Photo of the Week

This week we have a real treat that came out of the blue. A few weeks ago I posted some old 1920's vintage photos of Corozal and what would eventually become the PCC town of Los Rios. CZImages contributor Bill Benny saw the photos and remembered he had some old aerial photos of Los Rios tucked away that he thinks his mother obtained back in the day. She worked for the PCC Engineering Division and Bill thinks that the photos came from there when she worked there. These photos are priceless as they show portions of the brand new town of Los Rios in 1952-1953. I don't know if there were more photos taken that day and probably were, but these are the only three Bill had. It may have been a study being done with the road right of way of Galliard Highway as it seems the photos focus on the roads, but this is pure speculation on my part.

The above photo shows the old swimming pool still there before PCC filled it with dirt. This pool was the discussion back on February 18th (click here) that started this week's photos. You can also see contractor trucks in the driveways of the some of the houses finishing up last details to the new houses. The corner of Anton and Cameron Streets is a pretty sharp hair pin turn, but Anton St. would eventually be extended as I have illustrated with yellow lines. I added other yellow lines of approximately PCC housing would be built in the 1960's. The large Corozal railroad station is still seen in these photos.

See the other photos below.

Thank you Bill for sending these very nice old captures in time.

This photo looking north shows shadows of some of the old Corozal base roads that I have highlighted with yellow lines. One of these roads was called Chapel Rd. The row of Royal Palms were still there when I was growing up in Los Rios and were located just behind my father in laws house which is not yet built in this photo. The telephone exchange building noted was still in operation when in my days at Los Rios as well. Across the highways is a large white building that may or may not have been the PCC Fire Station when this photo was taken, but ended up being the Fire Station of the highway side of the building and the rest of the building being the Army Civilian Personnel Office. Beyond the telephone building shows lots of Royal Palms lined on old base roads and some buildings still in use. All these palms and buildings will go away when the new PCC town of Corozal was built in the 1960's. The long shop buildings beyond the white building will eventually torn down and the Army PX built on that site.