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 construction in this photo. To the left of the teacher’s apartments, was the Page High School football field.  The square around it was the old burlap fence put in place to block the blowing sand. It didn’t work too well. The black rectangle to the left of the football field was an asphalt basketball court and all-around P.E. slab.

The buildings next to the asphalt slab were the school buildings used after the Butler buildings were vacated. More on the Butler buildings in a minute. The topmost building was A-Building. The small one below it was B-Building and the larger square one was (you probably guessed it) C-Building, also known as the gym. The buildings to the left of the gym were the junior high and part of the elementary school. The two long buildings below those, along 7th Avenue, were the X and Y school buildings. I think they housed 1st – 3rd grades and 4th grade started in the buildings above them in the picture. The looped road to the left of the X and Y buildings was used for student drop-off and pick up. For a closer look at the X and Y buildings, check out >School Daze<.

Across 7th Avenue from the X and Y buildings, is the temporary trailer court that was home to some of the USBR employees and teachers. Someone recently commented that they lived in one of those trailers (thank you Melanie!). I mentioned above that the teacher’s apartments may have been under construction in this picture due in part to the fact that this temporary trailer court was still here when the photo was snapped. In a previous post I called Early Page, you’ll see another aerial photo that pre-dates this one and shows that same temporary trailer court. You can see it >HERE<. To the right of the trailer court is the Catholic Church.

Moving further left in the pic, you’ll see the Transit Homes dotting Aspen Street and South Navajo Drive. Two of the Butler Buildings are still there. There weren’t many houses on that side of town for quite a while. Fist and Second Avenues remained like this picture shows them until the late 60s or early 70s. You can see the Country Club across US89.

Moving back near the middle of the picture, you can see the MCS Apartments behind 7th Avenue. On the left side of 7th Avenue (on the corner) is the Manson Mesa Pool and to the left of it, the park. I talked about the Manson Mesa Pool >HERE< and >HERE<.

Scroll over to the right in our picture and you’ll see the airport. Do you see the small angled building behind the hanger? That was where we lived for quite a while. Out there by ourselves. Our front yard was fenced and full of sunflowers. This is how I remember the airport. My dad was a pilot and I grew up in airplanes and helicopters.

Now scroll left and take a look at the big trailer court. Did that trailer court have a name? I’ve heard it called the MCS trailer court, but I don’t know if that was a real name or not. Do you see the small square building near the bottom of the main trailer court, along that long dirt road? That was the Teen Canteen. It may have also been the American Legion hall. I’m not real sure – it’s all a blur. If anyone can shed more light on that, please do. That building sat near the present day 3-way intersection of Elm Street, Grandview Street, and Tower Butte Ave.

Do you see the four H-shaped buildings on the far side of the trailer court? There’s a 5th building in between them. I rode my bike past those countless times on my way to someplace else but I don’t remember ever stopping there. I believe those were barracks and a cafeteria for MCS employees. You can get a better look at them right >HERE<.

Moving up in the photo, you’ll see the drive-in theater. Yes, Page had a drive-in theater. The dark building in the parking lot was the projector room/snack bar. There was also a small playground under the screen. We would play there while we waited for the movie to start. Further up from there, was the old horse corrals. I don’t remember what the cleared off area to the right of the corrals was.

The construction of the dam was in full motion when this photo was taken. It’s slightly visible as it’s starting to rise above the river bed. You can also see the footbridge upstream of the dam and a very dry Wahweap Bay. On this side of the bridge, you can see the road to the lookout area coming off of US89. The oval shape was the parking lot. From there, it was a short walk to the lookout point. I’d sure like to go down there again. Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. I hope you enjoy this photo!

-Mike