Watching the construction of Glendale Community College in 1966


I just love watching construction. I enjoyed it when I was a little kid, and I never outgrew it. To me, it's all a mystery, with people standing around wearing hardhats, and Tonka Toys rolling around everywhere. Oh yeah, and there are piles of dirt! What's not to love? I suppose if you did construction yourself, it might look different, but I see it through the eyes of a child.

So let's time-travel back to 1966, and be a couple of ten-year-olds watching the construction of Glendale Community College, which is at 59th Avenue and Olive in Glendale, Arizona.

The site of Glendale Community College in the early 1960s. They hadn't even settled on the name yet.

Since it's waaaaayyy out in the middle of nowhere, we're going to have to ride our bikes. There's nothing much out there, which is why I like it, except that old ranch, which looks like it's been there, like forever. And there's a row of palm trees leading up to the ranch house that's been there as long as I can remember.

Let's climb up a big pile of dirt and watch. I wonder who the guys in the white shirts are? They must be in charge, looks like they don't do any of the actual work. I think I heard one of them say that we're looking at the business building. Hey! A Volkswagen! Slug-bug!

Moving the historic palm trees that led up to the Sahuaro Ranch.

Oops, they see us, let's go somewhere else. Look at that! They're moving those gigantic palm trees! I wonder why they're doing that? Looks like a lot of work. You know, I'm kinda glad they aren't just cutting them down, I like seeing that. Those trees have been there for a long time, I'm told that they were put in when the ranch was new, over fifty years ago.

Let's ride around our bikes and look at the construction. This is gonna be quite a place when they finish it!

Glendale Community College under construction


Glendale Community College under construction in 1966. The architectural details were designed to look like the historic palm trees.
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