by, so it kind of leaves you on your own. Give up? This is the corner of Vista Ave and North Navajo Drive. The larger building is the hospital and the smaller building originally served as the USBR admin building. It’s been a number of other things since then. I talked about it and shared a really nice photo of it with you in a previous post [HERE]. Be sure to click that link if you haven’t already seen it. It’s worth the click! The dirt road between the two buildings is Vista Ave. The nicely graded road to the left is Gum Street. For reference (and because I have awesome moments) the picture below is how that same area looks today. I rotated it to match the angle of the picture above as much as possible, and I circled the same two buildings. The hospital’s grown from it’s original size, so the area I circled is the original footprint of the building.

The same two buildings are circled in red.

Enjoy!

-Mike