Since
the building of Glen Canyon Dam, Page has changed its image several times. It
went through two phases as a construction town to the present one of a friendly,
inviting and scenic vacation destination for visitors from all over the world.
From 1970 to 1975, another
construction period took place with the building of the Navajo Generating
Station—a coal-fired electric plant just east of page on the Navajo
Reservation.
Page's population boomed and by
1979, more than 4,000 people lived here. Steadily over the next 20 years, the
population now stands at about 10,000.
However, it is with tourism and the
influx of visitors that Page has seen incredible growth. Now, 3 million visitors
travel annually to Page and its beautiful backyard playground—Lake Powell.
Located in the center of canyon
country, Page is just a three-hour drive to numerous national parks, monuments
and tribal and state parks. Beautiful, red, slick-rock scenery surrounds Page
enticing boaters, hikers, bicyclists, photographers, and sightseers.
Accommodations are available for
visitors from the simple to the luxurious. Dining opportunities abound from
elegant to take-out. Native American art and crafts can be purchased as well as
a variety of souvenir items in local shops. Page boasts an excellent modern
hospital, three medical clinics, three dental clinics, two vision clinics and
two pharmacies.
Page has an 18-hole championship
golf course in addition to the original nine-hole course started by volunteers
in Page's early days. Residential home and townhouses are being developed
bordering the new course.
Page Airport offers scenic and
commuter flights and can accommodate larger aircraft. The most photographed slot
canyon is just outside Page. Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Reservation is
accessible by tour guide year round.
Annual events, which draw visitors
to this northern Arizona community just minutes from the Utah border, include
bass fishing tournaments, mountain bike racing, rodeos, powwows, adventure
racing, golf tournaments, craft fairs, music and dance performances, art shows
and an air show with hot air balloons, vintage aircraft and monster trucks.
In the desert of northern Arizona,
page is an oasis of recreational opportunities!
Page began as a construction camp 43
years ago for workers on the giant hydroelectric project known as Glen Canyon
Dam and Powerplant.
A reciprocal agreement was made with
the Navajo Tribe to transfer 16.7 square miles of Manson Mesa to the Bureau of
Reclamation in exchange for certain desirable lands in southeastern Utah.
Survey work began in early 1957 to
lay out the streets of the town then unnamed. It would be given the name of the
Honorable John C. Page who served as commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation
in the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration from 1937-43. Mr. Page died in
1955 without seeing the Glen Canyon Dam or the town.
Workers for the Glen Canyon Dam
first lived in a construction camp on the west side of the canyon with a
footbridge connecting the east side—700 feet over the Colorado River gorge. As
more construction workers arrived daily, trailers were placed by the score in
rows on the mesa.
Businesses started arriving. Babbit
Brothers Trading Company was the first supermarket—Page Rexall Drug the first
pharmacy. The Bureau furnished three warehouses for use as school buildings.
They were placed just east of the homes on the sweeping curve of South Navajo
Drive.
Living in early Page meant no
television, poor radio reception and not much to do so the people made their own
entertainment. Dances, barbeques, 16 mm films and gatherings were popular.
The first movie theater opened here
in 1960 with limited showings during the week. Hollywood came to Page in 1962
with the filming of "The Greatest Story Ever Told" and the movie
industry followed that epic with many more films, television commercials and
magazine photo layouts.
Not everything was peaceful in the
early days. Dam construction workers, seeking higher wages, struck for six
months in the summer of 1959. The strike ended on December 24, 1959—Christmas
Eve—and what a joyous Christmas that was for everyone. Work resumed January 2,
1960, after a new contract was signed.
Page's population took a downward
swing when the dam was completed in 1963. In would climb up again in 1970 when
ground was broken for the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired plant east of
town on the Navajo Reservation.
And a new era would begin.
Welcome
to Page-Lake Powell
